Introducing Damage Control. Stories torn from the headlines! Compelling human drama! Characters that have to look vaguely the same from one frame to the next!

In case anyone’s wondering, the characters are all fictitious. But like anyone else who’s worked in political communications, I’ve lived through this kind of crisis scenario.

After the eighth or ninth time, once the romance of it all has worn off, every crisis starts to feel like a distraction from the stuff you’re actually trying to accomplish. You stop getting your satisfaction from the adrenaline of the situation, and start getting it from how well you handle it.

But the first few times, it’s actually pretty exciting. You and your colleagues hunker down and revel in the feeling that you’re all in this together, and that you’re living through a combination of M*A*S*H, The West Wing and, at times, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.