 going on here? Pat Buchanan, news commentator turned populist presidential candidate, thought he knew. "I was not discomfited by the shutdown of the government," he told an Iowa Republican caucus, "but I was discomfited when I read that AT&T is laying off forty thousand work- ers just like that, and the fellow that did it makes $5 million a year, and AT&T stock soared as a consequence, and his stock went up $5 million.' "IO As he moved his campaign to New Hampshire, Buchanan turned Bob Allen into a symbol of corporate greed that tapped into working people's very real fear and anger. In the process, he gave us all a mini- lesson in mob politics: Remind people they're scared and/or angry and blame it on an enemy they don't like in the first place. It doesn't even have to be the enemy you're running against, although it's help- ful if you can tie the two together somehow. Media coverage of AT&T's downsizing increased and became in- Understand the Power of Symbols creasingly critical, with negative stories outnumbering positive two to one. For example, Newsweek's Allan Sloan wrote that, while AT&T's downsizing made sense, AT&T's executives should share the pain. In reporting the story, Sloan even schlepped out to New Jersey SO that he could look Allen in the eye when he asked if he thought it was "fair" for Allen to draw a million-dollar paycheck when workers were losing their jobs. Allen just glared at him and said it wasn't his job to decide what was fair. Symbolic Meaning Ironically, Allen genuinely worried about the people who were affected by his decisions. He expressed his feelings to Sloan, as he had to oth- ers. "I feel bad about it," he said, "but I don't know what to do. I wouldn't see any value of going on TV and crying and showing my sorrow for the world to see." II Sloan wrote that Allen seemed "like a decent and moral man," but also seemed to be totally out of touch with the "unfairness" of continuing to draw a fat salary while he laid people off. "Symbolism is terribly important," wrote Sloan, "and SO