“It is also helpful to think of adversity not as much as a threat to our peace of mind but rather as the very means by which patience is attained.”  The Dalai Lama

While reflecting on a collection of quotes the other day, the above roused me from my sleepy studies.

I have been working on patience for many years now.  Okay, full disclosure…many, many years.  (Lately, with better results though.  It must come with age.)

However, I think I am running out of patience with our politicians.  (Some of them old friends.)  Perhaps you are already beyond the point of no return, but I’m tittering on the bitter edge.  You might be able to prop me up a bit.  Read on.

A colleague sent me a comment the other day after reading an article I tweeted.  She lamented that Obama is using the “us versus them” language. My quick response was he didn’t invent it.  It’s been in use for many decades now.  And it’s not owned by one political party, they are all guilty.

She encouraged me, with good humor of course, to go to D.C. and set them straight.  “Tell them they work for all of us, not just some of us. And report back.”  I would love nothing more, but the task is obviously much larger than that.

I actually liked how Obama stood front and center with the republicans and then did a repeat with the democrats as well.  My understanding is that, in that setting, it was a first.  I think an interaction like that should be mandatory once a month from this point on for all presidents.

Obama challenged both groups to lead.  (Fine, that forces him and his crew to Step Up™ as well.)

That’s where my patience or lack of it comes in.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a large, mossy rock for decades, you know that our political system is under the weather.  It has a virus far more virulent than the Swine Flu.  Bed rest and plenty of fluids is not the answer.  A couple of shots of real leadership might break the impasse.

California is a great example of where the country is headed from a political perspective.  What seems like a group of educated, informed adults appear unable to tie their shoes and chew gum at the same time.  Their business is all about obfuscation and stalemate.  Status quo.  Zero change.  Zip.  Nada.  If you challenge anyone of them, they point at the other guy.

Individually, they might be great to have a beer with at the end of a long day.  I’m positive that some have great ideas we should be chewing on and debating.  However, constructing a workable budget and governing appears to be an impossible dream.  Some Californian’s lives and businesses have become nightmares because of our elected officials immaturity and intransigence.  California, the Golden State and former pride of the West, has fallen and it can’t get up.

Is this what we want for our country?  Most, I suspect, would say no.  They don’t vote for that.

However, it appears there are enough folks out there who want nothing less than drowning government (except for the parts that selfishly serve them).  And it is those folks, with their colorful ways, who get the media attention that keeps the negative messages afloat.  Our radio waves and cable outlets are filled with diatribe and flotsam.

Of course, I could fill a few pages with this and that about leadership being the answer.  Moreover, please understand I am not politically naïve and very aware of the great things that are being done out there by real people (like you) in the real world.  (Follow me on Twitter @RobertHThompson to stay abreast).

However, today, I’d rather know what you think about the ever-growing political stalemate and what might be done to banish it forever.

Don’t be shy.  Talk to me.  Be serious or be funny, but please don’t tell me to just be more patient.

Robert H. Thompson is the author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable.  You can reach him at Robert@leaderinsideout.com or sign up for his newsletter at www.leaderinsideout.com

While breezing up the coast from San Diego this past summer, I happened to pick up a copy of the San Jose Mercury News.  It was the first MN I had actually touched in years.  What happened?  I mean it was a Sunday for gawd sake.  At first, I thought someone had stolen half the paper.  I was alarmed that it was so thin and skinny.  Was it Jenny Craig, anorexia or bulimia?

Oh, that’s right, I quickly recalled.  Newspapers are dying a slow death by strangulation.  The Internet has been indicted.  The case is still pending.

I lived and participated in San Jose for umpteen, umpteen years…leaving for other pastures some ten years ago.  I rarely visited except for quick business trips.  For many of those umpteen years, I toiled in a variety of capacities for the good ol’ Merc.  (When it was fat and sassy.)

Now in the south bay for a brief time, I decided to get back in touch with my old hometown.  Give it the ol’ insider becomes outsider viewpoint sort of thing.

I rode light rail downtown from Campbell (Very nice.  My wife, Roxane, who was the Campbell Chamber exec years ago, deserves mucho credit for that one.)  and walked around a bit.  The new San Jose City Hall is impressively bold on the outside.  Very “manly”.  Not welcoming, though.  It was just a walk by, but it seemed formidable and cold.  Although I don’t recall feeling all that welcome in the old “quarter moon” building either.

