Power and the Unbearable Obligation of the Elected Leader

After the election in November 2010, we heard that John Boehner met with Randall Terry in Washington. 

Terry is the extremist Right-to-Life founder and leader you may remember exhorted people to violence in his fight against abortion. He was bankrupted and spent time in jail.

He's back in public view in Washington now that the Republicans have regained the House.  He is fighting for traction.

Turns out that Boehner's chief of staff, and not Boehner as far as we know, met with Terry and a group of people he brought with him.

This led me to think about who is present at public meetings and who is not, and thus what messages about power and favor are being transmitted.


I created this handy chart, in which power is reduced to formula. All the combinations represent public meetings. Who knows what kind of dealings go on in private and over the internets?

[The principals are each given values of 10; their respective groups of people, staff, supporters etc., are represented by 4s.]

I meet with you  10:10      (indicates approximate equality of power and influence)

I meet with your people  10:4      (you are somewhere else but important to me)

I meet with you and your people 10:10+4      (ceremonial and/or you may have something I want) 

I and my people meet with you and your people 10+4:10+4      (indicates a party going on, lots of note-taking)

I and my people meet with your people  10+4:4      (you definitely have something I want; unusual)

My people meet with you and your people  4:10+4      (I am "busy" and that is all you and your people will get or, as I suspect is the difficulty for John Boehner with Randall Terry, I need to keep my public distance but you have something that I want or fear)

My people meet with you  4:10    (I am "busy" but not rude)

My people meet with your people  4:4    (blah blah blah)

Ann Marie Buerkle, of course, knows Randall Terry and worked closely with him during her early activist years. She may be working with him still. We shall find out who dares to be seen with him these days.