Israel opened a new window on 21st-century warfare and its potential consequences. It embedded a networked software trigger in electronic devices that can be activated at advantageous moments. In the case of Israel’s use, the trigger ignited explosives on the person of Hezbollah fighters and probably beyond. And this was engineered in an antiquated device called a Pager. The door is open; it will not close.

Where does this lead? Lets begin with apprehension. Inevitably import restrictions and still more inspections. Manufacturing regulations for sure. Think air travel then and now. I’m old enough to remember that it was literally only minutes after arriving at the airport that you could board your plane without any personal inspections.

In reality, this new form of warfare will reach all of us. A shoe bomber fouled air travel. What about exploding devices?

Unwanted Music

It is not unusual to find yourself in a restaurant where the music is both un-entertaining and loud. In fact, since my hearing is not all that great I wonder what younger ears hear.

Of course, to be heard over the music you have to speak more loudly causing the ambient sound level to spike. Theoretically, this is all in the pursuit of a more pleasant experience—restaurant owner turned Disc Jockey.

If a restaurant that serves a broad demographic wants to play music, they should research what will be most pleasant and then very carefully set the volume. My advise: give us a break, don’t stomp on our conversations.

We Shouldn’t Have To Be Convinced

Sports betting. In the money chase, what we think of as governments have decided to become the middleman. They authorize what used to be illegal, sometimes promote it and then take a cut.

Realizing that in most jurisdictions there is not much room for more taxes on their constituents many governments have turned to gambling. Lotteries, sports betting, casinos and their variations have the government engaged in what they witlessly think of as risk free conduct. In effect governments have become the croupier and their cut is assured.

A recent article in The Atlantic was titled “Legalized Sports Gambling Was a Huge Mistake.” It concluded in a sub-title: The evidence is convincing: the betting industry is ruining lives.” The author noted, “The rise of sports gambling has caused a wave of financial and familial misery, one that falls disproportionately on the most economically precarious households.”

If we are not prepared to bear additional taxes governments should not put on “green eye shades.” The leader class should not take the path of least resistance and prey on our weaknesses.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

Let me make this simple. America’s voters should be allowed to escape the emotional trap that has increasingly become the framework of Presidential politics. The debate about the debate and the performative result when a debate finally happens.

Straightforward questions and answers should be available to the voters. At least those who want them.

I am not against debates, but rarely do they provide straight forward answers and often they are won or lost by theatrics. And while follow-up questions are allowed, too often they are weighted by the interviewers pre-dispositions. Journalism schools should have a course that teaches Jim Lehrer techniques for fair debates. Recall, Jim Lehrer was the PBS newsman that both sides most often found acceptable as a debate moderator.

Since we are only weeks away from an election, I propose two news organizations — the New York Times and Wall Street Journal concur on a list of questions not to exceed two per topic to submit to Trump and Harris. My beginning suggestions:

1. What programs should be funded by increasing our national debt?
2. How should we reconcile the gap between entitlement promises and funding?
3. The limits, if any, of US support for Ukraine?
4. In 200 words or less, what would a Trump or Harris Administration seek to achieve?

Now to my defense. Yes, there are many more questions that could be asked, but given today’s span of attention, lengthy questions and answers will not be read. Plus, the goal should be to provide a format that will persuade all media to participate in presenting the answers.

I have chosen only two newspapers (leaning left and right) to avoid time lapses and the potential of jockeying for more favorable formats or release dates. The questions should go out quickly and the candidates responses be required in five days.

Finally, I spent three and a half years at the Federal Communications Commission watching disputes devolve into lawyering. Surely these two esteemed news organizations can find a way to get out-of-the-way, allowing the two candidates to choose how straightforward they want to be and letting the voters reach their own conclusions.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

Years ago, under entirely different circumstances, I was generally a Republican voter unless a good friend was on the other ticket. Donald Trump changed that and several years ago I changed my registration. Independent always in attitude and now in affiliation as well.

The US Senate race in Maryland is for me an opportunity. An opportunity to comfortably vote on the Republican side of the ballot. Having dealt with both Houses of Congress, let me explain my attitude.

