Winning and Losing - It’s all a part of the game…

PACSman: Well it’s all over now, but the whining. We have a new President-elect and with him new hopes and dreams and quite possibly, even the reality that change will indeed happen. At least that’s what was promised….sometime…

There are so many similarities between PACS and getting elected it’s frightening. Every four years we elect a new President; every five to six we “elect” a new PACS. The campaigning for a replacement PACS begins before the new PACS has even been installed.

We choose our President based on an incredible limited amount of knowledge, often using nothing more than a recommendation from someone we know, a flier in the church pew, or just a gut feeling to direct us. We often choose our PACS the same way…

Neither the President, the PACS vendor nor the end user knows what is in store for them until they start working together…and many times each wishes they had all known more about the other party before as well.

Typically you only have a few viable parties to choose from…although many candidates and companies throw their hat into the ring trying to get at least a few votes…And sometimes you love the candidates and companies you have to select from…At other times you choose the lesser of the evils...just as in our most recent election…and in too many PACS selections…
Candidates will spend exorbitant amounts of money trying to win, yet the amount of money you spend doesn’t necessarily guarantee victory any more than being part of a major party or company does. Endorsements come from all over and few will say a bad word about their party or company…unless they lose and then the real truth comes out (and finger pointing as well)…And while McCain’s speech may have been supportive, it sounded a bit like he was blaming the African Americans for his loss – “....I recognize the special significance it has for the African Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight...” So, too, does it go with PACS.

Who controls the government just like who controls the PACS is always up for debate. While the President is technically Commander in Chief and Vice President our #2 man, someone forgot to tell Alexander Haig that back in 1981….especially considering there are two offices between the Vice President and the Secretary of State who would take office first (the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate would both be required under U.S. law to resign their positions in order for either of them to become acting President if the President and Vice President were incapacitated). But why left some silly little Constitutional law get in the way...Sorta like letting contract issues cloud the real problems…or IT battling radiology for control of the system.

Candidates make all sorts of promises without any fear of reproach. The resounding theme of this year’s campaign was change and people expect that. Yet before the final votes were even tallied there was a little backpedaling on exactly when this change would occur…Gotta love the acceptance speech… “The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or in one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than tonight that we will get there....There will be setbacks and false starts...” This sounds like a man who is already second guessing his campaign promises...Of course PACS companies do the same by handing out 99.9%+ uptime guarantees without any associated penalties or provide a list of exemptions that are a mile long to whatever guarantee they offer…

So – four more years? Thank God for term limits because at least in my book it seems like it’s been eight too many already…

Personally I’m making the first contribution in Doctor Dalai’s war chest. After all 2012 is just around the corner and we need a man who is both fiscally responsible and a strong man isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Who better than the Dalai himself? (if his wife lets him that is (laugh)!!!