Curses

Second term presidents never have an easy time. Reagan had the Iran-Contra scandal, Clinton had Monica Lewinsky, George W. Bush had the slog of Iraq and the economic collapse and now Barack Obama has Benghazi, the IRS and the snooping on the Associated Press by the Justice Department. All of these presidents survived the curse of the second term, but I think it is fair to say that being in the White House those last four years was no fun and added wrinkles and gray hair.

President Obama and his staff are scrambling to respond to legitimate questions about administrative incompetence, paranoia, and outright illegality. The Republicans in Congress, Fox News and the conservative right are correctly having a field day as they tell their followers that Barack Obama is showing his true colors and that the government is indeed really dangerous.

Individually these scandals do not add up to what some hope will end in the House Judiciary Committee writing a bill of particulars for an impeachment of # 44. But the more we hear about the failures of Benghazi, the more it appears that there is less there than the Republicans had hoped. Sure, there was gross incompetence, tragic response delays, bureaucratic infighting, and some political word play that was unnecessary. But a cover-up is a stretch.

The IRS going after the Tea Party was just plain stupid and the work of a gang of operatives anxious to go after a thorn in the President’s side. But it is important to point out that tax lawyers and tax professors readily admit that the federal tax code, in particular the section 501(c)-4 that governs groups like the various Tea Party affiliates is vague enough that some agents might want to chalk up administrative points by targeting these groups. Nevertheless, the IRS was setting itself up for a huge fall and should have been paying more attention to recouping the illegal portion of the $ 20 trillion in offshore accounts rather than the giving the Tea Party a hard time.

Finally, the Justice Department going after the Associated Press and its phone logs to spy on their contacts is perhaps the most serious act contributing to the second term Obama curse. The official justification is that there was concern over a national security issue involving a potential terrorist attack in Yemen, but there is enough contradictory evidence that this was all about stopping leaks and going after the “leakers”. Again a stupid move and likely illegal.

Since most Americans are not 24/7 cable watchers and the economy is looking brighter, these curses can be handled with some outright firings and a forthright president who doesn’t stonewall or mumble through a news conference. But as with past presidents, the second term is supposed to be about finishing up unfinished business and developing a positive legacy. But what usually happens is that second or third tier administrators gum up the works and tarnish the president and the presidency. But as President Harry Truman said, ” The Buck Stops Here”, meaning Barack Obama has some answering to do.

Burial Plot

Where to bury, Suspect # 1, the Chechen terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev, that is the question? Outrage over the horrific acts attributed to Tsarnaev is so strong in these parts that officials and funeral home directors are finding it impossible to put this guy in the ground.

A solution was nearly reached to bury Tsarnaev in a prison yard, but that fell through, the family back home is claiming poverty and believes their son was framed, and in the meantime talk radio is alive with the most hate-filled diatribes against any sort of burial compromise that permits Tsarnaev from lying in Massachusetts soil.

An argument can me made that a civilized society buries even the most hated humans, but the hurt of the attack on Marathon Monday is so raw that any thoughts about being civilized are pushed aside. This guy is a mass murderer and deserves nothing, not even a burial.

So what to do – throw his body off a boat, find someone in Canada who will find an open hole in a remote area, leave him in the funeral home until the opposition subsides, or just bury him in a cemetary and let his grave be vandalized on a daily basis?

I am sure that an answer will surface sometime soon, but the question that needs to be asked is whether the protests are representative of the vast majority of people in this state or just the views of revenge seekers trying to gain attention?

After that horrific bombing, we in Massachusetts prided ourselves as people who showed our best side as we helped the injured, gave blood, comforted those in shock and banded together to show the world that we are Boston Strong.

Burying this guy is not a sign of weakness or compassion or liberal angst; rather burying him is also part of the healing process. So in the dead of night my view is to take Tsarnaev out to some secluded spot, drop him in an unmarked grave and move on to support the living, not allowing ourselves to be consumed with the burial of a dead terrorist.

A Good Story

Electoral politics is not only about issues,organization and of course money, lots of money. Electoral politics, at least in this age of media 24/7 cable scrutiny, is also about image, schmoozing and a good storyline.

