How McCain, Obama, and Warren Did at Saddleback?

how did they do?
pundits said it was obama’s to lose. that mccain had nothing to gain.
how did this famous pastor do in the political arena, and why was he in the political arena? almost 50 years ago when JFK ran, faith was the elephant in the room, the issue you were not supposed to talk about.

now faith got it’s own prime time tv show!

so how did they do?
obama was too blah. you can say he was pensive, thoughtful, intellectual. or you can just say from a communication standpoint that he didn’t say much, and didn’t look the moderator in the eye when he did talk.

mccain used anecdotes to perfection. which proves the communication theory that people would rather hear a good story that a lecture.

who could question his sincerity when he teared up over a story about the hanoi hilton?

the rules of communication are clear and finite. even for presidential candidtes.
look the audience in the eye-say something-use a story- connect,
clarify, say it with confidence, and make an emotional connection.

we want to know you care.the rules of communication are clear and finite even for you.

Why I Love Brett Farve

For 16 seasons Brett Farve was OK to me. Another gifted athlete who
fell slightly short of that one golden ring. Now I love Brett Farve. Why?
He retired. He unretired. He retired. He thought about it, he changed his mind. He was offered a king’s ransom to just stay home this season and fish and count his money. and think about it. 20 million is alot of money anywhere. it is really alot of money in Green Bay!

So here is why I now love Brett Farve and it has nothing to do with football or the Green Bay tradition, although Jerry Kramer’s book was the first book I read on professional football when I was in junior high.

Once Brett changed his mind once again, the Packer said no thanks.
He did not just go away and become a network commentator.
He said he wanted to play, he risked rejection, he risked team upheaval,
he risked his legacy.
He was tenacious. He stared the owners in the eye and said I’m not blinking.
Good for you Brett Farve. How many professionals in any profession stare
their prospect, client, peer, board, whatever you want to call them -
how many stare them in the eye and say I’m not blinking.

It’s easy to make decisions when you are gifted, when any decision is a good one
or can be explained or rationalized. But Brett made a decision that was at least as unpoplular as it was popular. and he stuck to it.
he stared owners down, he stared 20 million down and laughed, he stared the media and the NFL commisssioner.

WOW- brett you are my man. and special kudos because you waited and did it the day after the Pro Football Hall of Fame week-end.

Why I Miss Tim Russert on Meet the Press?

I like Tom Brokaw. I liked him on The Today Show, I liked him as an anchor, I liked him
as a political consultant at the Conventions. I’m not crazy about him as the replacement for Tim Russert on Meet the Press.

Tim held guests accountable for their remarks. Remember how he would show their own remarks on the air, and then ask them to defend or explain? And he would follow-up and follow-up and follow- up pushing and leading the guest to answer the specific question.

Framing the question is a skill and a talent for us mere mortals. Imagine what it would be like trying to hold a senator, a governor, or a would-be president accountable when the guest wanted to spin to another answer.

What is the lesson to be learned? There is value in the follow-up and there is value in asking questions, asking more questions than you might want to ask. Ask the follow-up, ask the follow-up, ask the follow-up.

I Miss Hillary! Do You Miss Hillary? We All Miss Hillary!

I miss her. I do. I was not a declared Hillary loyalist. I didn’t stand in the rain holding up a sign to welcome her, I didn’t canvass for her, I didn’t stand at intersections asking people to Honk for Hillary as they went by.

But still I miss her.

I miss the pantsuits, necklaces, and wondering which Hillary would show up today. I miss the tenacity she brought to the campaign every single day. I miss the relentless style which she addressed every issue. I miss the single focus in her every conversation.

I miss the consistent viewpoint from which she viewed absolutely everything. I miss her loyalty and allegiance to her daughter. I even miss how she made us, the whole country, wait for her to get in that black SUV on that Saturday of her final hurrah, her speech conceding and supporting Obama.

I miss how she even stirred a national controversy on that day. Did she support Obama enough? yes she did. no she didn’t. yes she did.

I miss how the media analyzed every word.

I miss having a lightening rod in the campaign, whose very existence rattled the right, the left, the center. I swear if she would have been the candidate in Fall, people long dead would have risen from the dead just to comment.

