Yesterday evening I conducted an interview with current President and World Assembly Delegate, Mousebumples. We discussed her ongoing term in both positions, the impact of her Presidential predecessor Malashaan, as well as her plans for next term.
Interview said:Calvin Coolidge: First off, thank you for doing this interview, we know that being President and World Assembly Delegate eats up a lot of your day, so we appreciate your time.
Mousebumples: No problem! I always love reading interviews in EBC (and private media), and I'm happy to help contribute to such materials, too. ^_^
Calvin Coolidge: Yes, and with the interviews we do have from recent months, we seem to have them mostly on mixlr. Would you say that was your intention going into this term?
Mousebumples: Intention? No, not really - but that was in large part because it was hard to predict how Mixlr was going to be received in the region over the long term and how successful it was going to be as an interviewing medium. However, I think it's a great new feature that we've better integrated into the region's communications system this term, and I think a lot of us enjoy being able to actually hear the reactions of the interviewee in Real Time - and being able to chat along in Mixlr chat. Still, such a distraction with "pretty shinies!" means that sometimes the more straightforward communication mediums (such as this interview format) are overlooked unintentionally.
Calvin Coolidge: That's a fair point, since the Ministry of Innovation worked with mixlr on a much smaller scale last term. However, do you think the Minister (of Communication) change at the start of the term played any role in the lack of balance?
Mousebumples: I think that definitely did play a role, on a number of levels. I was aware - shortly after the start of the term - that PhDre was going to be on an LoA while he worked out some things in Real Life, but by the time I started wondering if he was coming back (or able to come back), a few weeks had passed, and the other ministries had taken off. As you no doubt know (as FA), we had some FA-themed plans for Mixlr that we followed through on that were rather well attended and attracted some notable foreign interest from members of various GCRs.
By the time PhDre resigned, and Noto was formally appointed, he was already behind on getting things back up and running. I think a lot of the Assistant Ministers that you may have had working with you in MinComm last term had perhaps moved on to other things or lost interest due to the lack of activity there in the early weeks. It's hard to know exactly why things played out the way they did, but I think that that certainly was a factor in some ways, at least.
Calvin Coolidge: On the note of Ministerial changes, your administration has seen a large amount of turnover across the Executive, especially near the end of your term. Two Ministers of Culture, three Vice-Presidents, a Minister appointed halfway through the term, and as we've already stated, two Ministers of Communication. How did this change your goals for the term, and what position do you think you've ended up in as a result?
Mousebumples: As I've explained in the Senate (and elsewhere), my reasons for wanting to appoint an RP minister were to attempt to breathe some life into that area - especially since my then-Minister of Culture (Sopo) wasn't sure how effectively he'd be able to juggle the heaping pile of other Culture responsibilities in addition to the new plans I wanted to work on for Role Play. I hope to see some movement there from Seven Deaths in the coming days, now that he's been confirmed by the Senate and remasked.
Malashaan talked with me before he decided to run for Senate, and I honestly believe that he feels more useful to the region in his current role as Senate Speaker than he did as Vice President. That's not to say that he was a bad Vice President by any stretch - he was always willing to help out with ideas, brainstorming, and various grunt work roles. However, I think he felt some what directionless since he didn't have any projects he was personally responsible for.
(Honestly, I felt the same way, at some times, when I was Vice President, but I also was juggling the WA Delegate position, so even though I may not have had "Vice President jobs" to work on, I always had WA Delegate projects that I could tackle.) Anyhow, that's neither here nor there, but I will definitely say that I did not plan on having 3 Vice Presidents over the course of my term. However, as we all know, r3n was unable to turn down the amazing job opportunity he was offered. I considered looking outside of my Cabinet for a new Vice President, but I ended up deciding that the region (and the remainder of my term) would be better served by promoting from within, so to speak. Of course, Brunhilde has been a shining star in Culture all term, so the fact that I had an obvious replacement for Minister of Culture didn't hurt either.
