Get away from your town to all the other "Americas"

It must be the most fascinating part of running for national office to criss-cross the country meeting with Americans. We teach at IMC that you must understand that most of the customers and stakeholders relevant to your organization are not like you. If you think health care and the stock market are the only topics in the U.S. you would be mistaken. Seven hours from Chicago via highway 90 to Rockford Illinois and then highway 20 to NW Iowa; the topics and focus changes. In Sac City and Fort Dodge, in Sac County and Kossuth County the topic is weather. Not the casual issue of “should I bring my umbrella to work?” but the land, crops, jobs and future conversation. Enter a weekend breakfast spot in Fort Dodge and listen to topics that most
Americans do not consider “talking points” or even see in their newspapers (which seem to still be read in rural communities). Corn, beans, energy alternatives, leasing fees for windmills ($5000-6000 per year for 50 years or a share of the kilowatt production). A “small continental divide in Western Iowa where some the land divides NS rivers flowing west to the Missouri or east to the Mississippi give some farms ideal positioning for capturing wind on higher points. Eminent Domain exercised by the State of Iowa for the expansion of State Highway 20 from 2 lanes to 4 to Nebraska. Discussions are about the logic of the DOT (Department of Transportation) policy of planning highways through the middle of rich farmland rather than on the margins or between farms. And, debates are constant over the value of land. The stock market, hedge funds and Ponzi schemes do not seem top of mind, but rich topsoil in NW Iowa from glaciers or blown by wind from the Missouri River basin a million years ago is on their minds. Top acreage with great drainage, county and farm tiles and satellite pictures of soil depth may sell for $6000 per acre or $3300 per acre in an auction. “Cash rent” paid by renters of hundreds or thousands of acres may be $200 per acre, earning 3% on the estimated value of the land taxed at $15 per acre and managed at 5% plus repairs etc. The future is based on increasing value of the land; not income. On other topics, diversity is defined as the Hispanic population increasing from 3% to 23% in the local schools over the past 20 years. Families talk about the loss of thousands of young people moving out of the area after earning their degrees at Iowa State, Iowa, University of Illinois and other schools. The importance of bio fuels in Iowa (and Illinois) does not make President Obama a popular figure and chaos over health care for the elderly has not helped his rankings. However, Obama’s visit to a local community grade school in 2008 is still the topic of discussion. It is still America; it is just a different one than your daily conversations might reveal.

Press Interview on ABC-TV Chicago Sotomayor and Burris

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sotomayor/ is a civics and serious public relations (or public affairs) lesson on the nature of candidates for nomination of any government post. I won't agree with a colleague who lavishly praised the President as "trying to be the perfect President" with his appointment of Sotomayor (a professor should be less effusive), but I credit the President with a choice he wants and the experience that may make it hard to reject unless contradictions come to light. Like Robert Bork who was rejected by the Senate on Oct. 23, 1987 (he was one of 36 Supreme Court nominations rejected since 1789); Judge Sotomayor has a long, notable record of written work and opinions developed over many career years. The New Haven Firefighter case is only the most recent controversial case that could haunt her. Most policy decision makers including business leaders have acted, spoken or written something over a long career of decision-making that may seem inconsistent 20 years later. Bork, as a young assistant law professor, wrote about ideas and research that came back to haunt him many, many years later. The process if vetting a Supreme Court Justice for a lifetime appointment, like the process of granting tenure to a university professor, is arduous, detailed, biased and not always fair. Between May 2009 and August 2009, the process is a great civics lesson for visiting international students, for the proverbial 6th grader and for voting adults who need to be reminded that this appointment is not a tabloid topic in US magazine for a week.

Senator Burris (D. IL) is on the roasting spit again. While it is always difficult to fill in the words between the recorded "umms, ahs, you know, that thing, yes, OK, then" etc. the Senator's words over the phone with the former Governor's brother will be parsed carefully. Having edited a book on mergers and acquisitions for Prentice-Hall many years ago (1992). http://www.nostuff.org/tdn/6/6item.php?item=0133740757 I know that it is very hard to make sense out of spoken speeches and panel comments. We don't speak in complete sentences or even speak with complete thoughts. Still, the Senator should find a meaningful project to keep him busy during this last year as a U.S. Senator and step aside for a open election of reform candidates. Burris is the old guard. He is "not as bad as some" but what kind of a recommendation is that for a U.S. Senator? Unlike the considered conclusion of Richard Edelman http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/ that dull may be a good trait for a CEO; the press, public, pundits and others run with sharp knives that must keep public figures sharp as well. I would proffer that most CEOs of public companies are "public figures" too like Judge Sotomayor and Senator Burris. The CEO's may not like the comparison, but their desire to be green, to be diverse, use public funds, to be trusted all demand a public persona and actions.

Returning from China and from my home state Wisconsin prepared me to comment on the chaos of Illinois politics that continues here. My friends in China (to my embarrassment) wanted to better understand the concept of "pay for play" in our form of government and my life-long political friends in Wisconsin wanted to watch me squirm and defend my adopted state of Illinois. The folly of political activities in Illinois is not worth defending recently. The State needs a complete overhaul of it's priorities, leadership and processes.

The legislature including the Senate and House have created their own "natural disaster" that will leave the recent voters who were so excited by the election of Illinois' junior Senator Barack Obama to the Presidency with a bitter memory of selfish leadership. As the President-elect selected his cabinet and policy advisers in December; I expressed my concerns as a political pundit for ABC TV in Chicago (WLS) that the Illinois Democrats would embarrass the President-elect and detract from his extremely serious agenda on the domestic front and world stage.

With my second appearance this week on WLS-TV to discuss for a very few minutes the barriers to the appointment of Roland Burris to the Senate of the U.S. for Illinois; the issues are still in limbo. Burris, a good man, but not the most likely to be elected or even appointed to the Senate was willing to put himself in "harm's way" when the current sitting Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich acted mostly legally to appoint Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate. Burris has a record of seeking (mostly unsuccessfully) higher office in this state, but also has a seemingly unimpeachable record that gives him higher ground to stand on during most mud fights in ethically troubled Illinois politics and government.

As the story unfolds there is slightly more Congressional support developing to seat Roland Burris this week (including Diane Feinstein D-CA). The logical request to Sec. of State Jesse White to sign the documents necessary to certify the Governor's seemingly legal but thinly disguised effort to distract attention from his own impeachment threats is likely to occur this week.

This blog effort was just interupted by a call from ABC to return on Friday a.m. at 5:50 to follow up on likely actions on behalf of Burris and Illinois.

The most important issue that must be addressed by all citizens is the failure of the Illinois legislature to act on the "business of the state" for the benefit of the citizens. We have issues that must be resolved that the Democrat leadership and control of both houses and the executive branch of Illinois have not addressed. More on why this power combination is bad for Illinois next.