Depending on whether you’ve got a bad one or a good one, having a reputation can be something to overcome—or something to ride on.

 

At some point, all reputations get tested.  A few live up, but more shrivel away under the pressure.

 

Take politicians… they’ve always had the reputation of being good with words, haven’t they?  And in their case “good with words” has been code for “smooth talkers”.  Haven’t we’ve come to believe they’re masters in the art of knowing what to say, in just the right way? 

 

Sure, politicians can talk a blue streak, sway people—and votes—with seeming ease, but you know what, here’s a little secret:  When it comes to words, their reputation is stronger than their talent!  Let me tell you why I say this. 

 

I watched the financial crisis in the banking and mortgage industry unfold last Fall (’08) with a lot of fascination, and as it evolved (or devolved), it revealed two obvious weaknesses of our clever Public Servants:

 

1-politicians have unwittingly bought into their own reputation as Masters of the Spoken Word, which has lent to some arrogance and complacency, which led to calling this effort a “Bailout”. 

 

2-they’re not accustomed to having a single effort come under wide examination and rejection by the public (most things get shoved through without much trouble).  The Bailout immediately ran into overwhelming public scrutiny and resistance—so it failed the first vote in Congress. 

 

Words sell things, you know that, right? 

 

Well, politicians know it too, just as well as any other sort of salesman does. 

 

But their use of the word “Bailout” shows how sloppy they’d become. 

 

The only person who finds a “Bailout” appealing is the one getting it.

 

So the politicians who supported the Bailout (with the help of a sympathetic media) changed their language.  Within 24 hours of the failing vote, the campaign was on again, this time for the “Rescue”. 

 

Same crisis…

 

Same package…

 

New label…

 

Passing vote.

 

Okay, is the passage of the bill the second time around due just to the name change?  Who knows—but it sure helped.  Words sell things, right?  And it’s a lot easier to sell a Rescue… than a Bailout.  A Rescue sounds deserved, while a Bailout, well, Bailout rhymes with Handout.

 

Along with a reputation of being great with words, politicians also have one of being less than honest.  Kind of funny, isn’t it, that when they called this thing a Bailout, that was a pretty straightforward name for it. 

 

But when the public didn’t bite, the politicians were pushed into living up to their reputation for fudging the truth by giving it the more saleable branding of “Rescue”.

 

They learned, and so for the official naming of the thing, they got it right (if lengthy) the first time:  Troubled Assets Relief Program.

 

Yes, if there’s anything more appealing than Rescue, it’s Relief.  Wouldn’t we all like some of that?

 

In fact, everyone does want some of it.  Asking for a Bailout/Rescue/Relief became fashionable toward the end of 2008, with General Motors, Chrysler, the State of California, the City of Detroit, and Larry Flynt all asking for a piece of the pie.

 

But the professionals were there, too, and we’d be disappointed if they hadn’t lived up to their reputation.  They’ve been called ambulance chasers, but this time they were chasing an armored car. 

 

Every well-fed Modern Attorney knows an opportunity (vulnerability) when he sees one, and Palm Springs lawyer Sebastian Gibson cleverly made the case that attorneys also could use some help, too, submitting a rescue plan of his own:  Bailout Uber-Rescue Plan.  Since acronyms are in, it’s also known as the BURP.

 

Whoever ultimately gets bailed out, the government itself will have to get the money from somewhere, won’t it?  I suggest a new tax, devoted solely to paying for the Resurrection (even more powerful than Relief) of our financial system.  It should be called the Financial Aid Rescue Tax. 

 

Don’t worry about the acronym—the politicians will know how to sell it.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Word Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.