The It Ain't Perfect Gambit

            Here’s one that’s victimized every one of us—the ‘it ain’t perfect gambit.’  We can’t go to the movies because it’s raining. We can only go if everything is perfect—the day is clear and pleasant, dishes are done, your room is clean, and the lawn got mowed.  You can’t have an outstanding job rating unless you achieved the budget handed down to you, even if you tripled last year’s accomplishments.  Your idea can’t be implemented even though it is brilliant, because it would upset an important department.

            Some version of this has happened to you, and you learned from it.  Learned to avoid it, to overcome it, or to use it.  All of us did.  It is the origin of the ‘ask forgiveness not permission’ philosophy.  It is a common tactic of bad-faith management.  It is the mother of ‘domestic contracts’ and ‘golden parachutes.’  Sadly, the most common practitioners of this gambit are members of congress. 

          Why do you think a legislative bill needs to be so complex, or comprehensive that ANYBODY can find a flaw in it to hate? Remember the urgently needed Fiscal Cliff Bill?  It was full of pork.  Who could vote for a bill so flawed?  Bills designed this way provide cover for any member of congress to point and whine, “I just can’t tolerate this—it’s flawed!  Around here, we think the ‘It ain’t perfect’ (or ‘he ain’t perfect’) gambit used by legislators is just a cheap cop out.