THEN: Secretary of State (KY), 1996-2004; Candidate for Lieutenant Governor, 2007
NOW: JYB3 Group (Owner) -public affairs consulting firm; Miller Wells law firm (Of counsel)
Full Biography:link
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed May 16, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Children’s books matter.
I love–LOVE–trying to take perceived problem and turning it into an unforeseen solution. Creating a new situation that is “better” than the condition before the problem.
I was wondering what my first exposure to this concept was and think I remember–at least in part.
A favorite book of mine as a very young boy involved a family of bears. The playful young boy bear was picking blackberries (so the story goes) and got blackberry juice stain on his plain-colored shirt. The mother bear–tempted to get angry and scold her son—had a better idea. She took blackberry juice and dyed the entire shirt a pretty blue-purple color. The “new” shirt was not only not stained– but better than before.
I can’t remember the name of the book…but I sure remember the story. I can’t imagine that I was over 5 years old when I read and re-read it.
And to this day when I’m surprised by a disappointment, I almost always quickly ask myself, can we make blackberry dye –figuratively speaking–to solve the problem
So, yes, children’s stories matter. That one either gave me an idea for a life philosophy or reinforced it. Or both.
But it started with a kids book about imaginary bears solving an ordinary problem. Differently and creatively. And successfully.
Great point about Romney’s response needing to be honest and opening inroads for an important dialogue.
Like so many instances of public discussion of a public figure’s heretofore private life incidences , it’s the response –not the act—that’s the thing. The teen behavior by Romney, if true, is reflective of a narrow and hurtful view of homosexuality while he as a teen. But if he deliberately deceived the public about the incident as a 65 year old candidate for president, that would bother me quite a bit more.
I believe that if a candidate is comfortable with themselves and their past, it allows the public (voters) to be comfortable with them—and their past. They trust the person who stands before them today that their prior mistakes were duly noted, reconciled, and learned from. But if the person has not made this peace with their past bad acts and integrated them into their present selves, they are merely managing a public image not reflective of who they really are. And will struggle to gain credibility with the voters who they seek to lead.
(A sentence I had not anticipated writing since joining the RP blog. But well put, sir.)
Some people like to drive slowly past an accident to see what happened. I hate to admit it, but I’m guilty of this more often than I wish I were. But I don’t want to be someone who drives by a fender bender and slows down to imagine an accident that I wish had happened but didn’t.
I can’t help but feel that’s an appropriate analogy for Mr Romney’s alleged anti-gay bullying behavior. Even if it happened as provocatively as some have reported, I don’t feel the behavior is much more than pubescent pseudo-masculine posing.
Embarrassing? Yes.
Regrettable? Sure.
Like a fender bender. But grounds for revocation of a license to be president, so to speak, 45 years later? I say we should take Michael Steele’s advice and keep driving.
Something to see and note, perhaps, but nothing worth staring at for very long.
I’ve been invited to comment and am hesitant because I try to ignore the digging into candidates early lives as evidence of current temperament and clues about leadership style. But I have heard a little about this incident and will try to offer some constructive commentary.
From what I can gather there were several incidents involving a young Mitt Romney, the now-Republican nominee for president, and some pranks that could be interpreted as “insensitive” if not “cruel” to young homosexual males in his class at prep school.
I believe the story goes that Mitt was traveling by car from Massachusetts to Canada and tied a classmate to the roof of the car for the entire 12 hour drive. Presumably it has now leaked out that the reason the boy was tied to the roof of the car wasn’t just because he was a democrat. But because he was gay too.
I find this sort of teen boy prankster mentality offensive and embarrassing but probably not indicative of some deep seated character flaw that Romney possesses. For example, there are other stories—I believe—about Romney routinely traveling with his pet dog attached to the roof of the car. It had nothing to do with the dog’s sexual orientation. Romney simply felt he would sully the interior of the car. I suspect Romney felt the same way about the gay democratic boy.
So, what we see upon closer examination is that Romney wasn’t guilty so much of homophobia but rather a foolish teen prank that was perhaps a harbinger of Mitt’s well documented metrosexual and neatnik inclinations.
Besides, common sense suggests that there really could not have been an anti-gay motive behind young Mitt’s antics. First off the name of the prep school was Cranbrook. That’s a pretty gay name for a high school, if you ask me. And it was an all boy prep school. So clearly, any boy who attended Cranbrook was already either himself homosexual or at least completely comfortable being suspected of being a homosexual. It just doesn’t add up.
Was Mitt an anti-gay bully? Are you kidding? Have you seen this guy? Was he a meticulous metrosexual prankster who feared gay democratic germs being left in his car while he drove to Canada? Probably—and nothing more. And by the way, what was he driving to Canada for anyway? That causes a whole set of other much more serious concerns about Mitt’s fitness for our highest office.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon May 14, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
My night as an outlaw.
Some people aren’t good at being bad….but the important thing is to not focus so much on the mischievous act itself as much as on how loved ones should react–proportionately and appropriately.
I’m convinced that one of life’s most difficult to learn lessons is this timeless truth.
30 years ago while a freshman at Transy, I had a friend with two tickets for us to go to the Rolling Stones concert at Rupp Arena.
