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Kneel, stand...fight fight fight

9/25/2017

What if I told you that the country of Nambia just suffered hurricanes that devastated much of its southern reaches and that millions of people had lost their homes, are still without power, can’t find food to eat?

And what if I told you that the leader of Nambia, aware of all those extreme hardships, was taking on professional athletes in his country for their failure to stand for the national anthem, and he seemed to focus on that more over the weekend than the millions of his people who were suffering on top of facing the threat of a nuclear war with a country whose leader is similarly not mindful of what’s best for his people and isn’t even as mature as Nambia’s leader?

Well, my friends, if you think Nambia’s leader is right then we have trouble that starts with a capital T and that rhymes with Trump.

And, by the way, Nambia was made up in the mind of our President who created that country in a meeting of, who else, African leaders, just to demonstrate his "big brain" to them.

Do I prefer that folks stand for the national anthem? Yes, I do. Do I think they are breaking any laws if they don’t? No, I think they are exercising their freedom of speech. Do I think the owners of their teams should fire them? No, but I also think that’s up to the owners not the President of the United States (or by the way his press secretary who has called for the termination of an ESPN announcer who tweeted something not so nice about her boss.)

Mr. Trump, Ms. Sanders…we live in America which is governed by a Constitution not in Nambia which is governed by a Covfefe.

For the President to have spent so many hours focused on athletes rather than the troubles facing his people, well, I guess he has nothing else to do. His approval rating increased mildly because of his handling of the hurricanes. I guess that’s because people think his signing of disaster orders equals doing something because most of the real work has been done by federal, state and local first responders and folks from other states who volunteered to travel into devastation to help their fellow citizens, whatever their color. The stories of examples of this are endless and the media has yet to cover it fully but they have covered it or, guess what, I wouldn’t know about it.

Trump’s appointees, notably his Sycophant Secretary, I mean Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was on TV saying things like, "I think the president can use whatever language he wants to use (Trump called kneelers "sons of bitches," very presidential). The issue is the topic, okay? I agree with the president — why does the NFL have all these other rules that they enforce, that they fine players? This is about respect for the military, the first responders."

And, no Mr. Mnuchin, it isn’t about the first responders or the military. It’s about free speech. I would venture to guess that there isn’t a professional athlete you can name who isn’t a supporter of the military and first responders. That is not why they took a knee. The guy who started this latest round of kneeling, Colin Kapernick, did it to protest the oppression of people of color in this country. And Kapernick opted out of his contract, he wasn’t fired. Though he hasn’t been able to land a job since. So, he did pay a price for acting on his beliefs.

And why the heck do you care anyway, Mr. President? What I want you caring about is not taking away constitutionally given rights to my fellow Americans but protecting us from that kook in North Korea, not egging him on by calling him grammar schoolyard names.

What I want you to do is send troops into Puerto Rico to help those poor people who have lost pretty much everything – and they are Americans too so it shouldn’t rankle your apparently strongly held views about immigrants in this country.

Do I think health care in this country can use some fixing? Of course, who doesn’t? But you don’t do that by repealing a law that has provided millions with health care, and also created some problems. You fix that law, you don’t repeal it. And, by the way, if you try to fix the existing law, there are plenty of Democratic votes you can pick up. That's if you really want to fix it, of course.

You may think your presidency has been the most successful in history but the only people who agree with you – or did anyway – include Sean Spicer who also seems to think now that he never lied to the American people.

Still, you have your base, that’s for sure, about 30 percent or so of the populace, including the fellow at my nearby gas station who pumps the gas. He and I got on the topic of the “whose is bigger” match between you and Kim Jong Un and he said “that’s one crazy guy.” I said, thinking of Trump, well we have two crazy guys at the helm. He said, “Yeah, that’s true, Obama and Bush were crazy too.”

So, if you saw your job as completely demonizing your immediate predecessors to make yourself look good, you’ve done that with your base.

Congratulations, or something.

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Spicer's Emmy cameo ... too soon

9/19/2017

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Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s cameo appearance on the Emmy Award show the other night has prompted a debate over giving him such a platform to work on “rebranding” himself.

I must admit that when I saw Sean come onstage my first thought was “good for you, Sean, making fun of yourself.” But, given a few more minutes to think about it, I’ve come down on the side of the critics who say Spicer should not be “normalized” after lying to the country so many times from the White House podium.

Sean, who I knew a little before leaving DC, had a reputation as a good spokesman before his White House days and as the longest-serving Republican National Committee spokesman (ahem, beating my tenure, but this isn’t about me). His time in the Trump White House though has changed that reputation and all the “re-branding” in the world isn’t going to cover it up.

