The pessimist in me is sure that all politicians, including Obama, are beholding to the money that got them elected. Look at George W. Bush. His election was bought and paid for by the oil and pharmaceutical companies. And they were well rewarded for their contributions.
Obama, on the other hand, is the first president who raised his money from the people. The Internet enabled him to raise unprecedented amounts of campaign cash. We the people, bought and paid for the Obama presidency. And the optimist in me believes he is going to reward us for our contributions.
March 2009
Allen mentioned passive aggressive behavior the other day, and I was thinking how I do that as well, and also thinking of the negative connotations of that sort of behavior. And how that's not fair.
Take aggressive. It's got good PR, there's movies full of heroes being aggressive, and martial arts and disciplines all designed to romanticize and train and develop aggressive behavior. Kung Fu, Karate, Judo... Consider the image of the martial arts warrior, ready to do combat, to fight for what's right.
Take passive. It's got good PR as well. All sorts of images of monks and spiritual leaders and movies like about the life of Gandhi. They've got monasteries and yoga and spiritual retreats. Look how we idolize the leaders and gurus of our spiritual traditions.
But passive aggressive? It's got horrible PR. It appears cowardly, small, somehow dishonest. That's because it doesn't have a discipline associated with it. It doesn't have disciples that study the way of passive aggressiveness, who become celebrities and role models and subjects for magazine articles and movies.
Here's a story of one of my heroes, an individual who shaped my thinking about creative ways to deal with complex interpersonal work issues involving power and control.
Dave was my boss, and he worked for Bob, our boss. I was sullenly griping about Bob who was doing the bad sorts of things people who have power over us can do. Dave, a true leader and boss to look up to, told me not to worry. He told me he had dealt with the Bob issues. After work he had gone into Bob's office and put a booger on his chair, and all the next day knew Bob was sitting on his booger.
What an inspiration! Bob was still boss, still controlled our salaries, but we could hold our heads high (well not when Bob was looking, but other places) knowing we had the passive aggressive strength to deal with him. We need people like Dave leading retreats, writing books, becoming an inspiration for all us passive aggressive types. We need good PR.
March 2009