Predictable and right on cue, the blame game is on. Who lost James Jeffords, the Vermont senator whose switch from the Republican Party to independent status allowed Democrats to abruptly regain control of the Senate? Republicans are not real big on airing dirty laundry. Indeed, it’s right up there with the `Thou shall nots’ of biblical lore. Perhaps that’s why White House counselor Karen Hughes reportedly sent out word to congressional Republicans not to exchange blame on Jeffords’ defection.
Should President Bush have divined that snubbing Jeffords (by not inviting him to a White House ceremony honoring the teacher-of-the-year from Vermont) would send him off the ranch for good? Party-switching doesn’t happen every day. Was bygone Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and his southern command asleep at the wheel or perhaps distracted by a cell phone? Is a second term for Dubya now out of the question? It seems like it was only yesterday Democrats were hammering one another over how Al Gore managed to lose the election in a time of good and plenty.
The high-tech meltdown has generated a good deal of blame. A common refrain: Who lost Lucent? Last week, Alcatel SA did. CEOs are blamed for lack of vision or, worse, seeing a future that’s not all there. Accountants are blamed for cooking the books. Executives catch hell if they are oblivious to bookkeeping folly, but get in trouble with the law if they know. Wall Street is viewed with suspicion for hyping dot-coms, then preaching the virtues of diversification. Rank-and-file investors are not without blame, either. The high-tech run-up couldn’t have happened without them.
In the mobile-phone industry, the stage is being set for what could materialize into another blame-game of seismic proportion. Who lost 3G? That will be the question behind the finger pointing if industry cannot secure spectrum for third-generation wireless systems. Right now, things do not look promising. Schools, churches, broadcasters, broadband Internet carriers, the Pentagon and others do not want to surrender spectrum the World Radiocommunication Conference has identified for 3G. Worse, it appears the Bush administration hasn’t a clue what to do. And there are 3G technology snafus left and right. Who will be blamed?
CTIA President Tom Wheeler and top board members already are in blame mode. “Previous administrations ignored this issue until it finally reached crisis proportions, leaving your administration to inherit the crisis and make the tough decisions,” they wrote in an ingratiating plea to Bush. Turns out, some in government and industry were not happy with the letter. Wheeler & Co. may be the next target of the blame throwers.
