The most successful teams have the best playbook. The most successful teams stick to their playbook, as it gives them time to boost profit and maximize outcome. According to Accenture, the largest consulting firm in the world, \u201cA playbook reflects a plan \u2014 an approach or strategy defining predetermined responses worked out ahead of time.\u201d The \u201cplay,\u201d so to speak, equates to a workflow shaped by cultural values prompting a consistent response. Note the consistent response from America\u2019s foremost political \u201cteams\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note that the aforementioned collective, consistent response reflects equal numbers of statements from Team Biden and Team Trump, in response to being a target of impeachment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bear with me; take a deep breath. Withhold any preconditioned prompt to (semi-)respectfully pounce. Let us insert an immediate caveat. Today\u2019s post is not an admonition nor abutment of either so-called team nor their questionable QB; today is an examination of the playbook, and why a watching world reacts the way we do. For as much as we may passionately like\/dislike one or another (think Yankees\/Red Sox, Army\/Navy, or Ohio State\/Michigan \u2014 go Bucks),<\/em> there is no denying the existence of a playbook\u2026 and in this case, how eerily similar they are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the current situation, the back of the book\u2019s vocab section references the following: \u201cweak,\u201d \u201cabsurd,\u201d \u201cillegitimate,\u201d \u201cbaseless,\u201d \u201cpolitical theater,\u201d a \u201choax,\u201d a \u201cwitch hunt,\u201d \u201ca joke,\u201d \u201ca pathetic political mission,\u201d \u201ca scam,\u201d \u201cplain old payback,\u201d a \u201cnakedly partisan investigation,\u201d \u201cfacially and substantively flawed,\u201d \u201cunconstitutional,\u201d \u201cthe fleeting politics of the moment,\u201d and \u201cpure political cowardice.\u201d (Or from one non-actual-team member, even a \u201ckerfuffle\u201d \u2014 thank you, former British prime minister, Boris Johnson).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a doubt, as Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig wrote 4 years ago, \u201cImpeachment is a profoundly disruptive event\u201d\u2026 \u201cWhen Republicans impeached Andrew Johnson for obstructing Reconstruction in 1868, there was no broadcasting. There was no polling, at least not in the scientific sense of today. \u2018Media\u2019 in America meant newspapers, which were largely partisan, but whose effect on the public was hard for politicians to gauge. The trial of Johnson was thus conducted by a relatively small political elite that, because they focused on the crisis, at least understood the facts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The impeachment of Richard Nixon a century later was critically different, in part, at least, because the technology of culture had become importantly different. Democracy had become what [Princeton professor] Markus Prior calls \u2018broadcast democracy,\u2019 with an astonishing 85 percent of Americans tuning into at least part of the impeachment hearings via the three major broadcast networks and PBS. And the public had become persistently polled, meaning that politicians in Washington knew what voters were thinking. As the Watergate hearings progressed, Americans weren\u2019t just focused on the story: They were focused on <\/em>the same story.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s not the case in current day America. We\u2019re not focused on the same story. Both parties \u2014 as evidenced above \u2014 believe the pursuit of impeachment of the other<\/em><\/strong> is politically motivated. Look at the identical playbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was recently said here \u2014 granted, a little in jest \u2014 that I think \u201cthe two primary established political parties currently take turns being totally whacked.\u201d I actually believe each gets some things right. And wrong. But as evidenced by the immediate refutes, Teflon denials, and yes, eeriness of parallel playbooks, neither team is all healthy, good nor looking out for us all. It\u2019s too partisan. Too divisive. Especially when they know<\/strong><\/em> we aren\u2019t focused on the same story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Impeachment of Biden and impeachment of Trump are not clear cut. I am not suggesting either did nothing wrong; I’m instead acknowledging the profound national disruption. And it is sadly true that neither of the accusing teams are beyond reproach. That\u2019s scary. As one congressperson said (again with their party affiliation interchangeable),<\/em>\u201dWe know how this partisan process will end\u2026 but what happens tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, how will they react next? Who will justify the next potentially politically motivated action? And who will attempt to tell us that their actions are lawful and pure while the other is wholly not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s the scary part. We can\u2019t tell. And it\u2019s right there in the playbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The most successful teams have the best playbook. The most successful teams stick to their playbook, as it gives them time to boost profit and maximize outcome. According to Accenture, the largest consulting firm in the world, \u201cA playbook reflects a plan \u2014 an approach or strategy defining predetermined responses worked out ahead of time.\u201d … <\/p>\n