I hate the notion of “spin” when applied to articulating what’s going on. I especially hate spin when it gets in the way (in the middle of, in front of) a decision. (Picture of me calmly, but forcefully, saying “just tell me what the fuck is going on and we’ll deal with it.”)
Tom Evslin has an awesome post up today titled Decide First, Spin Second. He recounts the story of a small nuclear crisis that was occurring in Vermont when Richard Snelling was governor and Tom was Secretary of Transportation. Snelling started the cabinet meeting off with the following statement:
“First we have to decide what the right thing to do is; then we’ll think about the politics. Otherwise we’ll just confuse ourselves.”
Absolutely correct.