Reality Sets In

The election is over, one of the most thrilling and expensive spectacles seen today, a nail biting event for some that ended with an outstanding loss for the challenger (and the super-rich), all the more amazing considering that about $ 800 million was spent to unseat the incumbent and grab control of the upper chamber. Instead, the data driven campaign of the incumbent functioned like a machine, each tasks meticulously planned in advance and executed without emotion, like a leviathan inevitably succeeding due to its massive movement.  Wealthy conservatives were astounded: people like Donald Trump, Jack Welch and Karl Rove were victims of reality as the country moved towards the Democrats despite their best efforts to engineer an upset. But their forecast was not supported by polling data, the incumbent leading in all the swing states, notwithstanding the poor performance in the first debate, a well-planned ambush that triggered a sudden move to moderation by the challenger. All for naught as the fundamental truths have not changed despite the horse race in the national polls.

Until now I read everything about the election despite its completion last Tuesday, a political junkie forever enthralled by the analysis of the pundits, borrowing more books and DVDs to deepen understanding. Last week was a milestone for me: the election and victory of the incumbent, the completion of a network event where I delivered a short talk (less than 5 minutes), installation of software in a new environment, significant progress in my other project, golf in the weekend plus watching the new James Bond movie. Life in the new house is also pleasant, more space – physically and mentally, where everything is where I had planned as if all my past furniture was bought for this particular area in the new home. It’s as if everything is now falling into place that I realized that my physical journey has ended. The journey started with my move to Singapore in 2002, living in a condominium (5 years) then a government flat (2 years), then my move to USA; living in a townhouse (3+ years) and, finally, a purchase of a house that I feel I have turned full circle.

The remaining mission is to complete my journey and be a novelist. It’s like the year is settling toward a predestined conclusion: becoming a project manager, completing the projects planned for the year, progressing as a Toastmaster (35 speech projects), visiting New York and meeting old friends, moving house and finally being a writer. The political victory of the incumbent was like a talisman, someone I had studied for a while, reading his books and following his career plus the political events of this country – an activity I have been doing since my youth, before moving here and, finally, witnessing first hand – his growth seeming to mirror my own meager progress. I have learned enough that nothing will add or detract from what I already know – it is no longer the numerous factoids that interest me but the living of life. But serenity has not come yet; I have trouble sleeping recently, my mind churning with ideas that I am forced to meditate; to control my thoughts but to no avail. I seldom do my morning Tai Chi, leaving early for the rush to work, losing sleep; mind and body persisting in disequilibrium – preferring imbalance than balance; thus preventing a return inward.

Disconnected

Yesterday my internet and cable service was mistakenly dis-connected; I had already lost my phone service last week.  It all started when I called the cable company to plan in advance, trying to do a good deed and have everything ready before the big move, explaining explicitly I thought, that I would be moving on the 20th or 21st of September which is safely two weeks away. But being clever and prepared is not a good thing; the company went out and dis-connected the service almost immediately. Morons do exist in all corporations, lying in wait like Laurel and Hardy ready to play havoc on one’s best laid plans. So one comes home after work without cable and internet, which is a catastrophe for some folks, and just hope for the best, drinking bourbon on the rocks. So I spent time last night and most of this morning working with the company to get back my services but to no avail. The best that can be done to re-connect my services is next week on 13 September. Just in time for my wife to be back home. At least I got my bill down by about $ 20 dollars.

I missed the president’s acceptance speech last night at the Democrat convention in nearby Charlotte, North Carolina. At least I was able to see some clips of Bill Clinton’s speech the other night, which was really a performance; one will not see the likes of him or even of Obama for a long time. The game is on in the  coming weeks all the way to election time, a political event that I have been reading about since I was a young man, watching movies and reading books back in Asia, comparing the event with local politics back home. Now I have a chance to experience it first-hand. I recall my first reading of American politics in Theodore White’s ‘The Making of a President’ series especially his book on the Kennedy election. This introduction led me to other books like David Halberstam’s ‘The Best and the Brightest’, also about the Kennedy years. The fact is John F. Kennedy is probably the first candidate to run for a presidential election in an intelligent and calculating way - against all odds, against an intelligent incumbent politician like Richard Nixon who was no slouch himself, and win. His victory became a template for ascending politicians like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

I guess it says something that recent Republican candidates are wealthy people, scions or married to partners from successful or wealthy families (both Bushes, McCain and Romney) excepting Nixon and Reagan while the Democrats excepting Kennedy and John Kerry, have risen from the ranks though Carter was a peanut farmer. But the argument does not really hold though recent memory seems to confirm this observation especially Obama and Clinton who have risen from nothing, using their own brilliance to strive ahead. So the support from extremely wealthy people for Republicans shows a clear bias in this election that some game is afoot. When my cable service was cut, my initial thought was a deliberate act to prevent people from watching Obama’s speech. I guess stress and paranoia and conspiracy theories come together. Happily I was not pissed off on losing my connection and being out of the grid. Instead I prepared dinner of minced meat cooked with garlic, onions, tomatoes and potatoes, watched the video movie Doctor Faustus, dozed off and read the chic literature on Brooklyn mothers. What a waste!


