A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library. ~Shelby Foote

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Tags for Prez

No sooner do I get Troy on board for the Taglibue in '08 campaign, when Rod tries to crash the party with a reality check:

Tags for Prez... You Can't be Serious!!! as JM would say....
1. Lawyer
2. Control Freak
3. manipulative game player for wealth and power
4. Lawyer
5. Did I mention he was a Lawyer????

THe whole Idea was to find someone DIFFERENT, for ggovernment to get OUT of peoples lives, for someone who worked for the people not for the power... and you all get immediately blinded becuase he runs the NFL... yes I love the NFL as well but have you guys taken leave of your senses???? YOU CANT BE SERIOUS!

I am serious, and don't call me Shirley. The fact that Tags is a lawyer does not automatically disqualify him. Our candidate has to be both an outsider AND capable of actually getting something done once he or she is elected despite the complete impossibility of such a thing happening. Tough nut, but I think Tags fits the bill-- he is a lawyer and a successful manager, which gives him cred in Congress (which he will very much need), he has managed to keep the NFL Players Union and the owners happy without destroying his league (which neither David Stern nor Bud Selig nor whoever it is that runs the NHL have managed to do), and I don't mind a control freak in office when he won't have at his disposable any of the political apparatus a Republican or Democrat has upon inaugaration. In fact, I think a strong case can be made that you NEED a control freak in that position-- anyone who isn't will quickly be swallowed whole by the Washingtonian bureaucracy.

And does anyone really think a President can survive, much less prosper, in today's political world unless he or she is a "manipulative game player for wealth and power"? I don't. The key thing is to find somebody who can play those games but didn't cut his or her teeth on those particular versions of the games that are found in Washington.

In all of the things that he has done in his life, Tagliabue has shown himself capable of well-representing his client. When he becomes President, we become his client. He works for us, and will be far more aware of that than anybody coming out of the Democratic or Republican parties, who see themselves as working for the party and the special interests the party represents. Certainly Tagliabue won't be beholdin' to the unions or the oil companies or any of the other thousands of PACs and good 'ole boy networks that constitute 90% of today's politics.

I still think Tags is an excellent candidate-- but if you don't like him, Rodney, who would you suggest? I figure we have until about the middle of summer to settle on someone. Then it's pedal to the metal to get the word out to folks, as it will likely take a year just to convince people we all aren't total nutjobs.

P.S. temps, as much as I concede that you are an intelligent, well-read, astute individual you are not, with all due respect, Presidential material at this time. By which I mean, there is no real way to sell you to people, not that I don't think you could handle the job. Whoever the candidate is, he or she has to already have name recognition unless you can convince Bill Gates to fork over $100 million, in which case we'd propably have the time and money to make pretty much anyone recognizable in time for '08.

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Comments:
Nick, you gotta get on the TC Train.

Reality Check:

PROS

"Get things done?" Check. As an architect, I'm responsible for bringing together all of the different parties, engineers, clients, and so on, balancing the legal requirements of codes and zoning, the practical requirements of budgets and functional programming, and still managing, at the end of the day, to get a functional building built.

"manipulative game player" can we substitute egotistica lcontrol freak with a God complex?

"well representing his client?" Hey, it's the lifeblood of my business.

AND, as a small business owner, I've got the populist angle in spades. Check out how architects rate to the general populace for trust and respect: we're generally up there in or near the top ten, up there with doctors and judges.

"Gettiing something done in the face of complete impossiblity?' Check. I have shepherded the first Historic Preservation job in the City of Milwaukee to be APPROVED with aluminum replacement windows, and I have successfully argued variance to code requirements at City, State, and Federal levels. Can't fight City Hall? Let me try!


CONS:

"intelligent, astute, well-read", well, thanks for the props, but ya got me there. As the current resident so aptly demonstrates, this is certainly not a prerequisite fo the job.

"Lack of gravitas" I would probably use the 'Don't Call Me SHirley line in a debate.

raw danger. When faced with an egregious squeezebag like Tom Delay, I am afraid I might snap his neck with a spin crescent kick. I'm testing for my 1st degree black belt in Taekwondo this weekend, and the self defense aspect of this stuff is pretty knee-jerk.

'name recognition' Well, it's not a household name, yet. But it is a nice, simple wholesome Midwestern name.

Bill Gates, maybe not. But I've been a Mac-heads for 20 years; maybe I can get Steve Jobs to kick a little scratch.


I'll take on Tagliabue. And I'll take Senator Clinton as my VP just to get the wingnuts in a frenzy.


Nick, get on board now and you can be Director of Homeland Security. You'll love playing with the color charts.
 
Dude,

How do I convince somebody in Connecticut or Texas or Oregon to forego his or her vote for a major party candidate for some architect in Wisconsin they've never heard of? Not happening unless you get Mr. Jobs to kick in $1 million or more in seed money. Then I'll be on the TC campaign train. Short of that, I ask you to consider jumpin' on my train-- if we all work together I think something useful could be accomplished.

If you really think Tagliabue is a poor choice, who would you suggest? Seriously. The criteria is: 1) Name recognition, 2)Viable candidate, 3)Would actually be able to govern if he/she won, 4)Charismatic.
 
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