Gabriel Gomez surprised a lot of pundits in Massachusetts with his substantial victory in the Republican primary. But there shouldn’t have been a surprise, because Gomez had the three key ingredients for success ( at least in a lackluster primary fight against two bland opponents) – he projected a fresh image, he knew how to talk to people about his governing vision and he had a great story to tell about himself. All those critics who said he had a weak command of the issues really didn’t understand the dynamics of current campaign strategy. Oh, and by the way, Gomez had a pretty large bucket of money to spend.

The Republican Party both here in Massachusetts and across the country is looking for the “right” people to run for office and they are likely doing cartwheels over Gomez – son of immigrants, a Navy SEAL, a successful businessman and matinee idol looks. It doesn’t get any better.

When you put Gabriel Gomez up next to the Democratic candidate Ed Markey, there is no contest in terms of image, people skills and storyline. Markey looks like he has been in the House for 36 years. his people skills are weak ( his commercials were to say the least sub-par), and his life story is that he’s a Washington lifer. It doesn’t get any worse than that.

So is Gabriel Gomez the next US Senator from Massachusetts? I don’t think so. Somewhere along the line in a campaign in a heavily Democratic and liberal state, candidates must show that they have positions on key issues, but more importantly that they know what they are talking about. Gomez will have a lot of late night cramming sessions to prepare for the finals and can’t just smile his way through a debate. Markey has the experience and issue familiarity to cut through the image, the schmoozing and the storyline of the GOP’s new fresh face.

It will be interesting to see this race unfold as youth takes on age, inexperience takes on experience, and a good life story takes on the usual stuff of Washington politics.

The Prague Identity

My wife and I were in Prague, the Czech Republic last summer and had a wonderful time. But contrary to thousands of tweets and other social media contacts, we were not in the homeland of Suspect # 1 and Suspect # 2, the Tsarnaev brothers.

You see Americans have a profound inability to comprehend geography and can’t understand that there is a difference between the Czech Republic and Chechnya. Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic,while Grozny is the capital of Chechnya.

This may seem like a minor issue compared to the tragic and horrific events of the Boston Marathon day, but the ignorance of the American public with respect to geography prompted to Czech Ambassador to the United States to send out a press release telling the American public that his country is in Europe not the North Caucasus and that his country is an independent nation, while Chechnya is part of the Russian Federation and continues to struggle for independence.

This mistaken identity about the Czech Republic was only one of many errors in reporting or discussing the events of that terrible day and its aftermath. I guess it can be understood that in the fog of a terrorist attack people will make mistakes or misjudgments. But sometimes those mistakes and misjudgments cause harm, to innocent individuals, such as the Saudi national who was named as a “person of interest” and then released or in this case an entire nation branded as the home of the terrorists.

If there was a lighter side to this geography misstep it was the satirical Internet story that Sarah Palin was calling for an invasion of Prague to teach those Chechens a lesson about the power of the US and our commitment to combat terrorism. Sarah didn’t call for the invasion but she didn’t have to as the social media was filled with similar calls for invading Prague.

I would recommend you travel to Prague, it is a great city, and once more it is in Europe and not part of the Russian Federation and most importantly it is not the homeland of the Tsarnaev brothers.

” I Don’t Understand Them.”

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26 year old Chechen immigrant better known as Suspect # 1, who died in a hail of bullets early this morning, was a quiet guy who apparently, according to the few people who knew him, just didn’t fit in to American society and American life.  He confided to one of his few acquaintances that Americans were different; he was heard to say once – ” I don’t understand them.”

Tamerlan’s younger brother, Dzhokhar, was described by friends as generous and easy to get along with. ” Normal” was a word often used to describe Suspect # 2. Dzhokhar was on the wrestling team at Cambridge Ringe and Latin High School and was a student at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Nothing out of the ordinary, no warning signs, no telltale jihadist tendencies.

But I have a pretty good hunch that when the police comb through the laptop and cell phones of these two terrorists they will find bookmarks for radical Islamist clerics or al Qaeda websites, perhaps pirated DVD’s  that preach fanatical hatred of the West. Probably in the dark of night at home these two brothers were building up their anger and their courage.

Chechen rebels have been fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and have shown up in Iraq and Syria as well. The Chechens have engaged in a decades long battle with the Russians, who beat them into submission with overwhelming force. But Russian force has not stopped terrorists from attacking Moscow, and even a grade school where hundreds of children died.