I am going to presume that not everybody understands the position of Party Whip with his/her several deputies. Their Congressional role is to make sure everybody in their Party’s caucus votes the Party line. Few, in history, stand up to the Whip even when their principles are in conflict with the Party line. The Whip office has deep ties with those that control campaign funds and few who are elected want to risk losing that support. Re-election is fast on the dreamscape.

In present day Washington, notable independent-minded and voting Senators include Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and on the other side Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski. John McCain, a Republican, was especially independent and by many called a “Maverick”. Perhaps most famously, in my lifetime, was Democratic Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas. He took on his Party’s President Lyndon Johnson in opposing the Vietnam War. His advocacy was the beginning of the end of the war.

In the Maryland Senate race there is only one person whose principles and history will assure voters a stiff spine. Former Governor Larry Hogan. I can think of few moments in the American history I have lived when courage to push back is more needed. And it is an especially important characteristic to have on the Republican side of the aisle. Trump, if elected, will not run over Hogan.

Much will be said about political leverage (read benefits) in this campaign. The Democratic nominee will be said to have leverage and especially by many who will be voting for Kamala Harris. And if the Democratic Party clears the table, that will probably be right. But if the Democratic Party clears the table, I will certainly want our former Governor in the Senate. Most Presidents want to make their mark by enacting new programs with big price tags that add to the deficit. Governor Hogan’s record as a fiscal conservative who got things done was impressive.

But if indeed the former President wins a second term a Senator Larry Hogan will be able to join other more independent-minded Republican Senators to push back on extremes. Who doubts the former Governor would do that? Or if he feels it necessary, stand alone and speak out? Policy proposals are cheap as taxpayers pick up the tab; courage is politically expensive. Courage is telling in history even when it is often unpopular in the present.

Larry Hogan has been thoroughly vetted by Maryland voters. He served eight years as Governor. He always faced a Legislature controlled by the Democrats. He learned how to move forward without giving away the farm. He is seasoned, has an abundance of courage, and my vote.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

Folklore has it that the 11th Century King of England once stood on the shore of the River Trent and commanded the tide to stop rising. It didn’t. We know him as King Canute.

The King was drenched by the rising tide but more importantly he was humbled. He, it is said, spoke accordingly saying “Let the world know that the power of Kings is empty and worthless.” Fast forwarding to the 21st Century I suspect hubristic politicians would find some rationalization as to why a tidal flow overtook their commands. They would start by blaming the other Party.

As I type the last of the two political conventions are winding down. President Biden summed up what he had accomplished in a midnight speech. Huh? Yep, the power of a lame duck is especially revealing at low tide.

The former President, Donald Trump, was once a lame duck but now is flapping his wings again. When it came to quacking at the Republican Convention, Trump broke his previous record of a 74 minute acceptance speech—this most recent speech came in at 92 minutes. I couldn’t find a record of King Canute’s speeches, but my guess is they were shorter. Kings command rather than fulminate.

There has been another eye-popping flow. Almost daily we read of another exceedingly wealthy person buying a mega yacht (120 to 200 feet in length) with some even more hubristically ordering a giga yacht—finished they exceed 300 feet.

I have a suggestion, use your millions or billions to take a very close look at the operational health of our government. Yes, operational health. Leave it to the elected to sketch their policy plans.

America needs a competition of ideas on best practices in delivering government services in the 21st Century. A couple of questions. Are we getting economic and service dividends by deploying the latest technology? Is our government actually measuring results? King Canute was willing to order the tide to stop its flow at the river’s edge. Are those in Washington who are responsible for making things work measuring costs against benefits? Promises weighed against reality?

And what about customer or I should say taxpayer experience. Google and Amazon and others leveraged the customer interface. Google made search easy and Amazon did likewise in buying things.

Previously studies of efficiency or efficacy have been offloaded to government commissions. The two Roosevelts were reformers who studied ways and means. President Bill Clinton turned the task of probing for reforms of government to his Vice President, Al Gore. I believe it is time to fund an inquiry using private capital and advanced thinking. Rather than buying a super-sized yacht, buy a super-sized study of where we are in delivering government services and what we can do better and for less. How tax dollars can be stretched.