Early this morning I woke up early, took down my MP3 player and radio, connect it to a speaker and listened to NPR boradcast. At least I was not completely cut off. I made my way to work, slightly late, called the cable company and prepared for my meeting, which turned out well. Later I borrowed a MIFI unit and prepared for a weekend without cable television but with a plan to connect to the internet and complete my assignments on the online courses. It may not be that bad after all being disconnected.

Back from Chicago

I arrived at around 8 pm local time. The trip back was uneventful, leaving the office at about 1:30 pm and driving to Chicago Midway airport under dark skies, following the highway leading back to the city, seeing signs that lead to Wisconsin or Indiana, aware of the historic places nearby like Springfield where both Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama declared their run for the presidency, aware of Grant Park in downtown where Obama made his first appearance after winning the election, passing by Chicago suburbs with their large homes and the straight lines of streets with ball parks and schools, thinking that Ernest Hemingway grew up nearby, in similar surroundings, seeing the diversity where an African-American can be elected as Senator and eventually as President, recalling reading in the papers this morning of the GOP debates and their attacks, wishing to visit these historic places, maybe a little stop before going to the airport, but deciding against it, to get caught in traffic and rushing to get to the plane - a possible nightmare, some other time when the weather is better.

One makes these trips to see places, to experience new things, to discover and learn, following the Confucian principle of travel, to read and to write as a way to refinement, something I read in the book I just finished called ‘Tide Players’, but realizing that one does not have spare time during these business trips unlike in Asia, instead the value is the meals with the project team, eating excellent food for dinner or lunch, telling stories and sharing experiences, to get to know one another, to work together and solve problems in different circumstances; the joy is traveling together and working together, a communal activity and not the solitary diversion of a tourist; sneaking to visit places in one’s free time, avoiding the natural slowness of moving with a team, instead adjusting to the rhythm of the group, solving problems collectively, it’s the true value of these business trips despite the routine of hotel – office – restaurant  - hotel, a boring cycle day in day out for the few days on site, but one must not miss the real importance:  the formal intimacy of working with different sets of people and learning from them.

The business leader is a Northerner who grew up in Long Island, New York, a Jets fan, deciding to study in South Carolina, meeting his wife and settling down, preferring the Southern climate and way of life instead of the cold, frenzy and high taxes of New York, working in different industries before coming to the present company, a veteran manager of multiple projects and positions, the youngest in the group, with a weight problem before going for an operation in his stomach that would reduce his food intake, dropping from about 350 pounds to 215 pounds, his large frame still significant, his height about 6’5” , a jolly family man who develops web sites on the side, a technology expert in love with the iPhone and iPad and all things from Apple, although having an Android phone, always talking about his family; his wife is a school teacher, complaining about her low wages, his son and daughter in college, diligently writing daily reports, a new addition to the group but providing a steady hand and a commanding presence to the project, possibly the main reason why the projects is moving forward with success.

The support expert is a middle aged Southerner, having lived in the same general area all his life, never venturing far from his Southern roots, going to work straight from high school, working himself up from warehouses and in the production floor, a 30 year veteran of the company, a good ole Southern boy who loves motorcycles, plays golf and has a boat, talking of his grandchildren, satisfied with life in South Carolina, sporting a mustache and goatee, reminding one of those Confederate generals during the Civil War, a kind man who just transferred to the computer department from the factory, an expert on warehouse operations and their computer systems,  preferring regular Southern food than Asian stuff like sushi or sashimi, an owner of several ‘mill’ houses, small homes near former textile mills that workers used to live in, renting them out to folks and earning possibly a decent sideline, harking back to the old Southern land owners who were devastated by the war, a back slapping friendly man who is easy to work with a natural Southern charm that disarms the folks in the warehouse, insuring a friendly rapport with the staff, though easily disconcerted when faced with an issue, sometimes scrambling when some intricate issue is involved, lamenting that he does not have a college education, correcting him that Bill Gates and Steven Jobs did not have a college education themselves, easy to joke with, his laughter a good sign, telling multitudes of stories of his time in the warehouse.