When Hillary was in the campaign it was about Hillary. Now it’s about drilling or not drilling. Some would say that it is better to have a national dialogue on issues than on personality.

That sounds good in concept, but I miss Hillary.

Can We Have a Moratorium on Politi-talk?

I move to have a moratorium on politi-talk–any one second the motion?
In my moratorium, candidates can talk but no one can talk on their behalf. No one can be a spokesperson, not Wesley Clark and his illogical McCain thinking, not the governor of Colorado or California, not Ed Rendell or Ed the Horse.

In my world, candidates would have to speak for themselves. What a novel concept!
Just the candidate talking to their American public. You and your message. What would
you as the candidate want to say?

Think of how much less talk there would be . . . candidates would not have to apologize for what someone on their staff said, no feathers to put back in the pillow.

What do you think?

Good bye to Paris - Hello to Home

the day started with a stop at the American embassy across the street from us. monica schneir from akron oh has a son who works there. brad was a very nice guy, graduated from Copley H S and now has served in kabul and one of the “stans”, turkmanistan or something. pretty cool going from akron to the diplomatic corps with the black passport and everything.

I think my feet walked 100 miles today. I’m not big on museums, but to me the whole city is a museum-especially the shoe department at gallery lafayette!

we met a young man who is an actor-here and in the states. wouldn’t it be fun if he became a household name?

the eiffel tower is outside of my window and that is one thing I will miss, especially seeing it lit up at night, although two of the characters in the last season of sex and the city thought it was “hideous”.

there is a book out here, don’t know if it has been released in the states, it is about the movie sex and the city. it opened here today and it is a bid deal. I now know how the movie ends, and its a good ending.

I heard a couple speaking English next to me today and practically accosted them. I think that means I am very ready to come home.

I have “carressed”- french for petted- every dog in Paris, I now need my Tim and Missy.

When it rains in Paris . . . .

It has rained everyday-poured as a matter of fact. and when it rains in paris it means you are soaked from heqad to foot because you walk everywhere. I thought I was prepared for any kind of weather, but when you are soaked not even a chocolate croissant tastes the same!

gas here is the equivalent of 9.00 a gallon. you can say that most parisians don’t drive that far, but still, 9.00 a gallon!

I call them  creatures, you see magnificent women on the street that are just ordinary women walking around, in the 3 inch heels on cobblestone, no hose of course.

the rain has prevented our beloved roger federer from advancing against opponents who get rained out. I call him our roger federer because he stays at the same hotel during the french open and works out in the tiny health club at the same time we work out.

one difference between paris and the states is that at about any little bistro you stop at, the food will be amazing. don’t take my word for it-please. sitting next to a man from scotland/london he said the restaurant we stopped in the other night was one of the best in the world.

most of the time we are eating tunisian food with moshe’s family. that means no vegetable in sight, more oil than you would use in a year, but it tastes really good. one of moshe’s brothers found old reels that he had taken in the sixties. they wre eating the same food, and moshe looked quite fetching in his tiny white shorts on  his kibbutz in Israel.

let’s hope for sun today, our last day. then we take the new direct flight from paris to cleveland-YEAH

I like best the women over 80 in their cute little Chanel suits. who gets those suits after they die?

Good bye Djerba-Hello Paris

Leaving DJERBA was an experience in itself.

FIRST getting here, one person in our party came a day late, missing a flight and then air travel nightmare. His luggage came two days later. Another lost his passport in Paris so he had to stay there, go the the American embassy, get a new passport, eat lots of pastry while waiting, and then come to Djerba. So you can imagine how many times wse were at this airport.

Passengers board like one minute before take off, it’s so different than the states.

