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October 17, 2008
Trading Places: Christopher Buckley, WAC?
These arresting days of late 2008 may be some of America's best.
Unless we learn, in the next 18 days, that in fact John McCain spearheaded a white slavery operation in Southeast Asia during the six years he was supposed to have been a prisoner of the North Vietnamese, I will vote for McCain to be my next president. My vote will be cast with many reservations and--for the first time in my life--for a Republican presidential candidate.
Try not to demonize me--or any one else who is trying hard to get it right this election year. Barack Obama, as talented as he is, struck me again and again as the new Jimmy Carter: smart, good and yes a great man--and likely an ineffective leader once in office. Carter, at least, was not untested. In Obama's case, I listened but couldn't buy the Kennedy-lite "change now" noises from a gifted young guy who has never managed anything except for his brilliant and historical
Chris Buckley: Vote pairing with Dan Hull?
campaign. Sure, other nations, particularly EU countries, will like Obama. His U.S. Supreme Court appointments would be more to my liking. But I'd prefer Obama's tough but soulful wife, Michelle, as my next president. I seek leaders who are a bit more engaged, and can get angry. Obama is currently not one of them. In six years, Obama will be well shy of 60, and he can start running for president again then.
By then, Obama can get his mojo working, if he has one. Or his wife can run.
Sarah Palin is a Ditz, you say? How can I do this? Answer: we've had at least 3 ditz presidents in my lifetime. Ronald Reagan was the first, and on intellect he makes Palin seem like Harvard's Alan Dershowitz, just in a really cute dress. Look, Palin's not my cup of tea, but she's one of the most talented politicians you'll ever see anywhere. Don't oversimplify or underestimate her. She's going to be around a long time. Make room for her, don't demonize her. Palin's no cartoon. Besides, if you really think she's not "smart enough", she's lots of fun to just watch.
More interestingly and importantly, however, a major conservative has crossed over to the "dark side", albeit a different one than I just did. Christopher Buckley is William F. Buckley's son, a small government conservative and fine, established novelist and journalist in his own right. Two days ago he announced his support for Barack Obama. He offered his resignation from his position on his dad's The National Review--which accepted it. See WSJ. Buckley the Younger's offending piece and reasons for supporting Obama are found in The Daily Beast, in "Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama".
If you are a Republican, or a libertarian, please don't demonize Buckley, either. Buckley is refusing to be defined by personal ties, traditional conservative doctrine, and life-long identification with The Right. He sees Obama as a fresh and superior thinker, and a temperate problem-solver: a kind of a new age Philosopher-King. I think Buckley is wrong--but it just doesn't matter. I'd love to have dinner with Chris Buckley. If that happens, we promise in advance not to demonize or oversimplify anyone, except perhaps in jest.
Which brings me to the point, a happy one.
Get used to it: Palin's going places.
The mean-spirited and, I think, often mindless Reagan Revolution, which arrived in DC like an angry sandstorm in January 1981, is officially over. During those 28 years, no one helped the national dialogue along that much. True, Republicans made things personal, moral and cast in absolutes. But my mostly Democrat and limousine liberal friends were also busy making sure that the First Amendment became a joke and a nightmare; you couldn't safely use words like chairman, stewardess, girl, secretary, "Chinese wall" or Indian, or tell the receptionist she looked great, without having Geraldo, Nancy Grace and National Public Radio live in your front yard for a few days. Some of us wanted to evolve at our own unenlightened pace.
You also had to be nice to, accommodate and otherwise be careful with mediocre and arguably lazy people in the workplace. No energy, drive, gospel or values about work itself became the norm. "Adequate": that was the new "excellent".
But I think these political and economic events of these arresting days--late 2008--will do some very good things: (1) dismantle cookie-cutter definitions of what Rs and Ds stand for, and (2) modify notions of what government (thanks for buying all my banks, guys)--and markets--can and can't do. Americans may finally talk and solve problems without freeze-dried ideologies, party "identification", routine character assassination, and pop mantras being the main events and passions in their conversations--and the very source of their "ideas". Our politicians, "idea" tanks, mass media and U.S. television news--e.g., Fox and MSNBC--in particular have been doing just that.
