Advice for President Obama on the Issue of Power

Max's advice for March 17, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Max grew up as the son of a man who knew 'ALL' the answers to the problems of the world. Max's father said so! Many times, his father let everyone know that anyone who didn't know that he had the answers was a turkey or a knucklehead.

The famous Ma Bell, the second most powerful force in the world (next to God of course), thought so much of Max's father's opinions that she made him 'Supervisor of Troubles'. This is true!

The advice Max promised you, President Obama.

Develop an understanding of how power is used here and abroad!

Max never understood power, which often created problems for him when he worked in managerial positions. Max has always believed that God created all men equal and assumed that means all people. In the work place, power is an important part of the way businesses are organized. When you try to treat everyone as an equal it can make for real difficulty when people are looking for leadership.

Mr. President, your title alone tells us that you have more power to do some things than all the rest of us combined. In this world and in this time you have more power at your disposal than any other person on the planet.

That's pretty heady stuff. Your hat size could easily grow twice its normal size just thinking about it.

You don't need to get a larger hat. At least we hope not.

If you want a beer from the local grocery store, your aides can get it for you in minutes. Even if it is only five blocks from the White House, you may have to schedule a day in advance just to get permission to use your car to go there. You are so important a leader that you have to schedule everything in advance. Normal people can't even see you except at staged events where everyone is checked out.

The grocery store is out, although it might be a good experience for you. It was for the senior President Bush, who saw technology that he was totally unfamilar with.

So much for having all that power.

That is the very point of this advice column. Power is not always what it seems to be. You have the power to go to a grocery store but under conditions that make it an unreal adventure. Your aides have power that you can only imagine until the end of your term.

They have the power that comes with being free from the shackles that political and social power comes with. You now know what it is like to be in the same league as Donald Trump and Queen Elizabeth. You have to give up your personal freedom in many areas in part because you potentially yield great power.

Leslie Gelb has recently put out a book on the issue of power as it relates to a national perspective. The book, "Power Rules", apparently covers many of the issues of how the attempt to extend power into some situations can be counter productive because of the differences between local power issues and global power issues.

His hypothesis appears to support the observation that the introduction of U.S. troops into some parts of Iraq was an enabler to Al Queda in getting a foothold there. The Iraqis were worried about losing their jobs and livelihoods with the rise of the other segments of the country that had been surpressed.

In the face of this local concern the U.S. sent troops out breaking down doors, ignoring local customs, shooting people who got too close, and acting as the combat soldiers they were trained to be. The concerns were local but the introduction of foreign troops gave Al Queda an "in" by providing support for the local issues the U.S. was ignoring.

Afghan local issues created the same foothold for the Taliban, Al Queda and drug lords. As long as we place a large military presence in the country we may scare large adversaries but the little local ones will only be turned against us.

Mr. President, you and your military and state advisors should use books like this one as a basis for building strategies that extend the power of the U.S. deep into the Afghan people's minds and souls.

Max wishes you well in all your efforts to build power strategies that work.

Max writes about greenways, rare diseases, timely topics, places to eat, travel and other issues of interest. He encourages you to add your comments.

Link one is a biography of Leslie Gelb.

Link two is about Dr. Leslie Gelb's education credentials.

Link three is about his role in opposition to Iran's search for power.