[vienna]

I didn't say one president was using the actions of a predecessor as justification for his own actions. I said there are some aspects of some situations a new president might use as campaign fodder only to be hit with the harsh realities once he actually is sworn into office. Neither he nor any of us would know, to full extent, the many variables, "ifs, ands, or buts", or the posiible delicacies and tipping point of particular issues until he sits in that chair in the White House. This lack of full knowledge of the nature of situations is not limited to the realm of politics; it exists in everyday life. There are a great many situations where persons have siad "Well, if I were in charge, things would run differently" only to backtrack once they found out what the situation really is all about. I was once the Accounting Supervisor at a large Beverly Hills law firm. The high level financial decisions were made, originally, by a committee of senior partners. However, it became difficult to assemble all or the majority of committee members at any given time, so they hired a Controller. The Controller would then oversee both the Senior Accountant (my boss) and myself. THe new Controller came in and immediately went into meetings with the Senior Accountant to design new methods for dealing with his new position and the operations of the Accounting Department. I was not asked to be involved mainly beacuase I did not have a college degree (actually, no college at all and only a high school education with no accounting courses) and the Controller did not consider me "qualified". I actually thought one of his first actions would be to fire me. However, I did run the entire Accounting Department and the Senior Accountant merely received final figures on various aspects of the Department and really had know working knowledge of the flow of work or the ramifications of various Department activities. She just took my "bottom line" figures and created financial reports for the committee.

One day, the controller called me into his new office. The Senior Accountant was there, also. THe Controller started to lay out his new plans. Near the beginning of his presentation, I saw a major problem and tried to bring it up; he told me to shut up and wait until he finished. I had the sense he was going to use whatever objections I might have as an excuse to fire me. I waited as he continued, with the Senior Accountant nodding along her agreement with his plan like some sort of bobblehead doll. He finnaly finished and said "I want you to implement this immediately!" I said "I can't", and he shouted back "Are you saying you refuse to do as I say?!" The specter of termination was in the room. I calmly told him "I am saying your system is incompatible with almost all the reporting structures and the way the senior partners have demanded accounting operations be conducted". He was stunned. I thena asked if he had tolked to certain of the senior partnerswhose names I listed off; he had not I then asked if he was aware of the intricate relationship between the varios reports and the manner in which they interwove. He was not. I left his office and came back wirth several binders report binders. I laid out the entire process, showing him where his plan would conflict, and the various pitfalls that would draw the ire of the Senior Partners and the Chairman of the Board, in particular. The Senior Accountant had ceased bobbling and was now a bit panic stricken. She realized I was right and, with a bit of hesiataion and fear, told the Controller I was actually correct.

I was able to help the Controller to understand how the Department functioned in relation to the whole of the firm itself and aided him in coming up with a better plan that would achieve most of his goals and avoid any confrontations with the Seniors or any one else in the firm. If he had taken the time to become more aware of what existed before he got the job and consulted with the people who actually do the work, he could have avoided any turmoil.

But, in the situation of the Presidency, there is no real opportunity to do deep research. There is very little briefing when one is a candidate. The out going POTUS or defeated incumbent is not likely to tip his hand and play it close to the vest. The candidate never really knows where all the tendrills reach until he wins the vote and becomes the POTU-elect. It is only then he gets the briefings by the various agencies; it is only then he sees what is really behind the curtain of the great and mighty OZ. We don't know what sorts of highly classified, "need to know" situations exist beyond the data we get in the media and, really neither does he until the briefings. It is one thing to make a promise based on suppositons and another thing to realize you can't because of some very hard, cold facts. It is really not fair to make blanket condemnations about "failure" to keep rpomises when we don't really know the landscape of the entire situation. It is not an excuse, it is a fact of life, a fact at all levels...

BTW, I wasn't fired and actually had my salary increased by 60% over the next year after the arrival of the Controller. I also had the satisfaction, when I did decide to move on, of having the Controller thank me and tell me I had really "saved his ass" several times during our time working together. Knowledge is powerful; supposition is not...


<O>