The project leader is possibly a Mormon, grew up in Utah but lived in Egypt, Israel and all sorts of other places in the Middle East as his parents, possibly Mormon missionaries traveled the globe to preach their religion, living in different places like Colorado, Utah, Indiana and, finally, South Carolina; a licensed gardener, who has a Master Degree in Business from a local college, like the project leader a college educated professional with advance degrees, a certified project manager, an expert as well in technology, especially Android and Google products, a geek who plays online strategy games in the evening, a friendly person who also talks about his family especially his wife who he had met in his youth in the Middle East, talking about his hearing problem, being deaf in one ear until a recent operation that fixed it, a small square contraption strapped behind his ear, a hole through his skull that keeps the gadget in place, a Toastmaster whose life changed significantly when he got back his hearing, and like the project leader, experienced a new life after a major operation, a good manager though a bit laid back at times, passing work to others, but a good leader though unable to travel with the team because of budget constraints.

Learning to Swim

The hysteria towards the Louisiana oil spill is reaching a feverish pitch. Television images depict gut wrenching devastation; birds covered with oil, marsh lands, coast lines and oceans thick with splotches of slick black oil. Fishermen groan about the impact on their livelihood. Newscasters lose their objectivity and start blaming the White House. It seems that the general public is baying for blood. Even the president is affected and starts looking for someone to blame. Some news channels even point to the president himself. I think these people would like the president to don a wet suit, dive into the ocean and cap the spewing oil himself before they change their rhetoric.

I guess it’s a question of perception than actual taking control. For example, after the devastating Oklahoma bombing, Clinton staged a press conference and gave commanding orders to the government agency (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or ATF) to take charge of the investigation. He combined soaring and angry rhetoric with the image of being in command. I think Obama needs to learn from this episode. The media fall out would be limited if he had staged a similar press conference and publicly assigned a government agency (ex. Coast Guard or EPA) to take charge of the operation with the help of the beleaguered oil company - BP. This would give the impression of leadership, decisiveness and resoluteness.

The focus would have shifted away from the president and to the assigned agencies tasked by the White House to handle the crises. But the incident was left to develop by itself perhaps due to misunderstanding the damage to the environment and loss of people’s livelihood in the area plus the ability of the oil company to fix the problem. So now, after more than 50 days of elusive success, everyone is looking for someone to blame and the only one left is the president. If there’s anyone who should be responsible, it’s the Louisiana governor. He is the man on the ground directly answerable to his constituents affected by the oil spill. The governor should have stepped up and directly took charge.

It is sad that a blaming culture has entrenched itself into the national consciousness. One is aghast at the things the allegedly conservative televisions say about the president. There is no rigorous analysis of events but a gut reaction to maintain conservative ‘truths’ no longer relevant in modern times. This negative atmosphere is results in a negative reaction from the president himself. I think he needs to take a page from Reagan and paint a more optimistic and hopeful future. After all, current statistics like job growth, home sales and the general economy seem to be moving up. But the good news is being dampened by the oil spill crisis, European bailouts, the Tea party and a seemingly ugly backlash against incumbents.

The trash talk is about a repeal of the health care bill, exploiting a seeming rage against incumbent politicians who are for big government. I don’t think this negativity can be sustained all the way to the November elections. The economy is improving, a number of people are getting employed and unemployment benefits are going down. I am reading a recent book called ‘Reset’ by Kurt Anderson. The writer claims that the country needs to ‘reset’ its national life and begin a new direction adapted to current realities. For instance, telling people to buy smaller homes due to the recent financial crisis, to save more and avoid living a large ‘lifestyle’ of excess. It’s a good book to understand the current malaise. But one feels a big change is coming; starting with 9/11 and the last election. Despite the focus on rising Asian countries like China and India; there are big ideas being fought here (big government or not, alternative energy, health care reform, financial reform, immigration reform, etc.) with new innovations (Google, iPad, Face book, etc.) and so on that will change the game for many years to come.

On The Road

Living in the slipstream, listening to Jack Kerouac’s book ‘On the Road’, and addressing problems at home and at work. Being on the slipstream means living at a different level than one normally is accustomed. Something like getting on a stream and following the currents, trying to establish some equilibrium. We are living on a new age, where the stage has been ‘reset’, that’s what the head of GE said when determining the new sign posts. It’s like all the old markers have been swept away. In Asia, it was always like that all along while looking at the roads leading to China now that the dragon has finally awakened. It’s a frightening sight to see the new cities springing up in the Chinese coast and large factories producing stuff. It’s like a monolith consuming everything like raw materials, in its path.


