Kelly in Kansas

The November 17, 2008 issue of Businessweek has a column by Jack and Suzy Welch listing three reasons Obama won. All three seem quite plausible and point to strengths on the Democratic side and weaknesses in the Republican column. The authors tie this back to three principles of business leadership:

1. A clear vision

2. Clean execution

3. Friends in high places

The third principle refers primarily to the media and most definitely the media was rooting for Obama. Some were even giddy talking about the victory and the multimedia presentations were a bit over the top although I did appreciate their celebratory nature in regard to the larger picture of democratic processes at work. And, history has been made with the nation's first African-American president.

I'm considering having students in my class tomorrow write a time capsule of how they will remember this event in later years.

I also don't remember seeing "The Office of the President-Elect" as an official office before but, given the challenges and complexity of presidential transitions, maybe the time has come. That's another strength of democracy -the ability to adapt to change.

Labels: 2008, Democrats, election, Obama, Republicans

It was interesting watching the election returns come in while in the nation's capital. However, I was disappointed with the outcome. The good news was that it was a clear and not cloudy victory.

I am trying to figure out about the concept of "change" given all the people being appointed to transition positions who came out of the Clinton administration . . . .

Labels: Clinton, election, Obama, president

At one point, they predicted an unusual 6-8 inches of snow for us on Thursday. Instead of arriving overnight, the snow really didn't get going until late in the afternoon. It was gorgeous while it lasted. There was just enough snow and melted snow turned into ice on the roads to cancel most schools Friday morning and then the rest of it melted yesterday. I was just thankful I wasn't driving long distances in it and it was beautiful.

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and was quite frustrated when the new tech dialated my eyes a) without telling me and b) when they weren't supposed to be dialated this year. So, the doctor graciously did some of the other tests they normally do when eyes are dialated so that I don't have to have them dialated for several years. However, it still meant I couldn't get much work done yesterday afternoon.

The good news is that the doctor has another option for my problem with the contact solution for soft contacts since using the gas permeable solution didn't work out so well. There are now daily disposable bifocal contacts and, although not cheap, beats having to wear reading glasses with plain contacts.

Now I need to find out where our caucus meetings are on Tuesday.

Labels: caucus, contacts, election, eyes, roads, snow