Still Kicking Him Around

Last week an amazing memo written by Richard Nixon in 1970 came to light. It describes his frustrations getting the American public to seeing his "warmth". Like so many insecure people in power (like Bobby Valentine or most of my ex-bosses) he finds a way set himself up to fail by demanding the public see human side but blocking any attempt to tell people about it. He rails again and again at his frustration that the world does not see his "warm items" like "breaking his back to be nicey-nice" to his Cabinet (his Cabinet!), the tears in the eyes of people he invites to White House church services and "the calls that I make to people when they are sick, even though they no longer mean anything to anybody." To paraphrase Buffalo Bill Bittinger this memo better than 90% of the crap out there.

I really think if humanity make it to a Star Trek future 400 years from now, Hitler, the Beatles and Picasso will be practically forgotten, but they'll still be talking about Richard Nixon just like we're still talking about Henry VIII.