Blue Collar Muse

I am amazed at the capacity of those who should be natural allies to artificially impose an adversarial state on their relationship. This phenomenon has been described in Evangelical circles via the wry observation that “The Christian Army is the only Army in existence which shoots it’s wounded!”

Here at BCM, I address the situation a little differently. Invoking the wisdom of the ancients, and recognizing the GOP’s use of a pachyderm as the party’s mascot, I echo the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” and provide the traditional response, “One bite at a time!” I even have a blog category for instances of it taking place - Elephant Bites. Fortunately it doesn’t happen often. But any instance is stupid.

The latest may have been just this morning. A colleague, Leslie Carbone, reports she was abruptly and curtly disconnected from a White House conference call to which she had been invited. It should be noted I have no problem with a group monitoring and moderating access to their staff and planning. In fact, it’s wise to do so. However, they must also be willing to take the heat from whatever arises from such practices. And heat there usually is.

In this instance, assuming there is not some unknown, acceptable explanation for what happened, the White House is simply tearing off a mouthful of elephant with exquisite Henry the VIII technique! If they didn’t want Leslie on the call, no invitation should have been issued. If the invitation was issued, it should have been honored and any exclusion applied to subsequent calls. Beyond the question of professionalism, it’s simple, common courtesy.

Handling the situation as they did not only pushes allies away making them unavailable for other issues in the name of whatever issue is currently deemed important, it makes it difficult or impossible to reconnect later when the relationship is needed. It’s an object lesson defining the phrase, “Cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face!”

And it’s more than that. It treats eActivists like Leslie as a battered spouse. I can’t believe the person who OK’d disconnecting her from the call was unaware of how it would be perceived. It’s like blackening your wife’s eye! Perhaps an apology will smooth ruffled feathers. But it has fundamentally changed the relationship in ways that probably can’t be reversed without a great deal of effort!

But why make such efforts mandatory by stupid behavior. There are a host of issues on which we can work together. As it is said, “Many hands make light work!” Intentionally alienating 90% allies is foolish and gives rise to another saying, “If we don’t have the time to do it right, where do we find the time to do it over?”

Blue

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 11:20 am and is filed under Blogroll, Common Sense, Elephant Bites, Individual Responsibility, Politics, Unintended Consequences. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.