Stepping Back

Reading the Woodward book "The War Within" about the internal workings of the Bush Administration in 2006 when they realized the Iraq war was failing. At the time Condoleezza argued for "stepping back" from Iraq and rethinking the project in a global context. In short, not to take Iraq so seriously. She thought the narrow focus on Iraq, Iraq, Iraq was pigeon-holing the administration into an unachievable success metric. Basically, allowing "success or failure" in Iraq to define the administration and America's power and influence abroad. They were viewing everything through a single lens - and the lens was Iraq. She thought, by stepping back, and not allowing Iraq to be the definitive issue, it would give the administration leverage, and allow multiple ways for the administration to achieve their overall policy goals.

Why do I think this is interesting? Well, because I think it pertains to writing. I think I write my worst stuff when I'm super focused on it being "successful" or saleable or being that spec-that'll-start-my-career. In short, when I take one thing too seriously, I don't think it works. I'm pretending to control something I don't. I write my best stuff when I'm loose and dispassionate. Because I'm harder on that stuff. I'm immediately dismissive of the junk. If I'm infatuated with a script, I can't see the shit that the reader knows is shit, and it obvious to the entire world is shit, because I'm too focused. It's like when Kevin Garnett early in his career got so wound up, he couldn't hit a shot at the end of the game. He was simply too intense. He cared too much.

There is another interesting part in the book about General Pace and Casey, the two early military bosses of the Iraq war. They were both workaholics, keeping 24/7 schedules, running around to meetings and briefings, always working. During a review of them, a retired general from the Defense Policy Board thought they were looking at their jobs all wrong - they felt like they needed to be killing themselves and working their asses off to demonstrate to the troops they were working as hard or harder than them. It was an act of solidarity and manhood. But this retired General thought they were crazy. He cited Marshall and MacArthur - Marshall rode horses every afternoon. MacArthur watched a movie every night. They were making decisions that shaped the world and affected the lives of millions. Pace and Casey were working too hard and being too intense, he thought, to make good decisions.

The connectivity of the modern world allows us to work 24/7. In prior generations, things simply took longer to get back and forth, and there was a lot more downtime, a lot more time to think about things. Spielberg talks about this with respect to film editing. With computers, you can cut faster, but the old flat beds allowed editors to think about cuts while they made them. Let their minds ponder. He thought this mattered. Of course, the Amish use the same logic in how they adopt technology. The think about how it will affect their lifestyle and labor. And they don't blindly embrace technology simply because it makes things temporarily "easier."

The irony of writing this on a blog is duly noted.