I know, once again I have let this poor blog languish. Not a lot of excuses, although I now have no clinical practice as I am full-time dissertating, and I could probably supply lots of exciting stories about writing my first three chapters (not). If you're wondering, I do have a proposal defense date of of October 14, so if you want to throw positive "think on your feet" energy to me that day, go for it!
MIA, and now I have the temerity to come back with a political post. Well, as others have said, it's my blog and I can write about what I want to -- and hey, I can even tie it back to end-of-life issues!
I have to confess, ever since the DNC I have been a election campaign junkie. The last few days have been nuts in so many ways, but today's announcement by John McCain that he was suspending his campaign just put me over the top, and also led to a sudden "analogy flash."
It was pointed out that McCain's going back to Washington would achieve....nothing. The points of a bill to be presented to the full Congress and Senate are hammered out in committee -- in this case, the Senate Banking Committee, chaired by Christopher Dodd and the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Barney Frank.
If Bush hadn't invited McCain and Obama to to the 10 a.m. meeting tomorrow, he'd be standing around w/his finger up his nose for the most part.
So, to the analogy part, and what McCain's actions reminded me of:
In hospice and palliative care, we talk about "the daughter from New York" (or, if you're from the east coast, "the son from California") I've also heard it called the "White Knight Syndrome." This involves a family member, usually estranged, certainly not engaged with the critical health issues that may have been unfolding for months ore even years and that other people have been coping with as best they can. This individual comes swooping in at the 11th hour, second guessing everyone, claiming the high moral ground and basically mucking up all the hard work and collaborative effort that has happened up until then between the health care professionals and the involved, concerned, engaged family members.
It's never pretty, and the 11th hour "savior" never comes off looking good.
