Political lessons from my dog, Part I

Today Dan Rather visited Kansas City as part of the Rockhurst University Leadership Series.  Before his talk downtown, he visited campus and participated in a question and answer with students.

 

Here’s a picture taken after the session:

Photo Credit:  Estuardo Garcia

His exchange with the students was great, as were his more formal remarks.  He named the top four leaders he met in his career: Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, and John F. Kennedy.  He also pointed to the top components of successful leadership and living: beauty, truth, love, loyalty, and courage.  He was funny and engaging when he spoke, and attributed much of his success to his wife. 

This all got me thinking?  Without, a multi-decade career in international journalism under my belt, what could I draw on to pass on my wisdom about all things political?  What else, but my dog, Vader.  This is Vader:

So here goes nothing:  “All I need to know about politics I learned from my dog, Part I.”  

Lesson #1.  Don’t accept phonies for the real thing.

Let’s face it, dog food is crap.  We love these little guys we invite into our home, but we serve them up scoop after scoop of bitter smelling lumber mill byproduct.  I even buy IAMS, the good brand!  Nope…still awful.  But my dog eats it without fail because we have an agreement with each other.  Long ago established, we both understand that this is his lot in life if he is to live under my roof.  He doesn’t love it, but he accepts it.  There is a certain honesty in it. 

Sometimes, in twisted acts of empathy, I’ll try to feed him more expensive human food.  Of course, this is stuff nobody else in the family wants.  He sniffs it and walks away.  He won’t touch fast food, mystery nuggets, or processed meat like turkey hot dogs (Really? “low fat turkey links?”).  No wonder I’m shilling it at the dog.  He might even suck down some expired hamburger or old roast beef.  Again, I’m up front with him. I explain to him, “Look, Vader, its expired, but this is the only way you’re getting actual human food.”  But he doesn’t like things breaded, shaped into ovals, squares, or dinosaurs, or elongated into phony hot dogs.

We citizens are like Vader, we don’t want a politician to sell us a bill of goods.  We would rather eat actual hamburger than a substitute steak.  If a lousy policy goes south (Mortgage derivative sales anyone?) we handle it better when public leaders own up to the problem and lead us out of it.  You might remember those terse meetings at the White House between John McCain and Barack Obama.     

If a poor policy action is swept under the rug and called "OK", we get upset.  The great new example of this is the Obamacare website.  So yes, I’m comparing our old healthcare to familiar dog food and Obamacare to mystery nuggets.

Lesson #2.  As elected leaders, fulfill your duties with energy and enthusiasm.  My dog responds to the doorbell like he woke up to open his presents on Christmas morning!  He pops up and sprints to the door no matter who might be there: grandma or the parolees selling pest control products.  He sniffs away while the visitor thinks “I might not like what’s he’s doing down there, but by golly this guy’s got gusto!”

I think leaders such as Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and at least early stage Obama and Reagan grasped that we want to be lead forward by a positively engaged force.  Some failed leaders are like my cat though, sitting around on the DVR all day plotting the dog’s death.  They fall into the trap of forgetting they are in a privileged situation, put there by the people. Nixon, and LBJ with Vietnam, fell into this later in their terms.               

…Ok, I have a night class now, but my next blog entry I’ll pick up here with more political lessons from my dog!