A few weeks ago I was thinking about performance: the simulation of the last 25 or so years versus the execution needed for us to survive the 21st century and promised by Barack Obama.
Over the last two days, President-Elect Obama has held two press conferences. Both have been highly effective. This morning he managed to get the following two warning shots off without effort. And I paraphrase:
“you mentioned that they’re my friends, but that’s not why we chose them. that was the old way of doing business. the new way of doing business is choosing people who are effective.”
“i’m sorry we sat you in the White Sox section. by the way, that’s part of the new way of doing business. we admit our mistakes.”
update: from a transcript.
I want to be clear; friendship doesn’t factor into this. That’s part of the old way of doing business.
The new way of doing business is, let’s figure out what projects, what investments are going to give the American economy the most bang for the buck; how can we protect taxpayer dollars, so that this money is not wasted; restore a sense of confidence among taxpayers that when we spend our money, it’s on things that are actually going to improve their quality of life, create the jobs that are so desperately needed, help to spur on economic growth and business creation in the private sector. That’s all part of the new way of doing business…
…And the reason I’m going to call on Steve: I understand that as a lifelong White Sox fan, you were placed in the Cubs section yesterday, and I want to apologize for that. It – I – this is also part of the new way of doing business. When we make mistakes we admit them. So.
Q Well, thank you, sir. That’s the change we need –