While I have been impressed with the Democratic speedy response (see previous post) to the Bush commercials, I am equally impressed with Bush's preparing the battleground before the fight. His initial attacks on Kerry's flip-flopping prepare the battlefield perfectly for more targeted attacks, such as the current ones on cutting intelligence funding, that Kerry must try to twist out of, putting him against the flip-flopping charge. See Dick Morris for more. Both show preparation before hand.

One of the biggest problems that people have thinking strategically is personal myopia. They cannot see their opportunities because they are so focused on defending what they perceive as their interests. They are so focused on attacking those they see as their enemies that they cannot understand the opposing position. The popular blogger, Andrew Sullivan, a vocal gay-marriage proponent, recommends a

This is the third post on how the Democrats could create a winning strategy. Today's topic is Sun Tzu's concept of heaven-climate-weather (tian), which is the realm of uncontrollable events and trends over time. Sun Tzu teaches that there are many things that directly affect a contest that we cannot control. We can, however, foresee and prepare for these changes over time. We can position ourselves to take advantage of the trends rather than fight them. A winning Democratic position must leverage the major trends over the last eight month.

This is Super Tuesday. John Kerry has virtually cinched the Democratic nomination for president. So this is a good day to discuss leadership as the second post in our series about a winning strategy for Democrats this year. Sun Tzu teaches that a good leader is smart, trustworthy, caring, brave, and disciplined. Sun Tzu defines the two skills of a leader as knowledge and vision, knowing his situation and recognizing its opportunities. He must be intelligent to make good decisions, the key role of a leader. A leader must be trustworthy and caring to attract and hold followers.

Many reality televisions shows are wonderful examples of how little people know about strategy. Though it is always cool to claim you don’t watch TV, I readily admit being a lifelong television devotee. My wife, who watches less television than I do, is the true addict in the family when it comes to Survivor. When the show debuted several years ago, I immediately saw it as a great laboratory for strategic theory. In the first Survivor, Richard Hatch emerged as the only competitor who had an inkling of strategy.