These two men who seemed on the surface to be fitting in to American society, their dastardly acts signal that they were leading a double life and using their outwardly American lifestyle as a cover for their terrorist plans.

In hindsight, the fact that Tamerlan Tsarnaev said that he didn’t “understand” Americans was a kind of tip-off that beneath the surface something was askew, and the fact that Dzhokhar was friendly but had few friends begins to a put together the profile of two lone wolf terrorists -quiet, alienated, secretive, out of place, and most of a cauldron of anger in their dark souls.

What Kind of Person?

In the aftermath of the Marathon terrorist attack, the loss of innocent life, the horrendous carnage, the compassion and heroism of first responders are front and center in our minds and hearts. But as the investigation of his cowardly act moves forward, the question that will likely surface is, what kind of person would do something like this?

I am sure that police authorities are trying to gather all the bits and pieces of evidence as they look for the killer, but they and we already know something about this person or group of persons. A terrorist, either international or domestic, is someone who is filled with anger and hate directed at the United States government, but it is much more than the anti-government anger, it is anger and hatred directed at the idea of the United States.

We are a nation of free people, generous people, law-abiding people, peaceable people who live in a country with a democratic government, an open government, a government not controlled  by a dictator or all-powerful leader.

This terrorist is likely someone who may justify the anger and hatred because of some action taken by the US government, but in reality the thirst to kill people standing and watching a race is really about an insane refusal to accept our way of life, our values, our dreams. This country is a threat to the killer  not just because we are involved in a global war on terror, but more importantly because we are a people that won’t change the idea of America and submit to some warped vision of a fanatical alternative.

With anger and hatred goes fear – the view of the killer that this heinous act will somehow strike fear into the American people and force us to cower and apologize. What is great about America is that we are a pretty fearless and resilient people who are don’t cower or apologize.  So for a time after the bombing, the people in Boston and indeed throughout the country were afraid, afraid of the unknown. But as the hundreds of stories of people helping people emerge, it is quite clear that fear was short-lived and was replaced with determination and national pride.

The terrorist did achieve the brutal goal of venting anger, releasing hatred and stirring up fear but the outcome of the attack at the Marathon was to renew the spirit of the American way and commit Americans to never change the way they live, the principles that they hold dear or the manner in which they govern this great country.

 

A terrorist

Branding

In the world of marketing branding a product is often the key to success. In today’s global economy having an international brand is increasingly critical for the bottom line.

Coca-Cola, for example, has had a difficult year in its US and European markets because of the growing disinterest in sugary products and a saturation of its consumer base. But Coke is not down in the dumps because it has had a good year in the emerging markets of the world – a 12% increase in sales in Turkey and a 13% increase in Russia. Similar solid sales figures can be found throughout the developing world. You can travel to some of the most remote places on earth and see that Coke sign. Branding

I got a fresh reminder of branding when I was sitting in an outdoor cafe in Istanbul. A group of university students came over to talk and when they found out I was from Boston, they in unison shouted ” Celtics”, and then proceeded to name the players. They were especially excited about Rajon Rondo, who despite being out for the season, was their favorite. Branding.

Later on as I strolled through the marketplace, I passed a sports equipment store and there to my surprise was a full length poster of Kevin Garnett, right next to a poster of Barcelona’s  soccer living legend, Lionel Messi. Branding.

We all know that the Celtics brand is secure in these parts, even though the ” Green Machine” is a shell of its former self. But it Istanbul, excitement over Rajon Rondo and a poster of Kevin Garnett proves the power of international branding.  I didn’t see anyone with a Celtics shirt on, but I am sure that there are Turks somewhere in the country that have bought into the brand.

One other brand that caught my eye. Again, the Turkish university students were joyous over the Celtics as they chain-smoked Marlboros. It is not an exaggeration that many Turkish young people are smokers and there doesn’t seem to be any national health campaign to dissuade them. Needless to say, the executives at Marlboro must be doing cartwheels when they see the sales of their brand in Turkey.

It is no secret that people around the world love our brands and want to use our brands in order to ” feel” American. This so-called soft power of our popular culture is our secret weapon and of course a key foundation of our corporate global strategy.  An argument can be made that we have indeed conquered the world, not with our military, but with our brands. Go Celtics.