What will change that is Spicer showing regret for what he did from that podium and truly apologizing not just to one reporter from the New York Times as he did Monday, but to the entire White House press corps who he maligned and lied to for seven months and, more importantly, to the country’s citizens, many of whom believed what he said at his daily briefings.

One can say, as Sean did, that a spokesman’s job is to represent his principal’s views, not his or her own. True. But when a spokesman knowingly lies repeatedly, with aforethought and with malice, that’s a different story. If you’re asked to do that by your principal and you know you are lying, you resign the job. Nothing is more important to a political spokesman than his or her credibility.

There are ways to get around a tough question when responding to a reporter but outright lies aren’t one, especially from that podium. Policy questions are a different matter. You are paid to respond in your principal’s voice and with his or her position. I often didn’t agree with my boss when responding to a policy question but the reporters didn’t want to hear my views. When it comes to numbers and facts, though, that’s a different story.

(Once, a principal I worked for called me in to say the Washington Post was about to publish a story saying he was having an affair. I asked him, "is it true?" We stared at each other for a few minutes before he said, "yes, it's true." I said okay, then, here''s what we do and laid out that since he wasn't paid with public dollars and didn't hold public office, his having an affair on "company time" was no one's business and the Post may have it, but they'll never publish it because he broke no law nor did he betray a public trust. His personal morals were another story. No I won't tell you who it was but I will tell you the Post did not publish the story.)

Howard Kurtz, media reporter for Fox News, writes that all press secretaries have lied. I would dispute that but I’ll let it go for the moment because sometimes one’s truth can be another’s lie. In Spicer’s case, though, there was a black-and-white difference between the truth and his boss’ lies which Spicer echoed. Spicer went to that podium and flat out lied, pointing accusatory fingers at the “fake news” media as he did. Making them the offenders rather than his boss. Maligning their reputations while trying to build up his boss’.

Spicer is the first of the Trump team to try to find his future after being associated with this President. If Spicer, the face of the administration for seven months, finds his way easily to “re-branding,” then others following him will too. (I put “re-branding” in quotes because you might be able to re-brand a commercial product but I don’t believe you can “re-brand” a person. For a person, you, literally, have to change yourself.)

I don’t begrudge Spicer, a young man, the ability to financially support his family but his record cannot be wiped clean by a one-minute appearance on an awards show and a visit to a friendly host for a late night show. You shouldn’t be allowed to parlay seven months of continual lies into seven figures of income. But, I’m guessing Spicer will.

I don't see why a TV network would hire him to be a talking head with his history but If corporations want to pay him that kind of money to have his knowledge on the payroll, that’s their choice. If groups or businesses want to pay him five figures to give an hour speech, they have that choice too.

Emmy host Stephen Colbert wasn’t going for the ratings since he kept Spicer’s appearance a secret, which means intentional or not, he was “normalizing” Spicer. An irony for a late night host who has shot to Number One by lampooning Trump.

The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush interviewed Spicer the morning after the Emmys. He asked if Spicer regretted his Day One comments, lying about the attendance at Trump’s inauguration. Spicer’s answer: “Of course I do.”

Quite a different position than he took in July on the day he resigned when he told Sean Hannity on Fox, “I have no regrets.”

Some things never change.

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Thank those you learn from before it's too late

9/18/2017

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A few weeks ago a friend emailed me saying that the back-to-back deaths of two well respected basketball coaches who affected their players’ lives in a major way (Rollie Massimino and Jud Heathcote), got him to thinking about mentors and role models – and suggested that might make a good blog post.

I struggled with how to approach the topic, mostly with how to identify those people. There were many men and women I learned from but few who met the criteria for "mentors." As the days rolled by, two men I learned from passed away.

One was the former mayor of my home town who I got to know well when I was covering City Hall for the local paper. I met pretty much daily with Mayor Edward D. (Mike) Bergin Jr. as part of my rounds of City Hall offices for news. I covered his campaigns, his wins, his governing and his losses.

Mike passed away Aug. 10 at 74.

I got my first real exposure to politics through covering the mayor and my first exposure of how a larger city (about 110,000 population) was run, a good microcosm of governing and politics that came in handy as my career moved from journalism to politics.

Bob Veillette, who was my city editor at the Waterbury Republican-American, died last Wednesday. Bob was a talented journalist, master pianist, Shakespeare aficionado and a very fine husband and father. A little over 10 years ago Bob suffered a brain stem stroke that left him paralyzed and “locked in” – his brain functioned as always but he couldn’t move or speak.

Bergin was the longest serving mayor in Waterbury history, winning seven terms, not consecutively. He was a slight man with a big Irish sense of humor. It was often thought Bergin was “crooked” and my publisher especially thought he was. I often was assigned to look into allegations and came up empty each time.

Each time I looked into an accusation, at some point I approached the mayor and each time he took it seriously, obviously knowing there was nothing to each charge. But he handled it up front, pointed me to friends and/or appointees who would confirm his view and provide, when possible, paper to demonstrate his innocence.

