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Dr. Darrell White's Personal Blog

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Mary Poppins and Politics: Sunday musings…11/11/19

Sunday musings…

1) Wit. “Mustard’s Last Stand”. Name of a hot dog stand at Northwestern.

2) Streaming. Lots of churn about streaming fatigue, overload, etc. So many/too many new options layered on top of shows and movies you still need to catch up on. What’s a body to do?

I’m gonna read a book.

3) Burberry. I stumbled upon several articles talking about the new creative director of venerable clothing brand Burberry. All of them talked about their plans to change stuff there. While I am not a regular customer by any means I have had a couple of pieces from Burberry that fit my style and stood the test of time. Which begs the question: why must Burberry, or for that matter any iconic brand known for a particular whatever, change? Evolution seems proper, maybe even inevitable, but the incessant demand for the traditional to change is confusing to me.

Why must change be considered as a mandate rather than an option, especially in a successful endeavor?

I admit that I poke fun at fashion with some regularity, typically timed by the semi-annual release of fashion issues of the big national newspaper magazines. My fascination with the absurdity of what is promoted as good, or even possible knows no bounds. Nobody wears that nonsense, yet lots of somebodies continue to wear garments that are instantly recognizable as Burberry. Does this not denote success? Is this not what a successful venture of any kind in any space would seek to perpetuate? I think of the pillars of healthcare delivery, known for excellence in certain spheres because of their ability to successfully treat the most complex cases imaginable. One of them here in town has a new “creative director” who has decided that change means the equivalent of mass market growth in fashion. Like Givenchy designing and selling volume in Kmart.

How long can a successful brand sustain change before what made it successful has been diluted to the point of nonexistence? How many places can the iconic Burberry plaid be placed before it’s just another color? How far from the classic pieces for which it is known can the new creative director take the Burberry style before it’s no longer Burberry?

These are questions that apply everywhere a traditional product, brand, or name means something.

4) Candidate. Much noise has been generated by Michael Bloomberg’s flirtation with a run for the Democratic nomination for president. He is a political chameleon, running now as a Democrat after a run for mayor of NYC as both a Republican and an Independent. Mostly a down-the-line progressive when it comes to social issues he nonetheless has a couple of positions that would appeal to conservatives; his record for law and order in New York appeals to conservatives while at the same time revolting progressives due to the tactics utilized to achieve the goal. A billionaire many times over he seemed to find a balance in NY between promoting business and the creation of wealth while simultaneously protecting those at the bottom of the economic pile. As much as anyone in New York can, anyway. He likely gets bludgeoned in the primaries even though it is equally likely that he would win the presidential election in a landslide.

As interesting and intriguing as Mr. Bloomberg may be his potential entry into the race makes me think of the most impressive national figure I can think of in my lifetime who should have run for President, Condoleezza Rice. Ms. Rice was Secretary of State under Bush and is now a professor at Stanford among other pursuits. Possessed of a nearly unmatchable intelligence among recent government officials both elected and selected, she checks every conceivable box both as a candidate and as someone prepared to govern. I think I can trace my dissatisfaction with both politics and government in part to her decision to withdraw from public life. Not since Paul Tsongas withdrew from the ’92 race due to illness have I felt like the right person was there to be chosen. Her absence from the national conversation borders on tragic.

I fear that we are thus doomed to at least 5 years of braying from the far Right and Left, or just plain old braying if we have 4 more years of 45. In the absence of someone like Ms. Rice, someone of substance who transcends the pettiness of our politics, I will spend another 4 years waiting. Waiting for someone of substance who will speak to me and the 10’s of millions of us who inhabit the center of American politics. Some a little left and others a bit right of center, but all of us clustered far from what it apparently takes to be nominated to run for either party. I will wait for someone who makes me think of Mr. Tsongas or Ms. Rice. Individuals of arching intelligence and substance who have lived lives that citizens of all political leaning can agree have been honorable. Ethical. Candidates who will take and hold principled positions without denigrating or dismissing those who disagree. Someone who can both campaign and govern.

Watching her leave her post as U.N. Ambassador after a successful run as Governor of South Carolina I felt like Bert, looking skyward as Mary Poppins flies away after saving the Banks children. So long Nikki Haley. Don’t stay away too long.

I’ll see you next week…

 

 

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