I understand my old friend, Chuck Reed, is running things now and doing a good job, depending upon your perspective. I wish him well.  He worked hard and gave up a lot to get that job.  I’ve heard some stories about some other old friends squabbling a bit; family members biting each other’s ankles; some going to prison; others asked to leave town.  Whew!  Change was everywhere and then again, nothing changes.

I led the SJ Chamber of Commerce Central Business District committee eons ago when we broke bread with the president of San Jose State to see if we could “tear down that wall” between downtown and the university.  I was more than thrilled to see the new MLK library firmly planted on both soils.  Perestroika.

The rest of the core of downtown has finally filled out (again), but I assume the recession has taken its toll…far too many empty stores, empty shelves and empty seats in restaurants like Borkenhagen’s Eulipia. Thankfully, OJ’s is still humming along. (Their burgers are still the best.)  And thanks for saving the Fox theatre.  Many boyhood memories are firmly planted there.  Take good care of them.

Speaking of movie houses, Jim Zuur and his partner’s success shows what great ideas mixed with persistence can do. It’s magical.

I see much of the housing infill has taken place (good job developers) from all of those strategic meetings during the 90s, but I heard that the real life of San Jose once again is where Town and Country Village used to sit…so I pointed my nose in that direction (sans trolley, of course).

Santana Row (with the supersized, engorged Valley Fair nearby) is more than impressive and very welcoming.  In fact, something familiar sprang to mind…oh, yeah…the city mothers and fathers did it again circa 1960s.  They allowed the downtown to be bled dry.  I could hear the sucking sound of sales taxes leaving the city core to take residence in this behemoth retail adult Disneyland.  (I assume the revenue doesn’t leave town too soon).

A Sunday morning stroll showed me that success has indeed shone a spotlight on the Row.  People, gobs of them, some with their children and pets, were eating, shopping, cruising and even hanging out in the “town square.”  It was a place to see and be seen.  Everything a downtown should be was once again…transplanted elsewhere.  Oops.

Another oops is the airport.  (Okay, full disclosure; I take a bit of blame here as I was on the airport commission when Terminal A was launched.  However, remember it was for Air Cal and PSA when it was created not what it’s being used for today.  So, give me a break.  Please, he lamented.)

I don’t know who approved the architecture for the newest terminals but I only hope that someday all of the terminals and parking garages will look like they were a part of the same plan.  Also, the interior of Terminal A desperately needs a makeover.  Perhaps a cable channel will do a reality show.  Norm Mineta will appreciate it, I’m sure.

Speaking of Norm, my old family friend, I see someone named Highway 85 after him as well.  It might be helpful to find something that’s not always backed up to put his moniker on.

And not to beat up again on the Merc, but what’s with the Knight Ridder sign still atop the Capital Club building?  Perhaps someone is counting on Media News to return the company for a refund.  Hello, McClatchy?  (Somehow, I think Tony Ridder was able to come out on top on that one…in the end.)

Growing up during the 50s and 60s in the East Foothills and the Rose Garden area (the real one) was sort of like being in an episode of Leave It To Beaver.  Working at the Mercury News and creating my own newspaper company in the 70s and 80s was like a combination of Mad Men meets thirtysomething.

During the 90s, I was very involved and vociferous in sharing my thoughts on what my old hometown needed to be like in the future.  However, I also watched and actively tried to prevent some of the negative that has affected the prune capitol.

San Jose, you seemed to have lost something in my absence and it’s not just your newspaper.  I can’t quite put my finger on it because you’ve done some good things too.

Maybe my cursory look is too brief and I’m coming to a ridiculous,  shortsighted conclusion.  Dear reader, feel free to help me.  Is there more here than meets my eye?  Should I dig deeper?  Perhaps with distance and time, it’s all about me.  I have lost the sense of heart that I used to feel in San Jose.

And maybe the MN is everything its new owners want it to be.

Maybe I need to visit downtown again.  Maybe Chuck can take me on a tour.  Maybe I didn’t try hard enough.  Maybe, I left too soon.  And maybe, just maybe, I left in the nick of time.