A former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg who previously, using new media, outpaced legacy media might be a good leader. He is both accomplished in business and local government. In fact this project might sound like something he would invest in. Or maybe Mitt Romney, accomplished in both business and government, can pull together both the organization and its funding. But whoever takes the leadership role should reach out to his/her wealthy peers for both funding and participation. This will not be an inexpensive project.

In general, as institutions get larger, most become very conservative. Management becomes comfortable with operations, and change takes people outside their comfort zone. And often, with large organizations, especially ones that don’t receive day-to-day feedback on sales and margins, new initiatives do not replace old ones—new initiatives are piled on top of old ones. Dated ways of doing things have their constituencies and dysfunctions.

An obvious question: will the government or governments cooperate? If the initiative is broadly based and stays well outside of partisan politics, I suspect elected officials would cooperate. To not do so would be petty. Certainly research should look for best practices regardless of jurisdictional lines.

Bigger yachts, well they will not recede as a temptation. But most of the richest also want to see their country prosper and like the rest of us have undoubtedly been critics of operational inefficiencies and failures. Regardless of whether such an examination is a private or public initiative it is overdue.

Mash Up

It is often hoped that 2 + 2 will equal more than 4. And when complementary assets are combined and well managed that is often the case. But what about the mash up of former President Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr.(RFKJ)?

This latest political combination looks to me like a celebrity marriage. Celebrity marriages rarely last but the ones that do owe their longevity to some level of humility—the spouse who goes along regardless of his/her personal preference. RFKJ should prepare himself to be humiliated. Will his ego allow it?

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

Many of you will know the title of this column from Celine Dion’s 1999 hit recording, “And That Is The Way It Is.” But, my intent is to recall the sign-off by Walter Cronkite each night as he finished his CBS newscast; he said: “And That Is The Way It Is”. (Note link) The final day of his newscast: March 6, 1981.

Cronkite made that bold claim on his early evening broadcast knowing that within hours newspapers would serve as the news of record. Newspapers were then thriving. Not bad, the American people had professional fact-checkers whose journalistic collaborations in print were only hours away.

Heated arguments preceded the tagline’s acceptance by the higher-ups at CBS. But these higher-ups existed only in corporate lingo, as Walter Cronkite’s news show drew a larger audience than all three networks combined do today. The newsmakers of Cronkite’s day knew that news was made when it appeared on his weekday show.

The battle in Cronkite’s time was to get the news right and deliver it with seriousness more than theatrics. His newscast was the baseline that informed both the elected and voters alike.

Today, there is no baseline; it is up to us; we choose from a smorgasbord of what is generally called cable news. Throw in various Internet news sites as well.  Too often we choose what to watch by pre-disposition—more conservative, more liberal. After the news shows, so-called “personalities” take over, in what is called primetime and seek to shape a spectrum of viewer outrage. Outrage sells because we buy it—often at our own expense. What if we didn’t?

Almost nobody disputes where we are in news consumption. Fox leads in audience count. MSNBC and CNN lag but have numbers that sustain their businesses. The Network news (CBS, NBC, ABC), as it is known, has been severely diminished.

The Network news is frequently referred to as the Mainstream news.  Mainstream news audiences are small, a shadow of their earlier importance, and supported by ads for older people. To claim they are an effective nefarious force in today’s politics is absurd. Propagandists who masquerade as conservatives use the term—its use is tactical not substantive.

Somehow we have become more attracted by slogans than content. Is  discernment possible? Or is anger more likely when news reporting is  often packaged as argument. Should we control our thinking or default to media personalities? Should we worry when propagandists create sharp dividing lines? Should we be concerned when it is most likely that a small sub-set of voters in a handful of States will decide the new President?

We, today’s Americans, are the beneficiaries of America’s strength. A strong constitution. Often strong leadership when it is most in need. A strong economy, much of the time, which allows businesses to flourish and tax revenue to support needed services. America in the messy world of human endeavors is good and sometimes great.

We need to be vigilant and, yes, discerning to remain the most successful country in the modern era. And let me add, one thing is certain, incendiary politics and related news coverage shows more weakness than strength.

