"The Short End of the Stick"

You’ve got to give old Dennis a pat on the back.

For the last seven years, he has taken every opportunity to
fight the good fight…

But nobody except us poor poked, prodded and provoked progressives seem to give him the time of the day.

This is surprising to anyone who listens to what he has to say which usually
Is the smartest, most informed dialogue in the place.

It almost makes you want to shout “Listen to this guy, why don’t you. You might learn something.”

I think the bottom line is that it has to do with the most subtle form of prejudice.

Did you ever notice in business that everybody in top management is tall?

There’s a real reason for that.

It seems that the people who pick leaders pick tall people.

My old boss, who started one of the biggest business start up in the mid sixties, was about 5’7” but he surrounded himself with a top executive, a German martinet who was 6’6” and my boss, who was about 6’3”….. And that was pretty commonplace in my generation… He loved strutting around with these two big men and bullying them around to show them and the rest of the world that he was boss…


Increasingly, it appears that if you want to be a small leader, you have to be Napoleon and be ready to do what you want to do come hell or high water. The fact remains, however that we’ve already had our Waterloo so we don’t need another Napoleon….

Moreover, Dennis is too civilized for that.

But it’s a damned shame that part of the reason people don’t listen to Dennis, is because he is height challenged.

Look at Bush Sr. well over six foot tall (He must be. I happened to find myself next to him in a hotel in Southern California and I had to actually look up to him and I’m six foot!)…or Bill Clinton, John Kerry, John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan—all tall.

(No wonder Dukakis didn’t get it. He’s a shrimp and he looked dumb sitting in the turret of a tank thanks to the dirty tricks of the right wing!)

Nontheless, something needs to be done about our inherent prejudices. Meanwhile, the African-American candidate, the woman, the Hispanic, and the Southerner go about their business without realizing that the tallest one there is Obama—and it’s usually the tall one who wins. Forget about fame, experience, or money…..it’s whether you need elevator shoes that’s the issue….

Just an observation on the campaign trail.

Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Change