Later in my career, when I began working as a spokesman for politicians, I applied many of those upfront, transparent approaches that the mayor exhibited, and they came in most handy.

Bob Veillette was the other end of the spectrum, in many ways. I was a natural cynic, it pays to be one when working as a reporter. And Bob was a guy who wanted to print, as do responsible journalists, the truth and be fair to both sides. He went about that in what came across to some as almost an innocent, childlike (in a good way) approach. He didn’t assume the allegation he heard was true but he wanted it pursued if it came from a legitimate source. And he only published when he thought his reporters had done all they could on a story.

He also was a generous, kind and gentle man. There was office politics, of course, and while Bob often seemed to always side with management, it was later in life when I looked back on those times that I saw Bob was playing office politics to the news’ best ends. He was an upbeat, fair-minded editor, giving his reporters the space we needed to our jobs, but always asking the right questions when we thought we were done.

After his stroke and the locked-in syndrome, Bob continued his optimistic approach to life, working hard to overcome the limits the syndrome put him under, communicating only with his eyes. Locked-in sucks every physical strength from you – touch, speech, walking – but not hearing or cognizance. He knew everything going on around him.

He and his family – who were his dedicated caregivers -- were dove into finding answers for those who would suffer the same syndrome, knowing it would never help Bob. Bob joined in, lobbying in the state legislature and others.

I can’t imagine how much he wished he could hug his wife, kids (all quite accomplished) and grandchildren as his eyes and ears experienced things around him but his ability to reach to those things was physically impaired. The cruelest cut of all for him, I have no doubt.

When I heard that the mayor was under Hospice care, I dashed off a note to him, thanking him for the lessons he taught me. But I know the letter didn’t arrive before he passed.

Bob was grace, strength and belief in more ways than I ever will know. But I try, partly because of him.

I wish I had sent Bob a note, but I didn’t, it was too late. Lesson? Tell people what you need to tell now because tomorrow may not come.

I'll get to the mentors but, for now, may Mike and Bob rest in peace, and may I continue to learn their lessons.

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Mr. Negotiator-in-Chief isn't

9/6/2017

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The dream is turning into a nightmare for the 800,000 young men and women affect by President Trump’s announcement that he will terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy in six months.

This puts the lives of these folks in total limbo, whereas before they were in partial limbo, until either the Congress takes action to make DACA law or they are deported in six months. But there is a but, as we’re learning there is often with President Trump.
In a tweet he said: “Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!”

Now here is the self-claimed master negotiator saying that if Congress doesn’t act (and when does it ever act), the President will revisit and, supposedly, take an action. Or will he?

This is one of Trump’s major problems as President. As President, you lead…you don’t depend on others to lead. I agree with the President that DACA likely is an example of presidential over-reach and there needs to be a law passed codifying it. There were several paths to that outcome.

But that doesn’t mean I would put 800,000 contributing citizens at risk of being sent to a country they barely know, and likely don’t even speak the language of. And they are not all “kids” by the classic definition. Median age is 25. But they were given, in effect, a promise by the government that if they came forward, gave their addresses and other info, they could be DACA-ok’d. Many are college students, many Ph.D. students, many working in fine jobs and lesser jobs and paying taxes. Each a contributing citizen.

This is one of those difficult problems that needs a solution. But that’s why we elect men and women – to take on the tough problems and find a solution on our behalf, not their behalf.

Trump could have sent up a draft bill to back up his supposed belief that these Dreamers should be allowed to stay. It wouldn’t break precedent for a White House to do that. But that’s not what this White House does.

It released a one-page list of generalities it calls tax reform and demands the Congress act. It demands Obamacare be repealed without proposing a replacement.
Send up draft legislation. List your markers on what you want. Why keep us guessing on if you’ll hold up a Dreamer solution for money for your wasteful border wall? Don’t play games. Lead.

Leading means….leading. Going to the front of the pack, taking a position and negotiating an outcome that moves the ball down the road. Trump’s alleged take-no-prisoners approach to governing doesn’t work. It won’t work with the Dreamers, and it won’t work with North Korea as he positions the U.S. to take military action, even if he doesn’t mean it.

He says he “loves” the Dreamers and if Congress doesn’t act, he will “revisit” it, whatever that means. And in a Trump government, it can mean everything from he taking an executive action (which he says is illegal) or nothing.

If those of us who oppose(d) Trump figured we’d get anything with him, it’s a president who negotiates well.

Mr. Art of the Deal has displayed no such skills as President.

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Kneel, stand...fight fight fight

Spicer's Emmy cameo ... too soon

Thank those you learn from before it's too late

Mr. Negotiator-in-Chief isn't

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