While in line with our luggage, little as it was, less than 50 pounds per person, we witnessed a near riot. OK so it was another in our party who thought they could just cut the line. oh my, you’ve never heard pissed off until you have heard it in French!

security is like security in the states forever ago. don’t have to take your laptop out of the case, don’t have to take off your shoes, don’t have to take off jewelry.

take off time is like a myth. 12:15 means sometime after noon and before dinner. what a time for my new Ipod, with every alan weiss book downloaded to run out of juice. I didn’t think about charging it! there is no order as to how people actually load. to my surprise after I had a juice, nothing to drink is free. the good thing is that there are two doors to board and to get off, front and back. the bad thing is that the French seem not to understand that you wait for the person in the row in front of you to get off first!

in Djerba they don’t want American money because they don’t really know what it is. in Paris they don’t want american money because they know what it is!

today has been filled with one family member going to emergency at the american hospital. and the suit he fed exed himself here is stuck at customs. which is worse?

we are here for a couple of days for moshe to see his family, who all live here. tomorrow night, 20 family members in a 500 foot apartment.  so you imagine the size of the dining area. and while public smoking is banned, non smoking has not made it to his family. one brother said he quit. what he meant was he topped buying cigarettes, he just smokes his wife’s!

DJERBA- DAY 4

Their selling skills are amazing. and what I have decided is that we in AMERICA, and me for sure, don’t really sell. these people really sell. here are three examples:

1. we stopped in a shop that makes rugs. three women sat all day and tied knots of yarn to make these beautiful rugs. they probably sat there for 12 hours, six or seven days a week. to make $250 a month. and they are not the salespeople. but as I stood there and watched them, they introduced themselves to me. manya and laila were two of the three women’s names.

they introduced themselevs and invited me to sit down with them. manya then took my hand and showed me how to tie the yarn to make the design. I got to do two stitches. and I wondered. if manya with her limited education, staring at bolts and bolts of yarn all day, has the wherewithall to ask me to sit down and get me involved in the process, why don’t we do that with our clients?

2. marajuan asked me about riding the next day. I told him I couldn’t - we had to leave too early. it wasn’t just an objection, it was true. later in the day plans changed, and when the next boy with a horse asked, I made arrangements for the next day. do we take no as a final no?

3. everyone was buying this particular kind of chain necklace. you know who had been to town by whether or not they were wearing this chain. in the “souk” - the old fashioned shopping part of the city, there is a little jewelry store every 5 stores. the smart jewelers figured out that if you bought one of these necklaces, perhaps you were a good candidate for a second one. interesting, that instead of thinking, oh well, they already bought one, they saw each owner of the necklace as a good prospect.

most of the people vacationing here are french speaking. the french have no organizational skills what so ever! they don’t know about lines, order, and sequence. truly they must have driven the germans crazy when germany occupied France during WWII.

At least ten people have asked me if I am DUTCH. DUTCH! when they speak to me in french I tell them, je ne comprends pas.  so they know I am not french speaking. the next question is am I dutch? how funny is that?

why do people in countries that speak little English name their dogs English names? In Djerba there are very few dogs. but two I met were named Poochie and Zoey. how funny.

as I have saId, the people are very very nice. but I wonder when I walk past a young woman, covered from head to toe, what is she thinking about my American dress?

is she wishing she could dress differently? does she think that our dress is the downfall of the western world, or does she think we are idiots because being covered can really be cooler than exposed skin?

More from Djerba

The truth is, another week and I’ll be covered from head to toe in a berka. Men’s attitude changes when they are in a country where they are king!

In the non tourist area we were in a little take out sandwhich kind of place. I was leaning on a stool as the made to order fried “bricks” were being made. A man came up to me and told me he wanted my stool. so much for chivalry.

Prix fixe or fixed price means if you are a sucker and pay the fixed price, better for the seller!

Few Americans here means no english newspapers, no english magazines, yes CNN.

I have seen topless bathing for the first time in my life. what I learned is that skimpy tops that barely cover are sexier than seeing it all! they all sag!

I was asked to leave from an old Jewish Temple. A man came over and told me the rebbe or rabbi was offended because my arms were bare. wow-to think someone thinks my arms can inspire impure thoughts!

the weather is amazing- the wind blows all day like in Puerto Rico so you don’t feel the sun.

the beaches you can actually walk on and they are right outside our door.

I’ve seen Jewish customs that I have never heard of. Thousands came for this festival on Thursday and they brought eggs to make a blessing. thousands of eggs-I wonder what the hotel buffets did that morning to feed their guests!

a taxi driver said he would rather make 500 hundred dollars a year and live in djerba than one million and live in tunis. I can understand.