Don't Teach Don't

"Don't teach don't" was a bit of advise I learned as a young volunteer firefighter. Show people the right way to do something, instead of the wrong way followed by an admonishment to never do it that wrong way.

However analyzing the actions others have taken is useful to understand how what they did was wrong. The contrast between Barack Obama's interview in Rolling Stone for the October 15, 2010 issue and Patton's speech (covered in my last post) provides a remarkable opportunity to compare good from bad inspirational messages.

Why has the President so often hit a flat-note that doesn't resonate emotionally? Too often he makes statements like this:

[Signaled by his aides, the president brings the interview to a close and leaves the Oval Office. A moment later, however, he returns to the office and says that he has one more thing to add. He speaks with intensity and passion, repeatedly stabbing the air with his finger.]

One closing remark that I want to make: It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we've got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.

The idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.

Everybody out there has to be thinking about what's at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we'd better fight in this election. And right now, we are getting outspent eight to one by these 527s that the Roberts court says can spend with impunity without disclosing where their money's coming from. In every single one of these congressional districts, you are seeing these independent organizations outspend political parties and the candidates by, as I said, factors of four to one, five to one, eight to one, 10 to one.

We have to get folks off the sidelines. People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. Bringing about change is hard — that's what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we've got some lumps to show for it. But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place.

If you're serious, now's exactly the time that people have to step up.

Empathy is one of the key attributes of excellent leaders. Take a moment and consider how an action will be perceived by others.

The President starts off by telling his supporters -- his supporters -- that their actions are inexcusable. You can argue that if you diagram the sentence that's not what he said; it's not what most people perceive.

Then he says that while they may have complaints about compromises or schedules, those don't matter right now.

Next it's "we've" got a choice between himself and something right of his predecessor.

The perception becomes, "I don't like your behavior, I don't care why, and you can either eat your peas or go to bed hungry."

This isn't going to get buy-in from people. It's an opening paragraph that puts people on the defensive.

Patton's Third Army speech got buy-in; he acknowledged the fears of his troops and reminded them how they could overcome them.

The second paragraph Obama scolds his supporters that they are unenthusiastic and irresponsible. Patton told his men -- facing the much, much more serious fear from imminent combat -- that they would be afraid, but could get through this challenge based on their training, character, and having the best food, equipment, and spirit of any soldiers on earth.

In the third paragraph is a mess. "...10 years on key issues like climate change..." -- Whatever the sentence said before, people hear "10 years climate change" when for a decade already they've been told immediate action was necessary. "How we restore" reminds folks they already lost. You have a choice whether you want civil rights or not. We're getting our hats handed to us in political financing. Was this paragraph deliberately designed to depress people?

Here's my amateur attempt to re-write that paragraph:

Do you want to move forward on climate change? Do you want middle class Americans to see their incomes grow and feel they are treated fairly by Wall Street? Do you want to expand our civil rights, to bring those once ostracized for being different into the mainstream of our society? Do you want to show the 527s that their money can't buy this election? Then I need Democrats to do two things for me. One is easy -- to turn out and vote. The second is harder but they're up to the task -- talk to your friends and neighbors, hear their frustration and anxiety, ask for their patience and support.

Note the first four sentences are questions. Carefully constructed questions -- anyone inclined to support the President's policies is going to answer "yes." That's an old salesman's trick, one founded in pyschology. Get folks saying yes. It gets you buy-in, people are agreeing with you. Get them chanting "Yes we can!" Who was that politician a couple years ago so effective at that?

Then you give them something easy (vote) and something that is a challenge but they have the skills to do -- talk to their friends and neighbors. Acknowledge it's tough but express confidence.

While Patton didn't use the "yes" technique, he did acknowledge the desires and frustrations of his troops ("Sure, we want to go home...") and then gave them direction how to fix it ("The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it.").

The fourth paragraph just continued Obama's berating of his own supporters -- you're petulant children.

The final sentence continues to keep people on the defensive, "If you're serious" -- at best it's snide criticism, at worse it's accusatory. Patton didn't tell his men that "If you really want to go home" -- he acknowledged that his men, and himself, all wanted to go home and here's what they need to do to make it happen.

This was the finger wagging tone of a frustrated parent dealing poorly with their teenage child, not a leader. Worse, this wasn't some off-the-cuff remark of a tired candidate on the campaign trail caught on a cellphone and posted to YouTube -- this was the President of the United States, in the Oval Office, having a scheduled interview, stepping out then deliberately returning to make sure he got these comments published in a major magazine. This is a failure not of intelligence but temperament.