If he had accepted defeat against Al Franken, even if he feels that 226 ballots were unfairly counted, he could have sat back, quietly began campaigning for a rematch in 2014, and most likely would have won in a landslide.
Now, he has basically committed political suicide. If he "wins" by convincing the State or US Supreme Courts to overturn the election results, as slim as they are, then he is basically thumbing his nose at the electoral process, the root of representative democracy.
Better to pull an Al Gore, strongly disagree but step aside, and in four or six years, have TV talk show hosts begging him to run.
Now, I think the damage is done. People will not forget this, especially if Democrats are smart enough to hire a PR firm in 2014. I say right now, win or lose in 2008, Norm Coleman loses huge in 2014.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
It's not you, it's me
My Panda Express fortune cookie yesterday told me, “Be patient, and good things will come.”
Being unemployed is, no denying, a bit stressful, not knowing when (or if) you’ll ever have another paycheck, when (or if) you’ll ever again be a contributing member of society.
But, it’s not all bad. There are a few positives:
-- You get to grocery shop during the day, when the shelves are stocked. Mostly.
-- You get to read ahead for your book club(s).
-- You get to hear the music-box version of “Arkansas Traveler”, as the ice cream man drives slowly up and down the parking lot of your apartment complex before jumping to the complex next door. Every day. For what seems like hours (okay, this is more of a curse, especially when you are trying to make phone calls to prospective new employers, but it was fun humming along on Day 1).
But as anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of the “it’s not you, it’s me” speech can attest, being unemployed practically begs for a time of introspection.
You’re first reaction is, “You’re right. It is you, and not me.”
But at some point, you have to ask yourself, “Well, maybe I do suck. Maybe I deserved to be cut. Maybe I need to think through, am I good enough to be doing what I’m doing?”
Those of you who know me, know that I have never been accused of being under-analytical. I think about things, a lot. I research things. I want to know how things work. I sometimes get bored watching movies on DVDs because I want to go straight to the Behind the Scenes and Director’s Commentary.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Me. Who am I? What am I? Who do I want to be? What do I want to do?
Turns out, on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator scale, I am best characterized as, “Introverted / Intuitive / Feeling / Judging.” My fellow INFJ brothers and sisters, including former President Jimmy Carter, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and TV’s Tom Sellick and Evangeline Lilly, comprise only 1% of the population, making us the most unique of the 16 personality types. We’re not going to take over the world through sheer numbers, but we may just take over the world by our passionate activism, our dogged adherence to our values, and our desire for orderly and efficient systems.
Well and good, I can definitely see these traits in me, but part of me wonders if the MBTI scores are somewhat like reading your horoscope. You cannot escape when you were born, so you are permanently identified with your astrological sign; the logical result is that you project your experiences onto whatever characteristics “define” your sign: “I’m a Crab, but I’m deathly allergic to shellfish. I loved ‘The Little Mermaid,’ though, so yeah, I get it!” (NOTE: I have not read my horoscope in over 30 years, so I have no idea which astrological sign is associated with liking sea food.)
Turns out, this healthy skepticism is a trait of INFJers.
According to the ‘net, good career choices for INFJ types include Writing (I promise to finish my screenplay soon; in the meantime, enjoy my blog!), Clergy (I really enjoyed teaching Sunday School and hope to do so again soon), and…
…Market Research Analyst. Which is what I have been doing, and come to think of it, am pretty good at.
So yes, when you say, “it’s not you, it’s me,” I agree.
Being unemployed is, no denying, a bit stressful, not knowing when (or if) you’ll ever have another paycheck, when (or if) you’ll ever again be a contributing member of society.
But, it’s not all bad. There are a few positives:
-- You get to grocery shop during the day, when the shelves are stocked. Mostly.
-- You get to read ahead for your book club(s).
-- You get to hear the music-box version of “Arkansas Traveler”, as the ice cream man drives slowly up and down the parking lot of your apartment complex before jumping to the complex next door. Every day. For what seems like hours (okay, this is more of a curse, especially when you are trying to make phone calls to prospective new employers, but it was fun humming along on Day 1).
But as anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of the “it’s not you, it’s me” speech can attest, being unemployed practically begs for a time of introspection.
You’re first reaction is, “You’re right. It is you, and not me.”
But at some point, you have to ask yourself, “Well, maybe I do suck. Maybe I deserved to be cut. Maybe I need to think through, am I good enough to be doing what I’m doing?”
Those of you who know me, know that I have never been accused of being under-analytical. I think about things, a lot. I research things. I want to know how things work. I sometimes get bored watching movies on DVDs because I want to go straight to the Behind the Scenes and Director’s Commentary.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Me. Who am I? What am I? Who do I want to be? What do I want to do?
Turns out, on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator scale, I am best characterized as, “Introverted / Intuitive / Feeling / Judging.” My fellow INFJ brothers and sisters, including former President Jimmy Carter, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and TV’s Tom Sellick and Evangeline Lilly, comprise only 1% of the population, making us the most unique of the 16 personality types. We’re not going to take over the world through sheer numbers, but we may just take over the world by our passionate activism, our dogged adherence to our values, and our desire for orderly and efficient systems.
Well and good, I can definitely see these traits in me, but part of me wonders if the MBTI scores are somewhat like reading your horoscope. You cannot escape when you were born, so you are permanently identified with your astrological sign; the logical result is that you project your experiences onto whatever characteristics “define” your sign: “I’m a Crab, but I’m deathly allergic to shellfish. I loved ‘The Little Mermaid,’ though, so yeah, I get it!” (NOTE: I have not read my horoscope in over 30 years, so I have no idea which astrological sign is associated with liking sea food.)
Turns out, this healthy skepticism is a trait of INFJers.
According to the ‘net, good career choices for INFJ types include Writing (I promise to finish my screenplay soon; in the meantime, enjoy my blog!), Clergy (I really enjoyed teaching Sunday School and hope to do so again soon), and…
…Market Research Analyst. Which is what I have been doing, and come to think of it, am pretty good at.
So yes, when you say, “it’s not you, it’s me,” I agree.
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