Don't Blink Twice, It's Alright

I don't really want to comment on the US Elections (but I will anyway). In her interview with Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin was asked if she had any hesitation about accepting the role of Vice President. She said not, and emphasised this by asserting that "you can't blink" in these kinds of situations. Implying that you have to act immediately.

Well she's wrong. The sign of a good leader (in any walk of life)is not one who acts without thinking but one who acts intelligently and with reason. The Canadian election has provided examples of people acting "without blinking" in the form of e-mails and press releases. They have lived to regret it.

I have never read Sun Tzu's fabled "Art of War" but I'm willing to bet that one of the pieces of advice isn't "act immediately with no fore-thought". Politics (once you are in power) is a game of chess, but too many of today's politicians think that boasting about their lack of thought is an electoral asset. The worrying thing is that they might just be right.

Interesting Times?

There is an old Chinese curse that goes "May you live in interesting times". Well the folks in the USA are currently doing so in their election. A gripping, historic campaign that offers genuine choice between the two (or 3 if you count Palin) candidates. The downside to that is the huge swathes of resentment and antipathy that are being built up on either side and will surely unleash itself as anger and mistrust from whichever side loses.

Here in Canada we have no such problems. The whole agenda of all the parties seems to be "let's not make this too interesting". I hate the bland nature of what Canadian politicians represent but maybe, just maybe, it's for the best.