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FROM THE PHONE BOOTH: The Smallest Space in  Hollywood

	FINEFROCK

Broder’s Rule Repealed?
by Steve Finefrock - Hollywood Forum [scriptwriter] 7/12/07

The Murphy Center for the Codification of Human and Organizational Law awarded me a Senior Fellow title over two decades ago, via the author of the hilarious book, “The Official Rules” – in return for my substantial contributions for the book’s sequel, “The Official Explanations” [in which I am listed, erroneously, as merely a “Fellow”].  My contributions were not of my own mind, but collections of clever comments akin to the Murphy’s Law style of the first book.

Early in the first issue was David Broder’s Law, alphabetically after Dean Acheson’s Law of the Bureaucracy: A memo is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer. Great fun, that pair of books, and always I retained also Broder’s axiom:

Anyone who wants the presidency enough that he will spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office.

Indeed such obsession makes one wonder about the obsessed one.  Like Clinton, and JFK, and LBJ – many liberals whose life-passion, from teen years in many cases, was to be the leader of the Free World.  Worrisome to many, including Broder.  Until recently.
 
Now, Broder slams the object of Fred-Heads’ adoration, Fred Thompson, for not being “serious enough” and dedicated enough to be president.  While my loyalties still tie to Rudy, Fred does have much appeal, though not the cred as a true maximum-executive leader.  We’ve rarely elected sitting senators to the Oval Office – only once in five generations, that being the pair JFK-LBJ – much less an ex-senator.
 
But that’s now where Broder is judging the matter.  It’s yet to be seen by my eyes why we’ve elected governors almost exclusively in the past century-plus of presidential choices.  Maybe a Michael Barone or other expert knows why this happens.  Not that the typical voter contemplates, Hmmm, we need an executive, not a legislator, so I’m going for the governor or its equivalent.  It’s something more subtle, yet the result is clear, and yet not utilized by Broder’s recent declaration of non-seriousness by Thompson.
 
If Broder were honest, and consistent to his twenty-five year old rule, he’d consider Thompson’s non-obsession with the post to be a positive trait.  But then Thompson is a hardcore conservative, though errant on CFR [campaign finance reform], and in a minor way on a few other issues.
 
Broder is a bellwether, a tattletale, the canary in the coalmine: an indicator of the battle to come, where the rules will change to suit the winds needed for the liberals.  A lifelong obsession for the Oval Office by Hillary will doubtlessly get less attention from Broder & Co., than it might if it were expressed by a GOPster.  Now the timeline of  his rule is no longer two years, but four-years-plus; the obsession has upgraded considerably.
 
Yet, Broder easily forgets.  Labels Thompson unserious because he’s not in his third year of a four-year obsession for the post.  The Broder Rule seems to have been repealed.
 
And he’s one of the reasonable ones.  Look for more repealing of rules and standards in the coming contest.  Broder sometimes ‘gets it’ per our views, recently earning hate-mail from hate-males and females alike in Congress, for his critique of the faux-leader of democrats in the Senate.
 
But his bread is buttered on the left side of the loaf, and his recent abandonment of his onetime adage is proof that we’ve got a bumpy road ahead indeed.
 
Fasten that seatbelt, as so often before advised by the PhoneBooth – it’s going to be a bumpy ride, with or without Thompson in the race or as the nominee.  Maybe Broder will be more accommodating to the lifelong ambition of other GOPsters.  But don’t bet on it.  He’s betting his hopes on bouncing Dubya and anyone of a conservative stripe.  

Otherwise, the Broder Rule would still rule. Maybe he’s following Acheson’s admonition, and getting his “inoculation” on the record, just in case Thompson gets the party nod, and he has a reason to criticize him.  Most folks in the media have no memory, and likely won’t pitch in his face the long-ago wisdom.
 
But this Senior Fellow of the PhoneBooth/Forum remembers it, and so has someone else – google the phrase and you’ll find it do exist in a summary of the top 101 “Murphy’s Law” entries.  If Broder is held to the heat, maybe he’ll see the light.
 
But don’t bet the kids’ college fund.  Again, buy a four-point seatbelt-harness for this one.  The rules are changing faster than lightbulbs at a green concert. ExileStreet

copyright 2007 Steve Finefrock

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