Special note: Television news is supposed to give you information, not tell you what to think, or how to vote.
If you need a template to worship (i.e., organized religion), okay, fine. Faith is the hardest--not to mention often the most dangerous--activity for humans. But religion, and spirituality, is something we can do alone. We engage in politics, however, with one another; you can't do it fully in private, and you participate on the basis of reliable information presented fairly. When we start taking cues from the best-sounding available scripts by media-on-a-mission on how to vote, and how to govern ourselves, we are in really trouble.
A suggestion. American media would do well to get back in its box and, to the extent humanly possible, report facts and stop giving cues. U.S. journalists, including broadcast people, are some of the best educated, most traveled and admirably pedigreed citizens in the world. Hey, you folks know better. You do have some responsibilities to your less-polished viewers and readers.
It's going to happen anyway. People will start to think for themselves--and stop relying on the media, forced-PC cultures in all camps, party lines and platforms to instruct them on how they must think and feel. We need a New Conversation, free of certitude, either moral or intellectual, and worthy of the subtleties and complexities of the world we face.
Dinner, anyone?
Posted by JD Hull at 05:33 AM | Comments (1)
October 16, 2008
Law firm directories as lame and musts-to-avoid.
Read Larry Bodine's "Only 3% of Legal Work is Influenced by Directories". And see our August post "Martindale-Hubbell: Should we all 'just say no'?". Note: after "just say no" was written, Hull McGuire promptly re-upped with M-H anyway. Our hypocrisies have no bounds.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)
A new era of credit market Mega-Litigation?
According to Lord Falconer, the UK's former Lord Chancellor (the current one is Jack Straw), a kind of "mega-litigation" born of the global credit crisis is coming to a forum near you. Last month in London, following the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing, Falconer said before the Legal Week Litigation Forum: “There is going to be litigation on a scale that we have not seen before.” Resist the urge to salivate but do see Justin Patten's Human Mediation.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 03:46 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2008
You want to keep what you have?
1. Represent only clients you "like".
2. The client is the main event.
3. Make sure everyone in your firm knows the client is the main event.
4. Deliver legal work that changes the way clients think about lawyers.
5. Over-communicate: bombard, copy and confirm.
6. When you work, you are marketing.
7. Know the client.
8. Think like the client--help control costs.
9. Be there for clients--24/7.
10. Be accurate, thorough and timely--but not perfect.
11. Treat each co-worker like he or she is your best client.
12. Have fun.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2008
We'll take it.
AP: "World stock markets soar after last week's rout". IHT: Wall Street, too. So a massive flood of government money is a good thing? Well, I'll be. Good morning, American workers. Comrade Paulson speaking.
Update: For now, governments' buying banks and brokerages pays off. Today closed with a record surge of 936 points on Dow Jones industrial average and S&P index gain of over 11%. Paris and Frankfurt markets also do well. See NYT. Cautious and practical free trader WAC? may seek post in new U.S. Department of Correct Thoughts and Lifestyles, as its first Secretary. But will settle for Undersecretary, Sector B.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Speaking of ADR
Boston's Diane Levin, obviously put here on earth to make up for some of the rest of us, hosts Blawg Review this week at The Mediation Channel. Our take on mediation for commercial disputes: it's rarely a waste of money, especially if you are about to go to trial. Spend the money. Get a reality check. Think of it as a mock trial.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:41 PM | Comments (2)
European Schadenfreude.
For a week or so, anyway. London's The Economist, America's tough but appreciative new Mom, ran this gem on October 1, which begins:
One by one, European leaders have lined up to hail the triumph of welfare over Wall Street. “The idea that markets are always right was a mad idea,” declared the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. America’s laissez-faire ideology, as practised during the subprime crisis, “was as simplistic as it was dangerous,” chipped in Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister.
And then Europe had a really bad week last week.
Photo: "Statue Garnier" by M. Daniel Schteingart
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)