Fox News

Fox News, the most popular cable news network, leverages anger or creates it, if they can sell their advertisements at a higher price. It has some good journalists and news readers but its most lucrative asset is created by propagandists. They specialize in scripting the news to satisfy audience prejudices. And yes, we all have them.

Fox’s most egregious sin was for management to allow many of its on-air personalities to claim that the 2020 election was stolen while acknowledging it wasn’t when talking among themselves. They actively corrupted their news coverage of the election outcome to please their audience. In a democracy there is no greater sin.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

Overwhelmed. Taken beyond our capacity. What about Noah Lyles who won the 100m sprint by 0.005 seconds? This differential is the Olympics. The world’s best are at times less than a blink away.

This was also a pivotal week in politics where measurement is different. The Republican nominee is one-of-one and is most often measured against his prior conduct. Is a given act better or worse than some bizarre episode a few days ago?

Millions are stirred by Olympic standards informed by almost incomprehensible feats. But politics are ever present, and if polls are to be believed, about 35% make excuses for Donald J. Trump, who tests new lows almost weekly. There is a lot of room between his base’s standards and what it takes to be included in an Olympic trial in a small Caribbean nation.

I certainly believed that President Biden had to stand down. It became clearly evident that his health was not the equal of four more years. Approaching 70% of the public agreed. His performance and the polls caused the Democratic Party bigwigs to say, “it’s over, Mr. President.”

So what about Trump and the Republican Party bigwigs?

Well, let me begin by saying the Republican Party doesn’t have any bigwigs. I can’t think of one currently active elected Republican who could make an Olympic team of politicians. Their distance from a bronze medal seems infinite. And of course Trump does not listen. Trump gets by with his antics because much of his base is so cynical about politics and politicians that traditional standards have no purchase. Where is the bar located?

So here we are with an important set of principles and values that Republicans have previously represented, not on the soon-to-be printed ballots. Perhaps the merger of economic populism and Christian nationalism with a “weird” candidate will result in a new political party. One that begins to form after the inauguration and that represents traditional values, sound economics and a willingness to actually measure outcomes. While the Olympics raises measurement to almost incomprehensible levels, politics today just spends, spends and spends and the catapulting deficit—well the US doesn’t have any competitors in that event since we enjoy a reserve currency. I wonder, how much longer?

I am sure that this column will infuriate many. Although, since I am an obscure voice in a sea of noise, my opinion will be easily dismissed. But, I will limp on measuring an event that will not be formally measured until November.

Closing thoughts. Every Olympic follower is interested in the past. We are thrilled when the present edges out the past. We are thrilled when a competitor comes out of nowhere and measurably exceeds, on the clock, our expectations. So for those who are prepared to overlook Trump’s bizarre behavior because you prefer his policies, just think, you are prepared to invest four more years in a politician whose base is expected to genuflect regardless of his changing policies. And do.

Governor Tim Walz

The handicappers lost. At least at the beginning of Kamala Harris’ search for a running mate Governor Walz of Minnesota was running third or so in the betting. Well, he won, and over the next 48 hours, his presumed script and electoral help will be analyzed. He and presumptive nominee Vice-President Harris will not enjoy the colonoscopy, polyps will be found.

I am patient. If he defends his home state’s actions but does not try to make them federal programs, he will be reassuring. Everything I have read indicates his social background and skills will be popular. His counterpart on the Republican side, JD Vance, runs hot with a lot of edge. Walz is said to be comfortable and ingratiating. And don’t bet against a ticket that cannot brag about their Ivy League credentials.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

What happens when technology is the essential force? When its forces simply defy, for most, a good counter-strategy? This is an especially difficult question because for those who look to government for solutions, politicians project from the rearview mirror, offering a lot but providing little to those left behind. And humanity is now facing the inevitable onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI)

I have recently finished a road trip in the Southeast as my wife and I travelled home with our wonderful canines Jazz and Dizzy. We can’t pass them off as service dogs—plane travel was not on offer.

We chose what the author William Least Heat Moon called “Blue Highways,” although our road trip was a fraction of his. I first read Moon’s book decades ago. The book published in 1982 is considered a classic.

