It Is About the Party

Cain was, at first blush, an average, ordinary man.  That all changed when you observed him in action.  Though, there was nothing intimidating in his physical appearance, his personality was gruff and abrasive.  He was a brilliantly focused, driven man and nothing deterred him from his goals, nothing.

After graduating from the Ohio State University with a business degree, Cain went into car sales.  He was the type of salesman who never took ‘no’ for an answer.  Every objection he would handle astutely but his gruffness left the prospect feeling cornered.

He viewed sales as a competition.  Every person that walked onto the lot, he saw as an opponent.  His only goal was to make a sale, that day, from that person.  No one ever felt comfortable, or even safe, to say ‘no’ or ‘later’ to him.

Some may have seen him as gifted at persuading people.  If you were to watch him without hearing him, he would give the appearance of a good communicator and connector.  You would think of him as a good people person because he regularly got the sale.

What Cain enjoyed most about car sales, was the opportunity to bully people.  He would start as if he were their best friend.  Adroitly, he would discover the individual’s weakness to the sales pitch and exploited the prospect, often emotionally, until they could not say ‘no’.  Having a prospect cornered with no way out but to say ‘yes’ thrilled him.

He quickly realized that what he thirsted most for was power.  Having the power over people, a skill he developed as a car salesman, motivated him and gave him a thrilling sense of achievement.  It did not take long before he became addicted to the rush of controlling power.

Soon, his addiction could not be fed enough through car sales.  Cain began to look to other pursuits, first, to add to his power intake at work but he soon realized that he needed to dump the car sales for another, more power fulfilling career.  He found politics.

His first impulse was to pursue office himself.  He went the county headquarters of both the Democratic and Republican parties where he spent time interviewing party staffers.  He had no favorite political point of view or agenda.  He only thirsted for power.  When he asked what kind of candidate they were looking to support, he got the standard party line from each group.

“Vanilla, all they want is vanilla,” Cain thought.  “They want a party agenda carried out and they only want a puppet as a candidate.” 

He concluded that there would never be a transfer of any real power to a winning candidate.  The power was intended to stay with the staffers, who would dictate to the office holder what to do, what opinions to express.  This was the opposite of what he personally wanted.  Being someone else’s puppet was not his thing.

The Democratic Party county leadership was changing.  The head of the party, Bob Burtell, was retiring.  He had held the leadership position for over twenty years.  It was expected that one of his cronies would replace him, however, there was no one that stood out or stood up.  Cain saw opportunity.

“Hi Bob, my name is Cain Johnson,” he introduced himself as he entered Bob Burtell’s office.

Bob sized up this stranger and as usual, nothing about Cain’s appearance stood out.

“Welcome, Cain,” Bob said as he shook his hand.  “What can I do for you?”

“Do you mind if I close the door, Bob?”

Cain did not wait for an answer before closing the door.  He went straight from the door to a chair placed at a round table in the corner of the moderately sized office.

At first, Bob was taken aback at the forwardness of Cain.  He was used to being treated as the lead, not someone to be led.  But, there was something in his visitor’s tone that piqued his curiosity so he decided to just go with it.  So, he moved from around his desk and sat in the chair at the table just across from the chair Cain sat in.

As he sat, Bob crossed his arms to indicate that he was willing to give Cain only a few minutes of his time.

“Again, what can I do for you, Mr. Johnson?”

Bob hoped that being more formal with how he addressed Cain would reestablish control for him.

Cain leaned back in his chair to signal that he was not going to be controlled.  He held up his right hand by placing his elbow on the arm rest.  His forefinger on that hand was pointed skyward.

“I understand that you are retiring.  What direction do you want the party to go when you leave?”

Bob tilted his head to the right and frowned.  Placing his right hand over his chin and mouth, he attempted to hide his incredulousness over this stranger asking him such a pointed question.

“What is this man’s agenda?” Bob thought.

When he did not answer right away, Cain chose to continue.

“You are a man of conviction.  The party has been the recipient of your powerful direction.  There is not a man on your staff that has the strength and definiteness of purpose like you do.  The new leader that comes from your current staff will lead the party into decline that may last for decades because he will lack your strengths.

“Let me ask you this, Bob, why would you settle for that?”

Bob was frozen.  These were the concerns that troubled him.  In fact, he would have retired several years ago, but there was not an adequate replacement.  He had hoped to groom the next leader, but there simply was no one with the talents and audacity needed to succeed in the cutthroat world of local politics.

Again, Cain chose to continue.

“Bob, your staff needs more change than just a promotion out of one of your staff to replace you.  This party, your party, needs a bold, fearless leader who will never take ‘no’ as an answer to the party’s agenda.  Right now, the individuals you are considering, do not have that boldness, that gut-defying courage that it will take for this party to dominate locally.  Are you okay with that?”

Now he felt trapped.  There was only one answer that Bob could give.

“Well, no, I am not okay with that.”

“Then you will hire me to replace you.”

Bob interrupted, “But I do not know you.”

“Let me ask you this, Bob, when was the last time any of your staffers came to you with a take no prisoners, we will win whatever the cost, attitude?”

Bob re-crossed his arms and leaned over the table on his elbows.  He moved his head and shoulders toward Cain.

“You already know the answer to that question, or you would not have asked it.”

Cain grinned as he thought, “Astute, yes this man is bright.”

For the next two hours, the two men talked and strategized on how best to carry out the transition of an unknown to the seat of power for the county Democratic Party.