For Daschle, Democrats Are the Farewell Party

[paineinthearse]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64660-2005Mar2.html

For Daschle, Democrats Are the Farewell Party

By Ann Gerhart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 2, 2005; Page C01


Everybody leaves the world's most exclusive club sometime, and last night the tribute at the National Building Museum was for a man who had left it most reluctantly -- Democrat Tom Daschle, tossed out of the Senate in November by the good people of South Dakota after an expensive and contentious race. "Tom wasn't wild about this, to tell you the truth," said his wife, Linda Daschle, an airline industry lobbyist, as she surveyed the room of about 400 guests, including nearly all 44 Democratic senators. "He wasn't about looking back. But so many of his Senate family wanted to say thank you."

And the former minority leader, during the cocktail hour, smiled and shook hands and accepted claps on the back and, Daschle said, "enjoyed the moment." He doesn't know yet what to do with himself after 26 years in office. "I'm taking my time" in deciding, he said, "which is what everybody told me to do." It felt like a melancholy affair, a party with the fight knocked out of it, Rod Stewart on tape scratching his way through a desultory "The Way You Look Tonight." The way they looked last night was sad and meek. What Might Have Been hung over the room, above the murmur of polite chatter of vacations Daschle could take and the integrity he had displayed.

<snip>

The tallest of the dark suits, John Kerry, could be seen from nearly every vantage point in the cavernous hall. John Edwards, who gave up his Senate seat to be Kerry's running mate, worked the room, doing that thing where he reached out with one hand toward the next supplicant while still clasping the last one who had buttonholed him. A waiter said to his colleague, "That's the guy who ran for vice president." "I honestly wish I were not here tonight, that this dinner were not happening," said Nevada's Harry Reid, the Senate's new minority leader, when he took the stage to herald his predecessor for his "calm, deliberate demeanor" in "times of prosperity and times that were really tough."

Elected to the Senate from the House in 1986, Daschle, now 57, was credited with unifying fractious Democrats in the mid-1990s and pushing a more centrist philosophy. Under his leadership, the Senate passed campaign finance revisions. He helped save the presidency of Bill Clinton by engineering acquittal at the impeachment trial, a feat that Democrats heralded and some conservatives never forgave.

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[shance]

1. "the world's most exclusive club"? Maybe that's part of the problem?

I went to a fundraiser for Tom Daschle and met him personally. I found him to be very polite, and had a very kind demeanor about him.

When he gave his speech, which was what it was, it seemed very canned and I felt as though he had recited it at too many other fundraisers before. It was like a minister giving a serman that had gone flat years before. Seemed to me, his heart was not in either his speech or looking at it now, the world of Washington. Something told me Tom Daschle was probably too good for Washington and like so many of us, still wanted to play in the sandbox, even though it had some pretty nasty kids beating everybody else up in the box.

The questions came after Daschle spoke, and a couple of men asked what I thought were real softballs, and then came some questions from women in the back of the room. They asked some terrific questions, that were Im sure on many peoples' minds, but what amazed me, is Mr. Daschle didnt answer them. He listened to the saavy women offer some heartfelt and enlightening concerns, and he responded by saying nothing to any of the ladies in return and went to the next woman after the previous one had asked a question. I believe he didn't mean it out of disrespect but I was pretty amazed he didnt offer some kind of response. I thought maybe he didn't want to be patronizing with a soothing bullsh** answer. However, it came of pretty demeaning and it would have been nice and more appropriate to offer some response.

However, at that point I decided Tom Daschle is probably no longer leading the Democrats like he could be. It was as if there was a vacancy, like he was either very tired, and/or perhaps didnt know what to say about the State of the Union. I could be reading too much into it but something wasn't available that day.

I am a Democrat (more independent than anything really) who sees Washington as a temporary responsibility/position to which citizens give of their time to serve and then, leave D.C., as in, say ADIOS to the country club and live their life as a citizen.

That was the way it was originated, that is the way it should be in my opinion. I think it is one of the main reasons we have such corruption going on because the checks and balances have become so blurred with all the back slapping and deals being made.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Well said. Too few, very few, serve the the interests of the country.

Rather they serve their own interests in maintaining power. When I read of the founders, it's like reading about a mythical generation of public servants that have long since disappeared along with their ideals.

The ideal of "public service" has given way to the politics of fundraising, carefully scripted soundbites, and taking no risks.