The blue highways are those that were largely displaced by the interstate highway system. And while I could go back further with disruptive technology, the interstate highway system is a good place to start and it proved to be wildly disruptive. I know, I grew up in a small town in Southeast Missouri and watched it happen.

When you drive the blue highways, there are still the remnants of businesses and jobs by-passed—dreams abandoned. The skeletons of old service stations and restaurants. Ghost buildings and equipment. And we even encountered several hitchhikers.

Farm fields, of course, have not been abandoned but equipment is now the leverage point of large-scale farming. Generations who supported their family with farm work have been displaced by enormous tractors and implements.

Particularly sad, fewer farm produce stands were apparent as we traveled with searching eyes. Corporate farmers sell their products to buyers who arrive in big trucks. The few farm stands we saw were selling garden-raised peaches, tomatoes, and the like.

We spent several nights in Linville, North Carolina. Linville is fortunate because the summer weather is cool and the surrounding mountains majestic. The area surrounding Linville is filled with Christmas tree farms. A local told us their business model has suffered a blow from what he called: “fake trees”. In many households plastic took on the natural beauty of a Spruce tree and won because it is mass produced. Christmas costs lowered to buy things.

And we saw plenty of devastated small towns. Most travelers don’t leave the interstates and when they eat they stop at fast food chain stores that are ubiquitous. They are featured at most exit points. The chain restaurants are largely supplied by companies that buy chickens by the millions and potatoes by the billions.

Dollar General understands. It has sprouted like dandelions. It has replaced the local—well, with Walmart—just about everything. Scale drives prices lower, which is a good thing unless you empathize with boys and girls who are driven by it and imports, leaving the towns and entrepreneurship behind.

I don’t know if there are statistics on Baptist churches in the rural south, but every crossroad seems to feature a half dozen and almost none of them seem to be associated with National Baptist church organizations. Entrepreneurship in the pulpit.

Since we drove the blue highways (mostly) home, we enjoyed local restaurants and bakeries but they were often hard to find. I did notice that some of the old buildings have been converted to Cannabis dispensaries. And technical schools, often called community colleges, were in some evidence.

There are no fixes for stay-at-home jobs, although valiant efforts were noticeable. The most noticeable: small art shops and bakeries. And living now in a virtual world I suspect there were virtual workers inside many homes. Our family emailing, while on the trip, points to Georgia as having rapidly expanded network connectivity, even in isolated areas—a forward step.

American capitalism has done very well and will continue to do so, gravitating to the new, new thing. And the new, new thing today is artificial intelligence. Urban and suburban America, beware.

But, while there are no fixes, there is one strategy that will work on an individual basis. Intelligence be prepared. Schools up your game. In the final analysis the only defense is education aligned with adaptability and the willingness to move on if necessary.  Certainly rural America has been forced to move on.

It’s Friday, the back roads are in Virginia. Notable as you get closer to, in our case, Richmond to have dinner with a granddaughter, you see cultural oddities. For example, an Islamic mosque in Horse Pasture, Va. Yes, that is the name of the town. And as we reached onto more travelled roads we began to see more new housing—almost all modular. My guess is that they come packaged with an assembler and somebody in the house has at least some dexterity with electrical and plumbing work. Not a favorable market for contractors and all the trades they have used in building houses, barns, sheds and the like.

Throughout the backroads trip most roads were named for flora, fauna or a close-by river or creek. Except if the road led to a church it was named for the church. In more developed areas roads that lead to somewhere are frequently named for a person who funded it or was a prominent member of the community. One of the more vivid names was Hanging Rock Road.

And one of the more appreciative memories was a small coffee/bakery combination called the Main Street Coffee in Pilot Mountain, Virginia. The best latte ever with excellent baked goods. Not to disparage Panera, but the woman who opened up her small shop should be in charge of upping Panera’s game.

The prosperity of small towns cannot be renewed by federal bureaucrats regardless of how well-meaning. But, there are developments local leadership can use as leverage.