So far as "changing the goals of the term," it's hard to say at this point, honestly. We still have just under 3 weeks left, and considering SD and Brun (and Sopo) have just been confirmed, it's hard to say how those changes will play out at this point. However, I'm confident in the group I have put together, and I hope we can continue to make some progress in the coming weeks.
Calvin Coolidge: Now, you mentioned the Senate as part of your Ministry confirmation process, but you've recently been involved in the more legislative side of the body as well, with the drafting of the Vice-Delegate Amendment and the Awards Amendment. Why did you take this route to try and achieve your goals when you have the power to issue an Executive Order and be done with it?
Mousebumples: A large part of it is due to my thoughts on the importance of the Separation of Powers in Europeia. It's fun to think of flexing the power of Executive Orders while I'm in office; however, we have a rather effective Senate in place, and I believe in giving them the respect they deserve. I alluded to this some in one of the threads, I believe in the Speaker's Office, but while I have the ability, as President, to speak in the Senate, I don't know that it's my place to chime in on every other piece of legislation.
For the Awards and Honors Act, I made my suggestions - and then I offered my rationale - and I have largely left it up to the Senate to determine what version of new awards will be passed to me for my probable signature. If the Senate was moving slowly and making minimal progress towards getting the Order of Edification (at minimum) passed before the end of my term, I may address that with an EO, as I'd like to award some of those myself in my end-of-term address. However, I'm happy to let them do their due diligence in that regard.
I know I've taken a more active role on the legislating of the Vice Delegate position, but while I am using the speaking rights granted to me as the President, I am viewing my statements there more as "coming from the WA Delegate" than "coming from the President," if such a distinction is clear. If I were not President, I'd hope that my input and opinion would be welcomed as the sitting WA Delegate, as such changes are likely to impact that office moving forward.
Calvin Coolidge: Changing gears now, one of the bigger issues coming into your term as a sort of carry over from Malashaan's term, was getting Europeia's message out to the wider world of NationStates. What sort of progress do you think has been made in regards to this issue during your term?
Mousebumples: This has been a challenge in many ways, as we've been gradually working to reform our Foreign Updates into ... something else over the course of the term. Part of the concept that we're hoping to move forward with (which hopefully future MoFAs will continue) is discarding the name "update" as that has a NationStates-wide connotation of "ignore me, I'm not important."
The shortage of written Communications materials this term has hindered this development in some ways, and that also carries over to the lackluster nature of Private Media, overall. There has been slightly more activity in Private Media as of late, but those are still unlikely to be pieces that are relevant enough to the entirety of NationStates to merit publication on the NS Forums in some vein.
However, as stated above, Mixlr has drawn the interest of some figures in at least three of the feeders if memory serves (TSP, TNP, and TEP) - and perhaps others as well, if we consider how many players hold citizenship and positions in multiple GCRs. Mixlr has definitely potential for helping us to create a unique platform for broadcasting to the whole of NationStates, and I hope to make more progress in this area over the remainder of my term.
Calvin Coolidge: On the topic of Foreign Affairs, it seems that our region has a history of making FA inaccessible to newcomers, and even those that have been in the region for a while. Do you think your administration has really dealt with that problem seriously enough?
Mousebumples: "Seriously enough" is a nebulous concept that is difficult to quantify or define. I believe my administration has taken it seriously and has made efforts to make FA more accessible to newcomers with the launching of the Ambassador Academy. As of this posting, we only have the initial lesson up so far, but it has drawn interest and comments from perhaps a half-dozen or so interested novice members of the Europeian Foreign Service.
Additionally, I'd hope that with the additional plans for Case Studies that I hope to roll out (from myself and various senior EFS members) over the remainder of the term, we'll start training these newcomers more about "how to think like a Minister of Foreign Affairs."
