Governing in the spirit of the concession speech
Posted by Joseph Knippenberg
Peggy Noonan is at her moving best this morning. Can everyone remember what’s most important?
7:22 AM / November 10, 2006
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Speaking of concessions, it’d be nice if that moved someone to update this page. Thanks!
Why in God’s name should anyone "govern in the spirit of a concession speech"?
I dunno. I’d kinda like my political leaders to be more like Cincinnatus and less like Appius Claudius. (Sorry, I’ve been teaching Livy this week.)
I don’t know much about Rome, but surely it’s an apples-and-oranges comparison. Lincoln in his time said our situation was new and we must therefore "think anew." Looking around the world -- and, as Peter Drucker once put it, "looking out the window" -- today, doesn’t the same principle apply? There may be a place, a very small place, for gracious concessions. But far more important are confident, aggressive assertions. It is the lack of these, as much as anything, that sank the GOP this week. As General Patton said much more strongly than I put it, the man who loses and laughs is much overrated.