Election Day hangover

The office was intolerably gloomy Wednesday morning. Heads hung low in disbelief. Coffee went cold as demoralized Democrats stared at blank computer screens and wondered aloud if life was still worth living. With clothes slightly ruffled and eyes bleeding--not from a long night of watching returns, but from their anger and frustration, which had nowhere to go--workers wandered from office to office, cubicle to cubicle, mumbling the same refrain: "I don't friggin' believe it."

By lunch, they were ordering from the liquid side of the menu. But instead of the usual illegal smiles upon return, their faces carried the kind of weight that makes you want to hide the razor blades.

I, for one, am simply relieved that the election is over. For the first time in months, my fists are unclenched as I wallow on the couch in front of Wolf Blitzer. My esophagus is suddenly allowing passage of my Spam-and-cucumber sandwiches without requiring enormous slugs of chocolate milk.

Kerry supporters should take comfort in the thought that their candidate got more votes than any losing presidential candidate has before. That's one energized base. And they should remember that, if the earth is not engulfed by a mushroom cloud beforehand, they can begin releasing all that pent-up emotion again when the next campaign season starts in only two-and-a-half years--less than 1000 days.

However, their internal organs may not survive until the next election if they can't accept one fact: Given the amount of fodder that the Bush administration handed the opposing party in the way of foul-ups, missteps and mayhem in the last three years (their first year getting a pass), the fact that they couldn't put together a ticket capable of victory means they didn't deserve to win. They have to do better next time.

And therein lies today's telecom lesson (you knew I had to have one.) The CLECs had righteousness on their side in 1996, just like both political parties believe they do today. The RBOCs were supposedly despised around the world, just as Bush supposedly is today. Competitive carriers made a logical argument that the incumbents were incompetent, stubborn and out of touch, just like...well, you get the picture.

In the same way, independent software providers had the same sense of righteous indignation about legacy OSS providers--Telcordia and the large billing providers, primarily. Both the ISVs and the CLECs waged a good campaign. They told consumers what they wanted to hear. They spent a ton of money trying to get their points across. They lost.

Both had to go back to the drawing board and come up with new plans. They are back now and are doing better, but so are telecom's incumbents. It actually took the rise of a third party called IP to shake things up in telecom. Maybe it's time that happens in politics. Who's with me?

E-mail me at tmcelligott@primediabusiness.com