Of course, Foreign Affairs isn't "easy." It's something that everyone can possibly do, yes; however, in my view, being an effect Foreign Affairs official is about more than "working hard" and "putting in the time." You need to have (or be making) the right connections; you need to be thinking about the domino effect that almost all FA-related decisions have. The most respected Foreign Affairs officials are able to think about the possible implications multiple steps out, which allows them to better avoid possible missteps and international issues. Again, while that can be taught to some extent, to believe that any format (be it the Ambassador Academy or whatever else) can magically transform a player into a Foreign Affairs expert on par with r3n or NES, for example, is a fantasy. However, I have tried to make Foreign Affairs more accessible, and I hope that the next administration will continue these efforts and perhaps even roll out a few plans of their own in this regard.
Calvin Coolidge: You keep mentioning future terms, may I ask what your plans are for the term coming up?
Mousebumples: Other than "not running for another term" ?
Calvin Coolidge: :O
Mousebumples: In all seriousness, I was toying with running for a second term, but I was feeling like there were a lot of things I wasn't doing (as WA Delegate) that I could have been doing - and that I wanted to do. However, for me, balancing both roles is doable, but it doesn't allow me as much time for the creation of "new endeavors" in the WA arena. With r3n as my Vice President, we were planning to advance some things in that regard; naturally, with his resignation, those "having someone else do a lot of work on this" plans got changed.
This isn't to say that I don't have every confidence in Sopo as my Vice President, but Sopo's strengths and interests vary in many ways from those of r3n. I feel that we have a number of players in Europeia that are either ready to step forward and run for President - or who have been President before and are prepared to make another run at the Goldenblock. If I felt there was a dearth of leadership potential within the region, I could continue to juggle both roles for another term or so; however, I feel that it is in the best overall interests of the region (and my own sanity) to step back and focus more on the WA Delegacy and the World Assembly-related aspects of Europeia and NationStates.
I also know that with r3n's departure, there will be a need for some player(s) to step forward and fill some of the roles he had played within the region. Of course, no one player (or even two or three players, honestly) can probably compare to the unique skill set and personality that the Penguin brought to our region. Still, I am hoping to do some work with regards to the automation of our telegrams, the utilization of the mass-TG tool, and the like in the background.
I do not plan to take control of a Ministry next term for these reasons, as I don't know that I could properly dedicate myself to these tasks and the plans I have for the WA Delegacy in addition to running the Ministry of [ABC]. If invited to serve as a Minister without Portfolio or Chief of Staff, that would be something to consider more closely. However, to ask someone to put me in their Cabinet in a given position seems somewhat pretentious and egotistical, so I'll defer to whomever is elected President on that front.
Regardless, I hope that I can be proud to leave Europeia in a better place than it was when I started the term, overall. One of my goals this term was to challenge my Ministers to work to develop talent in their respective Ministries. This has worked to varying levels of success in each of the given areas, but I think we have seen a number of Assistant Ministers step forward and relish the additional responsibilities and opportunities that were providde to them. Hopefully, this nurturing and mentoring will continue over the coming weeks, as we continue to build and develop the next generation of leaders within Europeia.
It's hard to know where we'll be a year from now, but a year ago, I was just getting confirmed to my first Cabinet slot (Ministy of Interior). Looking at my Cabinet, Kraken was in Communications; Sopo was on the verge of going inactive as Minister of Foreign Affairs; Noto was on a Leave of Absence; Seven Deaths was around but not terribly active ... and the other 3 (Brunhilde, Calvin, and Writinglegend) hadn't even begun to make an impact in Europeia. I guess my point is that change is one of those inevitable things - in both Real Life and in Europeia/NationStates. I'd like to think that my term has helped to prepare players within Europeia for what is to come, but - of course - none of us really know what's in store anyhow.Basically, next term, I don't plan on "going anywhere," and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for all of us.
Calvin Coolidge: Well, thank you again for your time and your responses. I look forward to the rest of your term, and any change that may come after.
Mousebumples: I accept both change and cash in tips.
