The Pottery Barn Rule?

Last night I watched, or rather started to watch but only half paid attention to, the first presidential debate between Bush and Kerry. I’m not a die hard fan of politics but I try to stay in the loop because I’m a grown up and that’s what grown ups do, right? Anyways, Senator Kerry was talking about Bush’s decision to go to war and that he should have used the Pottery Barn Rule. Excuse me? I’m sorry….did he just say the Pottery Barn Rule? I came out of my comatose glaze and listened a little closer. (Apparently there’s a Pottery Barn Rule in politics). According to Kerry, the rule states that if you break something you fix it. Funny, …I took political science in college and I don’t remember any terminology based on a retail chain that charges waaaay too much for bed sheets and furniture? Come to think of it, I’ve shopped at the Pottery Barn and I think their rule goes more like, “If you break it, you buy it”?

Perhaps Kerry is trying to relate to the female voter by using simiIes, to liken politics with shopping? Perhaps he’s confusing himself with the “Ikea rule” that says “if you buy it, you spend the next 6 months trying to assemble it”?

This is what I’ve learned about him after this first debate. He’s a very good debater. Schooled in the art and tactics of debate. The problem is, that half of what he said was not true, and the other half didn’t make logical sense. You can’t turn a country’s entire political venue around in 6 months, anymore that you can use a self tanner and expect no one to notice. (ahem). I think I’ll stick with Bush. While maybe not the best public speaker in town, he is at least determined, stable and grounded in reality.