Cobb's Rule #14

Respect your Foes.

Today's lesson comes to me by way of me having repeat myself in several ways that I've noticed. I won't go into them in any detail. The second way it comes is in the way of The Field Negro with whom I have a debate over the usefulness of George W. Bush and the actual political clout of the masses of African Americans.

He comes with a pretty damned funny satirical interview with the President. Although I have to say I am something of an enemy of irony and snark, he shows that he hasn't succumbed finally to the terminal phase of Bush Derangement Syndrome. An excerpt from the FNNN (Field Negro News Network):

FN: Have a seat right here Mr. President, I know it's a bit uncomfortable, but this aint CNN.
GB: Not a problem field-negro, I am used to this, remember, I have a ranch out in Crawford Texas so this is nothing.
FN: Have you ever had any field-negroes on your ranch? (Laughter)
GB: Oh no field-negro, I can pretty much do all those chores by myself. I have had a a lot of house negroes though. (Laughter)
FN: You are a funny guy Mr. President. I have always said that of all the politicians in Washington, you are the one guy I would just hang out with and share a drink or two. I mean before you gave up drinking of course.
GB: Of course.
FN: Mr. President I can't tell you how glad we are to have you here in the fields with us.
GB: Thanks field- negro. You know, my family and I always supported UNICEF, I mean nothing is more important than a proper education.
FN: Mr. President, I think you mean UNCF; UNICEF is the United Nations children's fund.
GB: Oh, well which one is the terrible mind to waste one?
FN: That would be UNCF sir.
GB: Yeah well that one. Our family has always supported negro causes. When I owned the Texas Rangers, we had a lot of very good African American and Latino players, and we were a better team for it.
FN: Yes sir, I am sure you were. Now if I may....
GB: Hold it, (Interrupting) I don't want to just leave on that point, because that's important. It's important for the American people to understand that I put the best product on the field for the people of Texas without regards to the race of my players, and I will do that for America. Look at Condi, and that Gonzales fellow.

I say this puts him in the class of The Politburo Diktat. I must confess that I can't really parse all the double negatives of TPD, so I guess I am missing out on some very good satire, but this one I got. Kudos to the Field Negro for not keeping a straight face. I think that's where the metaphor works wonders.

Just in case anyone thinks I have lost my mind, I don't think that The Daily Show is a responsible organ of current events. Therefore I haven't and probably won't bother to see what all the fuss was about last week at whatever press conference in which some people think one of the cast members was 'speaking truth to power'. I have seriously doubt that any of the producers of The Daily Show have the skill, or character to run a halfway decent news department. Comedy is comedy, and this is not King Lear.

OK I will repeat myself. The most important reason to respect your foes is that when you are keeping the trains running on time, they have plenty of time to make jokes and crack wise without understanding all the factors involved in actually running the railroad. Ultimately you have to answer all their wrongheaded questions and accusations and hope they're intelligent and ethical enough to admit when they're wrong. It's therefore important that your foes actually have a clue, otherwise you will have to crush them rather than survive a possible transition of power.

One more thing. Foes are one thing, sworn enemies you must crush.

The rest of Cobb's Rules

1. A little bit of everything adds up to a whole lot of nothing.
2. There is Marriage, and there is everything else.
3. Talk what you know.
4. Civilization is where you put it.
5. Don't second guess people.
6. Always have stretch goals.
7. Never trust anyone whose shoes cost more than your whole day's pay.
8. An enemy is someone who doesn't mind if you fail.
9. It's better to be the King of a small hill, than a Prince at a higher elevation.
10. An early start beats fast running.
11. Perfect is the enemy of good.
12. The Planet is fine.
13. None of your ideas are any good until somebody else can take advantage of them without your permission.