Who is Dr.Hobart?

Things had not always been this way with Dr. Hobart and the G.W.D.L. Proctor had been hired as the tech guy about the same time as Hobart for the little environmental firm. About ten years ago, Hobart had resigned from a top position as a researcher with a pharmaceutical company. He had specialized in some strange branch of behavioral medication but generally refrained from ever mentioning his reasons for leaving. Being both a) a scientist and b) morally ambiguous, he seemed ripe for recruitment. At first he had been a good worker, quick to brainstorm solutions and perfectly willing to sacrifice his free time for the cause. It was when the former director left and no one volunteered to fill his shoes that Hobart began to show the signs of despair he now so openly exhibited. There is nothing quite as sad, Proctor was fond of saying, as a Liberal forced to be in an authority position. They chafe at giving orders, despise making people do things when they can relate to not wanting to, and most of all become quite lost when they have no higher power to blame than themselves for failed projects. The planet saving business was a tough one with the advent of environmental conscientiousness being ‘hip’. The different advocacy groups were now more competitive than ever. Hobart had to contend with the Sierra Club snatching donations for land conservation, P.E.T.A.’s monthly Bingo Save-A-Critter Night, and the dreaded G.W.C.M. (Global Warming Cessation Movement). Their offices were mere blocks away and the head, one T. Magnus Bordex, was fond of hosting rallies on the same days as the G.W.D.L. “For the extra PR,” Bordex would say. Hobart, when confronting his cousin who had donated twenty dollars to the G.W.C.M. rather than his own group, was asked, “It all goes to the same thing, right?” Grudgingly, Hobart had agreed. And grudgingly, Hobart had to report that funds were down and budgets were getting tighter whenever people asked how things were going. Yet Hobart was not without his brilliant moments. In a company wide e-mail, Hobart had proposed supplying community service and college credits to students who volunteered. Thus the influx of volunteers, no matter how apathetic they might be. And now one of the most important fund raisers for the G.W.D.L., one in which it was absolutely essential that they make at least five grand, was coming up. And all Hobart could muster was the question, “Do you ever feel like we’re just…we’re just like some old vets reliving past battles?” Proctor stared at him for a moment, finished his beer, and threw down a few bucks. “At this point, I like to think that the veterans could get their troops to show up on time,” Proctor replied. He walked away before Frieda came back with a fresh beer for him.