I also secured two last minute tickets myself. My friend asked what should we do and I said, “Let me handle this. I know what I’m doing.”
Arriving at the concert I overheard a gentlemen with a buzz haircut and wearing an army flak jacket asking about needing tickets. I offered two and named the price, $75.
He said, “I’m going to have to take your tickets and write you up a citation for ‘scalping tickets’ which is against the law in KY.” And he flashed his badge.
“Uhhhhh” I said.
And added, “Uhhhhh”
And finally, “Uhhhh” again.
He took the concert tickets and my license and handed me a $52.50 citation and wished me well. My friend had bolted with my ticket and was enjoying the concert. I went to our car which was blocked in for the night. This was pre-cell phone days so I went to a phone booth and called my mother.
“Some friends heard on the radio you’d gotten arrested for scalping tickets. Is that true?” She asked.
“I was cited. Not arrested! And I’m stuck without my car until after the concert. And they took the concert tickets too!” I responded.
“Well, as my friends said, it’s kinda funny and not that big a deal.”
That was my mom.
As for my dad, a few weeks later we had a family dinner and during the prayer before dinner my dad jokingly thanked the Lord that I was safe and not in prison. But added he was personally disappointed I only asked $75 per ticket when I could have gotten much more.
And finally, after dinner, my grandfather Brown, the renowned criminal lawyer age 81, offered to represent me pro bono and suggested we plead “temporary insanity.”
I was so relieved….and had learned my lesson.
The whole awful episode ended for me with my family supporting and laughing off what was a dumb thing to do–but not much more than that. Just a dumb kid being a dumb kid. But not being a “bad kid.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri May 11, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
“Don’t be frontin'”
I heard this phrase a few days ago and looked it up and like what it means. Basically, don’t put on airs to impress or deceive people.
That’s an important message and one I echo and would like to share with others.
I try to keep up with hip new lingo…and even occasionally use it, if I can get away with it.
But it’s been three days now since I’ve been looking for an opening to use the phrase “Don’t be frontin'” and I haven’t found the right opportunity yet….and am starting to think there may never be a way for me to get away with using this phrase without people cracking up….as I crack up with them.
That’s unfortunate. In other words, that’s neither “fly” nor “dope.”
By the way, I’ve been looking for an even longer time to use the terms “fly” and “dope.”
And this post probably wasn’t ideal. Just doesn’t work. Oh well.
Sometimes it’s better to just be who you are than something your not. Otherwise, you’re just frontin’
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu May 10, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
I know some people swear by the value of “Product Replacement Plans.” (PRPs)
You know those 15-20% of the sale price insurance policies that if the product breaks shortly after you buy i you get it replaced easily?
I don’t care for them, personally.
They suggest to me either that somebody is layering in another layer profit margin (since products sold new are supposed to work) or are we are making products so poorly that customers need to buy insurance against the product breaking in the first few months. Neither seems an appealing conclusion.
Do other countries push PRPs like we in the US?
It seems more a sign of clever sales gimmickry, in my view. But subconsciously sends the message that “We don’t make things well.”
Imagine if McDonald’s tried to sell us a PRP at 20% of each meal to protect against food poisoning? And people bought it!
Or the next time I bought a watch paying an extra 15% for PRP against the watch not telling time?
I just left office supply shop and was asked about a PRP for a technology item. I asked, “Why? Is something wrong with it? Should I expect it to break in a few months?”
The salesperson laughed and so did I….but I was sort of serious, too.
Although I didn’t say anything more I wanted to add “If you don’t have more confidence than that in this product, I don’t want to buy it. Is there another product that works well enough that it doesn’t need insurance against breaking right away?”
Maybe I will add that the next time. Or tell them I’ll come back when they are selling products that won’t break so easily.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed May 9, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Just in case anybody out there has pull within the clothing industry, I would like to put in a request for a tuxedo that doesn’t take an engineering degree to put on.
I don’t understand how clip-ons got such a bad name. What’s not to like?
And those cufflinks and studs? I’m sure whoever came up with the idea was doing the best they could within the time period they lived in.
But we have since invented buttons, zippers and Velcro. Even button fly jeans. Cufflinks and studs should have faded about the same time knickers went out of style.
I would support a new line of male clothing that is all about ease of use and functionality. Men today should be able to dress for “black tie” without needing two or more people involved.
I might even go for a reversible tuxedo. As long as the reversed side isn’t powder blue.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue May 8, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Sometimes there’s no substitute for the hackneyed phrase, “Only in America”
Tough economic times have led to long discussions with friends and colleagues about how best we to cope as they navigate a painfully tight job market.
My favorite resolution came from a fella I didn’t know well but was related to a dear friend. This person had gone through some tough times personally and vocationally recently and deserved a break.
Although I couldn’t help him, he helped me by giving me inspiration and teaching me a thing or two about persistence, self-confidence and, most of all, good old American pluck!
After losing his job and enduring a messy divorce he tried and failed starting his own business. After that he went through seemingly endless rounds of interviews in multiple industries and repeatedly came up empty handed. But then he had a brilliant idea.
Children’s books matter.
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