Living in the slipstream, listening to Jack Kerouac’s book ‘On the Road’, and addressing problems at home and at work. Being on the slipstream means living at a different level than one normally is accustomed. Something like getting on a stream and following the currents, trying to establish some equilibrium. We are living on a new age, where the stage has been ‘reset’, that’s what the head of GE said when determining the new sign posts. It’s like all the old markers have been swept away. In Asia, it was always like that all along while looking at the roads leading to China now that the dragon has finally awakened. It’s a frightening sight to see the new cities springing up in the Chinese coast and large factories producing stuff. It’s like a monolith consuming everything like raw materials, in its path.



Looking for the new normal is the operative sentence. It’s scary to be alive for some when all the old truths don’t seem to matter anymore. Health care reform for example, being passed recently has unhinged a few people in the conservative right. It’s like the end of the world. But so has the collapse of housing prices, the fall of financial institutions, the rise of China and India and so on. But that’s what it means to be on the road. To accept everything that comes on the road and adapt. Kerouac and the beatniks used a lot of alcohol and drugs to understand so maybe some sort of assistance is needed such as meditation and Tai Chi to avoid the substance abuse. It’s a ground breaking work that people often mislabel as a drug filled hedonistic voyage along the American highways. But I think it is a much more mature work compared to Alan Ginsberg or William Burroughs.

Admittedly, there is no transcending goal or noble objective in the novel. Just a drunken movable feast led by charmingly, funny deviants. It lacks the weight of Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises’. Somehow the psychological abuse and carnage described in the book reminds one of the financial institutions and their greed and excess. Established institutions and even countries all plunged headlong on the road to financial ruin. It has all brought everyone to a new level of overindulgence. The new stage has disturbed many and the reaction is either to increase regulation and control or accept the new playing field. The new normal is radical wealth or excessive debt and no in between. Perceptions are rapidly changing. Watching the excellent movie ‘Milk’ would shock conservatives as well as it’s about a gay rights leader who was assassinated in San Francisco.

Gay movement is rightfully rising to the proper place, following the principle of equal rights for all and health care as well becoming basic human right shows there is progress in the world. ‘Broke back Mountain’ is the new normal which would cause old heroes like John Wayne to roll in their graves. Perhaps there is still hope for the old normal with sensible people trying to keep things in a normal groove. Like Sal Paradise in Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’ or people like Jaime Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase or even Barack Obama. Sensible people who try to navigate the new normal and try to bring order for the rest of us. Make sense? At least we still have Warren Buffet who through the years has profited through the changes and who one can learn from.

Early Morning Epiphany

I woke up in the early morning with a sudden realization. I have been interested on Obama's campaign and have read his two books, monitored the US election as well as read other books and newspaper commentaries on American politics. I knew that he had a unique message and story and liked the way he spoke. But his oratorical gifts did not exactly portray the full victory of his campaign. It was only after reading his campaign manager's famous PowerPoint presentation about the Democrat's primary campaign and Xplane graphics on Obama's use of Facebook in getting campaign funding that I had a glimmer of his unique achievement.

There are many firsts in his achievement. Obviously with his being the first African American president is probably the most significant. But it was really the use of the Internet as the tool to get funds and run his campaign that it's really the first significant political victory that was achieved via the Internet. Since it was the US presidential elections that was won that the magnitude of his victory is truly incredible. This fact is overshadowed by the uniqueness of his victory that most people do not see it. So this was my epiphany in early morning that Obama's success can be categorized as a victory of technology similar to Steven Job's IPod or Apple Macintosh or Bill Gates's Microsoft or the rise of Google and web advertising.

So Obama's victory is a victory of technology, particularly the use of social networking. Hence, social networking is the tool of the future and one that people should study. My experiments with blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. have given me a front seat on this technology and Obama's victory have converged my interest in history, politics and technology. The convergence of these different strands made me realize the uniqueness and specialness of his victory. As he has mentioned, this is the power of the American democratic system that he could achieve the pinnacle of political success in the greatest nation on earth.

Hence, his success I dare say may not have been possible without the clever use of the Internet. If he had travelled the usual way by trying to get delegates, he may not have gotten pass the Clinton challenge. But his unique story and voice gathered the crowds that made possible the use of the Internet and Facebook and social networking. So it was a perfect storm with the confluence of the perfect candidate that could attract independents and swing voters and transcend all the political categories that resulted in a landslide. I guess all this is attributable to his brilliance and effective use of technology that may have swung the difference.

In fact, I am still a Hillary Clinton supporter as I liked her story as well as the brilliance of her husband. But as I said to my wife, Obama is a man of destiny. Fate seemed to have aligned the stars in his favor and the problems faced in the USA may require someone of his story and background and experience.