Bernie and Hillary and How Things Work

  
In my misspent youth I was in the U.S. Army and then I worked for the biggest employer in Massachusetts, a health insurance behemoth. It gave me a front row seat to see how things work, mostly who does what in a corporation and how things get done, or don’t get done. And this is how I see the race between Bernie and Hillary: basically they’re applying for different jobs.

This is how the army works and bear with me I’m getting to Bernie: the Commander in Chief creates policy both foreign and domestic say, “My policy is we will have peace on earth,” or “I want to be the first nation to put men on Mars.” His policy people propose three or four major initiatives to support the results, say, “to have peace on earth we have to 1. cut down the threat of nuclear war, and 2. stabilize warring populations” and they give these initiatives to the Chiefs of the different branches of the military (general officers) and with the help of their planning divisions create plans to realize these initiatives and also contingency plans in case things don’t go the way they think they will. The plans are given to the general officers of the brigades and divisions who make plans to mobilize or do whatever is necessary to achieve the goals they are given. These plans are given to the field grade officers who assign tasks to their companies, until you finally have squads of soldiers worrying about how to take a hill or whether or not to trust that kid with a grenade in his hand. You see where I’m going here. The criticism of Bernie for not being a foot soldier or even a brigade tank commander is spot on. But that’s not the job he’s applying for. He’s applying for the job of Commander in Chief. He’s the leader. He has the vision. Much like the CEO of that behemoth insurance company I worked for. The CEO didn’t care how the customer service people paid claims or even what criteria they used to deny claims (sex change operations or no?), he just wanted to insure the most people in Massachusetts. He also wanted our company logo on a sign big enough to be seen as you drove into downtown Boston on the Mass Turnpike, but that’s another story.

So now here’s where Hillary and Bernie come in. Bernie is applying for the job of the person who says “I want peace on earth.” I’m not voting for his ability to put together plans to make that happen. I’m voting for the person who wants peace on earth. Because I do too! I get all tingly about that. And I trust that Bernie will hire people to make that happen because there are plenty of smart policy wonks around. And here’s the difference: Hillary is applying for the job of the person who makes stuff happen. Nothing wrong with that, per se, except I’m not sure what big stuff she passionately wants to make happen except to etch her name on the oval office. I don’t doubt her ability to make stuff happen, and maybe she is the most qualified person for the job of making stuff happen, in which case, I’m sure Bernie would be thrilled to hire her. Much like Obama was.