I spent Monday in a DayQuil haze, trying to fight off a cold. As the
evening fell, I eagerly anticipated the transition to DayQuil’s
night-time party partner, NyQuil. This, I thought, will be a lot like
the late ’70s, except without disco or Air Supply. But I just fell
asleep. Which, come to think of it, was a lot like the late
’70s.

But I had great dreams. I dreamed that Eddie Money was performing at this year’s Liberty Bowl. Or maybe I heard that on the radio the next day. It’s all very hazy.

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting change. It’s not insane that Eddie Money is playing the
Liberty Bowl in 2009. It’s just not exciting or innovative. It’s safe.
And he’ll probably sound great. In the long run, it’s only
rock-and-roll. But still, come on, was Meatloaf not available?

In other arenas, playing it safe can lead to disaster. Think of
General Motors, for example. Safe decisions left the largest American
auto manufacturer bankrupt, as the world turned to more innovative and cost-efficient auto manufacturers.

And in media, as well, playing it safe — doing the same thing
over and over again — can be a killer. I saw a video interview
this week with a television consultant named Michael Rosenblum on the “death” of local television news. The problem, he says, is that local
news is mired in its traditional ways, using the same formulas that
worked for decades. Television news, he says, like newspapers, is going
to have to reinvent itself or die. We shall see. My suspicion is that
the first local station to break the mold will achieve a competitive
advantage.

And in the most important back-to-the-future move of all, President
Obama opted this week to throw a “surge” of 30,000 or so more American troops into Afghanistan. If you remember, in the late, yes, 1970s, Russia began its ill-fated incursion into Afghanistan. The subsequent depletion of the USSR’s blood and treasure in that losing adventure contributed mightily to its fall in 1989.

Thirty years later, an American president thinks things will turn
out differently this time around, that we will “stabilize” Afghanistan,
then stage an orderly withdrawal. I pray that he is correct. But what
are the odds? Better than those that Eddie Money won’t play “Two
Tickets to Paradise”?