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The
Education of the President
by Peter Baker
During our hour together, Obama
told me he had no regrets about the broad direction of his presidency.
But he did identify what he called 'tactical lessons.' He let himself
look too much like 'the same old
tax-and-spend liberal Democrat.' He realized too late that 'there's no
such thing as shovel-ready projects'
when it comes to public works. Perhaps he should not have proposed tax
breaks as part of his stimulus
and instead "let the Republicans insist on the tax cuts" so it could be
seen as a bipartisan compromise.
It's too bad Obama had zero idea what "negotiations" were about when he
took office.
He spent two years trying to get the GOP to like him
and all this time they've been planning his f-ing impeachment.
Yes, Barack, you gave away everything and asked the wolves to
play fair and give some back.
But they are wolves and they don't negotiate - especialy with some
NitWH.
I learned how to negotiate in 1971.
I played drums and a friend of mine was going to spend
$1200 on a new set of Ludwig drums.
I knew a guy who owned a music store and he told me he could get those
same drums for $900.
So I told my friend, "I can get you those
same drums for $1000," making me $100 profit
and in 1971, $100 was a damn lot of money for a kid who made $2.50 a
week allowance.
One hitch - the music store needed a down payment, which
were his old drums,
so I loaned him my drums for
4 weeks until his new drums came in.
When his drums came in, he paid the music store and
later, I went by for my $100.
The owner pulled a Cheney on me and said I should, "Go fuck yourself."
I was 17 and ever stupider than I am now, so what was I
going to do?
Sue him?
Torch his store?
So that day I learned a lesson that has paid off for me thousands of times since 1971.
When you do a deal, you have to protect yourself up-front and you NEVER
depend on the kindness or honesty of someone you're negotiating with.
Too bad Obama, age 50, never learned that important lesson that I learned when I was 17.
Think how different America might be today if Obama had
the slightest clue of how to
negotiate.