Office Politics

So there were plenty of folks on the river, and the boats were lined up like the “it’s a small world” ride at Disneyland. But when you’re trying to imagine that you’re fishing alone in the back-country wilderness, you’re looking for solitude not a feeling of togetherness and harmony with all the people on the planet.


Me and Hippie Dave knew there wouldn’t be any solitude that afternoon. We were just trying to sneak in a few hours of fishing before heading over to Logger Days in Darby.

Floating up to one of my favorite holes, we ran into 2 rafts that were pulled over to the side. The 2 guides were out of their boats yelling at each other, and both sets of clients had scared looks on their faces, like an old elk who’d fallen behind the herd as the wolves closed in.

Dave rowed over to shore, and we waited to see where this was headed. The last thing we wanted to do was get involved, but it was clear that this situation was about as friendly as a phone call between Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva.

“I know those dudes,” said Hippie Dave, “Rudy Heberding and ‘Fish Finder’ Clapton. They work for the same outfitter in Missoula.”

“Looks like they missed the corporate teambuilding retreat,” I replied.

Dave laughed, “It’s just office politics on the Bitterroot River.”

That was when Fish Finder gave Rudy a shove and started back to his boat. But he shouldn’t have turned his back, because Rudy grabbed an oar and whacked him in the back of the head. Fish Finder fell face first into the shallow water.

Me and Dave jumped up, and went running over to help. Dave grabbed Rudy and dragged him off to his boat. Fish Finder was coughing and choking as I helped him to his feet. We got them calmed down and sent Rudy and his clients on their way.

As we made sure Fish Finder was OK, he told us, “Rudy came after me because he felt like I’d been cutting him off all day. Our clients had said they wanted to fish together, so I was just staying close.”

Money is tight, and it can get downright competitive on the river. But I doubt either one of them got a decent tip that day, and they certainly didn’t do much to help promote Montana tourism.

That got me to thinking.

When times are tough, even folks who want to achieve the same things can start fighting amongst themselves. Like the Democrats in Washington.

The other day, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told Meet the Press that the Democrats could lose control of the House of Representatives. He said, “But I think there’s no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control.”

Well, that got Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s waders in a bunch. She feels that showing any possibility that the Democrats are vulnerable might have Republican voters smelling blood in the water and get them out to the polls. Plus, it’s a sound bite that’ll be used in campaign ads throughout the country.

House Democrats are concerned that lobbyists might sense a potential change in leadership and start funneling more money to Republicans. Gibbs responded that he was only stating “the obvious.”

There’s also speculation that President Obama actually wants to see the Republicans gain control this fall. That way, when he runs for re-election in 2012, he can say, “I had things running great. We passed health care reform and finance reform, but then the Republicans took charge and everything went to Hell. Don’t blame me that there aren’t any jobs and the economy hasn’t recovered. Blame them.”

Pelosi and other top Democrats went to the White House to meet with the President, who told them that he was backing them 100%. According to foxnews.com, he handed out a memo that said, “The President, Vice President, First Lady, Cabinet officers and senior staff have participated in 187 political events in the last 18 months, all with the intention of directly supporting candidates on the ballot in 2010 or building up the infrastructure of party committees. Forty more events are currently or tentatively scheduled and dozens more will be organized in the next few months.”

Now here’s my big problem with all this, and it applies to both parties, equally. As the leader of the free world, shouldn’t the President be focused on employment, the economy, world peace and stuff, instead of local fundraising campaigns?

We pay him good money to do a job, and attending hundreds of events to support his party’s candidates isn’t that job.

I don’t know, I guess I think too hard about these things.