Congratulations, Sir. Welcome to the best/worst job in the world. You wanted it. Now you have it. Fortunately, there are quite obviously no dearth of people willing to help you do it. In this category I not only include the vast team of economists, strategists, political tacticians and assorted experts you have already assembled. You’re lucky enough to possess an entire Verizon-esque network of folks willing to tell you what to do and how to do it. You need to listen to every single one.
For instance, you need to listen to Wall Street. Wall Street knows what to do. Even after all the difficulties it has visited upon our economic system, we’re fortunate in the number of economists, bankers, brokers and investment scientists who have a variety of good advice for you to consider. Just look at all the business sites across the Web for a sampling of their extremely varied opinions. Listen to all of them.
You’ll also want to listen to the electronic and print media. There are so many smart people writing and televising their notions of what you should do. The good news is that the majority of them are 100% with you – just precisely the way they were with Mr. Bush for seven and a half years of his term. How smartly they turned on a dime in the last six months! They’re derisive of him now, you bet. How could anybody have paid any attention to the former president, considering what a fool he was on SO many levels!? On the other hand, you’re much better and smarter, Sir, the media recognizes that bigtime, and has any number of thoughts on what you should do to cement your place in history with them – until they turn against you. To avoid that as long as possible, you should listen to them, too.
Don’t forget all the folks in Congress, of course. They’ve done such a smashing job in the last decade or two. Your colleagues in government on the other side of the aisle, for example, would like to deepen tax cuts on the upper ends of the economic scale, to make sure that whatever is left to trickle down from up there continues to flow as reliably as ever. That sounds like a good idea to a lot of people in business, for sure, even those who were your big supporters.
And don’t forget about all the bloggers out there. Right now, if this nation had as many dollars as we all produce in words every day, we’d all be rich. On the both the left and the right wing, they have quite a bit of advice to offer you every day, and if the center had wings, they’d all be flapping at you as well. And you’d do well to listen.
Finally, there are all the Joes who are continually stepping into the limelight to offer their wisdom. Joe the Plumber is actually a correspondent for somebody right now. Joe Sixpack may even sober up to give you his views. And then there’s John Q. Public. You’ve got to keep them in mind. Listen to them all!
And then, you know what? Do what YOU think is right, okay? Then maybe, just maybe, we’ll all may have a chance, I think.
