Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Lessons from A Strategic Mishap


"It is the business of a general to be serene and inscrutable, impartial and self-controlled."- Art of War 11 (Griffith's translation)


Lesson #1
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a
mistake. - Napoleon

If one is ahead of the game, he/she creates situations that force the opposition to self-destruct. The "pole position" holder should never be in "risky" situations that reverses the roles of "host and guest"


"According to Fan Li's book, 'If you're last use yin tactics, if you're first then use yang tactics. When you have exhausted the enemy's yang tactics. When you have exhausted the enemy's tactics. When you have exhausted the enemy measures, then expand your yin to the full and seize them.' This then is the subtle mysteriousness of yin and yang according to the strategists."
- Questions and Replies between T'ang T'ai-tsung and Li Wei-kung.


Lesson#2
Never give the opposition any emotional ammunition to rally their team and recover
.

Stay silent and smile.



Lesson#3
In planning, no useless move. In strategy, no step is in vain -Chen Hao


It always amazes us that some people do not spend any time preparing themselves emotionally before broadcasting a public message. They would rarely ad-lib, thinking that he/she has the situation under control.

Regardless of one's advantage of momentum and timing, there are no positives in offending someone publicly. One should always show reverence to the opposition. In the game of politics, one's past and current opposition could be their future ally.



#

Obama Rallies the Troops and Money With DeMint’s “Waterloo”

July 21, 2009 5:18 PM

ABC News'Sarah Tobianski reports:

What started as a battle of words Monday when President Obama hit back at Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina for saying health care could be Obama’s “Waterloo," has now turned into a full blown war to rally support and money behind the president’s health care policies.

Obama’s “Organizing for America” and MoveOn.org are ramping up their campaigns to curtail - what they say - are the same old Republican “scare tactics and outright lies to stall reform.”

The groups are flooding the inboxes of supporters with requests for money and calls to members of Congress as it tackles reform in the days leading up to recess.

“With Congress only days away from finalizing their plans for reform, it's time to stand up with the President and fight back against this disastrous brand of old-style politics,” says Mitch Stewart, Director of Organizing for America. “So we need as many people as possible to publicly support the President's principles for health care reform and call on Congress to act.”

In the coming days, Organizing for America will also collect signatures of supporters on its website and publish them in papers across the country.

On Monday, the president took a similar tactic first hand.

“This isn't about me,” Obama said at a Children’s hospital. “This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy. And we can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. Not this time, not now. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake.”

This likely won’t be the last time we see Democrats using DeMint’s words, painting Republicans as being too political, as they attempt to win the health care battle.

-Sarah Tobianski
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/07/obama-rallies-the-troops-and-money-with-demints-waterloo-.html

#
President Obama Finds DeMint Fresh

We told you yesterday that the White House planned on using the comments of Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, about opposing President Obama's health care reform efforts against the GOP.

"If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo, it will break him and we will show that we can along with the American people, begin to push those freedom solutions that work in every area of our society," DeMint said on a conference call.

Today, Mr. Obama did so.

Speaking at a children's hospital, the president said, "Now, there are some in this town who are content to perpetuate the status quo, are in fact fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests. There are others who recognize the problem, but believe -- or perhaps, hope -- that we can put off the hard work of insurance reform for another day, another year, another decade.

"Just the other day," the president continued, "one Republican senator said -- and I'm quoting him now -- 'If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.' Think about that. This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses, and breaking America's economy."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/07/president-obama-finds-demint-fresh.html

1 comment:

Rick Matz said...

I don't think Demint should have said anything. His comments gave Pres Obama a topic he could use to take the public's eye off the health care debate and turn it to his opposition.

A better comment from the opposition of the health care plans winding through Congress would have been the demand for an amendment that would put every Federal employee, including members of Congress and the Administration into the so called public option.