Modest incremental investments can boost high-speed networks and virtual jobs. Consolidation and transportation can help overcome educational and healthcare voids. It is noteworthy and perhaps helpful that Amazon is upping its game in rural America. Regardless, it will take the moxie and energy we found at the Main Street Coffee in Pilot Mountain to lead renewal, where it is possible or maybe wanted.

But let me close on the upbeat. The pastoral vistas were not blemished by giant billboards. At night, it was quiet—loud motors were miles away. And maybe, most importantly, monotony was not on offer—stories told long ago were still around.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

“France is never greater than when its great for all people.” Andre Malraux, French Novelist

France is in the spotlight, especially Paris. A Canadian, Celine Dion, singing Hyme a l’amour (Hymn of Love) opened the 2024 Olympics with a musical gift to the world. To borrow from Malraux, Dion’s gift was to “all people.”

Back home, a Saturday headline in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) read: “Democrats Bet America Is Ready to Elect a Black Woman President.” The article that followed parsed a WSJ poll conducted 7/23-7/25. Premature is the first word that comes to mind. Error is the second.

Is Kamala Harris a black woman? She is only if an offspring of an East Indian mother and Jamaican father is. And to that I say, look around.

Several days ago I was at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC for a minor procedure on my knees. The hospital employees are a kaleidoscope of colors — ethnic variations—the melting pot that is America.

Curious, I went to Wikipedia and learned that the phrase “melting pot” was first coined by Israel Zangwill, an author and playwright, describing “America’s absorption of immigrants.” Zangwill was Jewish and born in London, the son of Latvian and Polish immigrants.

My heritage is European: English, German, and Irish. Love conquered the divisions, as the English were not enamored of the Irish—it was reciprocal. And, well, the Germans were prepared to follow several of their 20th-century leaders into war.

But here we are. America was built with the blood, sweat, tears, and moxie of virtually all nationalities. Sub-dividing our political candidates and then describing them along bloodlines is a curse of identity politics.

I don’t know Donald J. Trump’s ethnic background and don’t care. I only know Harris’s because it is frequently pointed out. To me they are both Americans and should be judged by what they tell us about how they intend to improve our nation. Or, given hyperbole, how they are going to try.

America’s strength results from its diversity paired with freedom. The freedom to start things. To fail or succeed. Look around. Study the diverse combinations that are busy improving health care, communication networks, manufacturing processes and so much more.

Humans are by nature and experience pulled toward being judgmental. And marketing amplifies our preferences in food, cars, sports teams and on and on.  Good; it would be beyond boring to live and work in a narrow culture with few choices. But, when bloodlines or skin color shape negative prejudices we are yielding to a distortion of the senses.

The politics of the United States, maybe today more then ever, reflects our diversity. We are not bored. We should celebrate this fact — the fact of our diversity. And the last thing we should do is to let ethnic divisions guide our choice of leaders.

I see Kamala Harris as an American and beginning about a week ago, I started getting to know how she wants to lead us. Surely she will now run not as a subordinate of President Biden’s or those who head the Progressive political wing. If she does she will lose the middle and thus the electoral college. More to follow.

If France is “never greater than when its great for all people”, America is never wiser than when it recognizes our greatness is “out of many one.”

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

Donald J Trump dodged a bullet, literally. And thankfully.

But, yesterday he did not. He now must defeat Vice-President Kamala Harris. He went from a virtual certainty to defeat President Joe Biden to, in my mind, a 50/50 race.

Trump is no longer running against an obviously declining old man but rather engaging a relatively young woman. Yes, there will be all sorts of criticism of her California past. In politics, at least, California is not a predictor of national attitudes and trends. More often, its one-party progressive policies, for example, are said to be why so many businesses are leaving the State.

Vice President Harris, of course, will snip off traces of prosecutorial aggression to make the case she will be tough on crime but then quickly pivot to claims of success working as President Biden’s sidekick. Ultimately, to satisfy the policy wonks, she will have to voice a coherent Harris presidential set of ideas.

On the Trump side his attitude and conduct toward women will be highlighted again. He will not be able to dodge his instincts. At some point he will make none too subtle and, to many, egregious comments which will reflect back on his unforgiving alpha male interior.

Now, maybe I am too sensitive as a father of three daughters—I will admit that—but I am not a pronoun guy looking to take offense.

