The Leading Edge - Barack Obama's Wholly Un-American Speech - Jobs

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(also seen at basil and spice)
My first reaction to Barack Obama's "More Perfect Union" speech was how utterly un-American it was.
Mysecond reaction is that I only hope that he continues down that path,because if he does, he offers America a tremendous opportunity to moveout of and beyond the morass it finds itself in.
His handwrittenspeech was not for American Presidents only; it demonstrated three ofthe best qualities that any leader can possess and what constitutestaking on the "real" special interests or shall I say culturalproclivities that have got America and many American companies into themorass in which they finds themselves.
Conflict Avoidance– As a country and as a people we don't deal very effectively withconflict. Instead we react to it by either "bunkering" and trying todeny reality (such as continuing to believe we could go from supremecreditor to deepest debtor, without negative repercussions for ourglobal standing and influence) or by becoming belligerent and hostile.In his speech, Obama stepped into the fray, articulated and understoodwithout condoning the positions and points of views of the parties hefocused on and then took on another current and self-defeating Americantendency.
Transactional Myopia – America hasslipped from the high minded and highly principled mindset of figuringout the right thing to do and doing it to a transactionally myopic "getthe deal, do the deal, next deal" way of thinking and behaving.American culture has replaced relationships with transactionships whichare "zero sum" and always short sighted. George H. Bush was less myopicand understood that if you break Iraq you own it, whereas George W.Bush's leadership (or lack thereof) derives more from his M.B.A., adegree not known for developing people who are circumspect. People'sconversations, even with their loved ones, have all but been replacedwith negotiations. Negotiation is about winning or avoiding losing;relationships are about relating. Relating requires listening in orderto understand vs. listening in order to come up with your nextcounterpoint. Obama senses the short sightedness and doomed-to-failtransactional approach and this may explain his reluctance to engage in"eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" banter with Hillary Clinton Clinton-and-Obama-Economic-Plans Mar-08 .The effectiveness in that approach for Clinton garnering votes in Ohioand Texas only speaks to how many Americans are stuck at that lowminded, low ideal, take vs. give state of mind (which one canunderstand when surviving daily can distract anyone from highmindedness). Obama enjoined and ennobled us to do better bytranscending out of transactional myopia and implied that in doing sowe would be able to transform America from where it is to where itcould be.
Object Capriciousness – "Objectconstancy" is one of psychology's most awkward, but most explanatoryterms. It is the ability of a person to maintain a connection and arelationship with another person, a goal, or hope in the face ofdisappointment, frustration, hurt and injury. It is the singlegreatest measure of maturity and its lack, the greatest indicator ofimmaturity. That is why children and immature adults when upset with afriend or a spouse, will completely lose their connection and throwaway a relationship by declaring: "I hate you, you're not my friend" or"Let's get a divorce." Obama demonstrated this by asserting hiscontinued support and even love for the Reverend Jeremiah Wright whiledecrying his statements and positions and confronted all of us with ourcontinued relationships with people we disagree with. Awareness of thisis also what caused a philosopher (whose name I can't find) toconclude: "The measure of a civilization is how it treats those whohave hurt it."
Until and unless a leader, be it AmericanPresident or corporate CEO can enjoin, ennoble and empower his peopleto overcome their conflict avoidance, their transactional myopia, andobject capriciousness a country or a company will be stuck wonderingwhat ever became of it rather than seizing the grand opportunity ofwhat it could become.

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