Making the best of your mistakes
Shortly after this issue hits the streets, there will be a new face in the Oval
Office. Who will it be? More importantly, will the people who vote for that
candidate regret their choice a few years down the line? There is simply no way
to know. Just 100 days after George W. Bush became president, his approval
ratings were at an impressive 62 percent, according to a CNN/Gallup poll.
However, with only 100 days left to go during his final term, President Bush’s approval rating dipped down to a less-than-stellar 23 percent. Of course,
those numbers could rise or fall much more until President Bush leaves office.
America is a fickle country, so ratings are rarely steady or even. As for
presidents, they usually get more than their fair share of credit when times
are good and, conversely, far too much blame when times are bad. Still, wouldn’t it be nice if all elections came with a “vote-back” guarantee? Each November, Americans could recant their votes based on their
approval of the elected officer’s performance? That would certainly lead to less stress and pressure during the
voting process.
It would also be an unmitigated disaster. There would be no stability of office
and no significant value inherent in voting. Elected politicians would look
over their shoulders rather than look ahead. Mistakes are unavoidable. From
George Washington to George W. Bush, every president has made some while in
office. Obama or McCain will prove to be no different.
In the drycleaning business, cleaners also make mistakes. Unlike those who live
and die in the political arena, business owners have one distinct advantage:
they can admit to them. In general, politicians often cast blame, but rarely
accept any for fear of losing any advantage. However, cleaners who are willing
to admit to their missteps can actually boost their own marketing image. After
all, the best plants offer “money-back” guarantees and realize that rectifying a negative situation correctly can
impress a customer for life. In his column this month on page 16, Bill Bishop
advises cleaners to not be afraid to tell the public when they do a lousy
job... because honesty really is the best policy.
Besides, who are you more likely to vote for (or do business with)... the one
who claims to have never made mistakes, or the one who admits he has made
mistakes, but is now trying to make amends and learn from them?
A fair hearing that may be too late
The many years of trying to talk sense to environmental regulators about the
status of perc have not been entirely wasted. There have been some successes,
notably at the state level where some regulators evaluated the evidence and
concluded that perc can be — and is being — safely used as a drycleaning solvent. But when it comes to the federal
Environmental Protection Agency, anything that does not fit the regulators’ long-held opinions has been ignored.
Thus it was hard not to laugh when EPA announced a one-day “listening session” to hear comments an its draft risk assessment for perc. Yes, for one day in
August, following a 10-year process of developing this assessment, EPA said it
would listen. In the draft itself, EPA made it clear that it has not listened
to any of the studies or arguments that go against its contention that perc is
a health hazard that should be more strictly regulated. Old studies that point
to a hazard, and which have been called into question by scientists who
reviewed the data, were promoted to prove EPA’s case while more recent and carefully designed studies that indicate less of a
hazard were ignored by the agency.
At the “listening session” and in formal written comments submitted to the agency, the arguments that have
been previously ignored were restated and the studies that have been overlooked
were cited yet again.
The good news is that these arguments will now be presented to an independent
body of scientists who will be performing a peer review of the EPA document. We
know nothing of the inclinations of the members of the review panel, but we
hope that they will give the arguments a fair hearing, which we think would
result in a better outcome.
The bad news is that it won’t happen fast; the review will take over a year. In the meantime, the “likely human carcinogen” meme will circulate and perc — and drycleaners who continue to use it — will suffer the consequences.