But, most can recall earlier comments of a sexualized nature and, of course, recently, his felony convictions tied to “hush money” payments. Now it is all out there; what is called “oppo” research will be easy; it can be completed with an Internet search.

And there will be plenty of women who will be quick to recall his tawdry behavior. Start with Republican Liz Cheney. Or Alaska’s Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. Well, you get the picture. If you want a refresher on Trump’s comments and the reactions, here is a Wikipedia link.

It is always hoped that campaigns will come down to ideas and debates. And in the impending race there will be traces of what many will prefer. But there will also be an underlay, a sexualized one, that will not be kind to the Former President.

Help!

History records that many new products were at least intuitively understandable. Tractor implements that dug looked like an enlarged shovel powered by fuel and visible mechanisms. Farmers could see and make judgments about the invention. But what about the recent CrowdStrike affair?

CrowdStrike calls itself “the world’s most advanced cloud-native platform that protects and enables the people, processes and technologies that drive modern enterprise—secures the most critical areas of risk”. In its recent past it used a software patch that brought down a significant part of the data-driven network we all use.

Begin with “patch”—how to envision? Well certainly not as you would patch a shirt. Or, download—moving vertically? And in a wide spectrum of troubled network perversions, how can we protect against downloads  when the source is from a well-disguised enemy? That is the business of CrowdStrike.

The world and in particular the more open United States need guard rails and ones that can be explained to safeguard the way we protect ourselves from things we don’t know; no, we can’t understand.

In the impending race for a four-year Presidency, journalists should ask the candidates for an idea or two that will secure our almost complete reliance on the worldwide exchange of transactional data across digital networks.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

It is too early to assess the way forward after last night’s assassination attempt. But explosive events have the potential to blow up all the plans.

Going back, way back to the 1970s and 80s and my time as a campaign manager/consultant. I still recall vividly efforts to help candidates gain attention so their message could be heard. It was much easier than it is today. There were few channels of television and while more, there were not that many radio stations. And Internet based media—well it didn’t exist.

Money, as I recall, was more limited. Most candidates could not raise enough money to sustain an advertising campaign more than a few weeks. Political operatives tore into polling results to find themes that would be impactful and then filmmakers crafted 30 and 60 second commercials hoping to cut through the noise. Importantly, except for absentee ballots, we all voted on the same day.

Noise? Today the noise is deafening; to cut through it politicians take hyperbole to new levels. What, they ask, will awaken the public to my appeal? How can I get my arguments across?

How, an operative might ask, can I make President Biden or Former President Trump near-Satanic? Toxic? And, of course, the other side faces the same obstacles and proceeds in kind. Political fever swells and the weakest get caught up in a feverish response.

Biden, Trump and the other candidate of note, Robert F Kennedy Jr., are simply human beings. For sure they are not saints, but then who is? They want to do good, leave a mark, but the path often eludes them. We are left to parse speeches, platforms and declarations of all sorts but few do.

Candidates search for the weaknesses and load them with explosives. Mostly voters respond along a spectrum but then a very few turn to violence. In the meantime the political operatives keep searching the polls for what messages are working. The polls have become elections within an election. Which messages are breaking through? How, they ask, can we cut through the campaign noise? Harsh words and images to follow. The musical background dark. Vociferous allies even more vociferous. And because many States encourage early voting the drum beat starts early.

The assassination attempt on the former President failed. It’s now the new clay for campaign operatives and ultimately their candidates. It will have a profound impact on the political narrative.  I suspect it will help the assassins target. How, many will ask, can an elite protective organization fail to protect? Does memory fail; this is certainly not the first time a shooter turned on a candidate. Yet, not a good look for the Biden administration. But honesty requires a simple answer: clean hands do not exist. It can be said that Trump is a victim of his more explosive campaign tactics.

Is there anything we can do—the voters? Sure, but will we? Doubtful. Because what we can do is turn to content. What are the policies of the candidates? What combination appeals to me? Beyond the campaign rhetoric, who are the candidates? What character or temperament can I trust? For example, can I trust somebody who demonizes his opponents? The answer is no.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.