१ सप्टेंबर, २००५
"Senators rarely grow in office. Usually they just get more childish and egomaniacal!"
Says Mickey Kaus. He's talking about Biden, but I wonder if it's true as a broad proposition. I'm not too fond of Senators myself. It's been widely noted that they almost never win presidential elections — and they all seem to think they deserve to be President. What is it about being a Senator?
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It's called insulation from real life. Athletes, professors (I'm one too), senators, movie and music stars get it too (he painted with an admittedly broad brush). Too much ass-kissing and not enough doing (mowing, cooking, lifting, manual labor) is not good for a healthy ego.
On the other hand -- Trent Lott's house was absolutely -- and I mean "abso-bloomin'-lutely" -- demolished by Katrina. Some things reach everyone.
It must be the trappings of the office combined with no term limits. What's that old saying??..... the time it takes to finish a job is in direct relation to the time alotted for the job.
In my opinion, very few states can actually brag of having had (in the last 50 years) a true statesman-like and impactful senator. Try to think of which ones you'd place in that category.
We here in Illinois can boast, I think, with Adlai Stevenson. But That's going back a while, now, isn't it?
Sam Nunn was a great Senator from Georgia who never outgrew his britches.
Adlai E. Stevenson was never a Senator. He was Governor of Illinois before he ran for President and Ambassador to the United Nations at the time of his death.
I agree with Dirksen, Goldwater and Nunn, I also thought Howard Baker was decent as well. No matter how you slice it, it's not a long list.
I really don't like where Congress has gone. There are too many there who are in, essentially, for life. I was somewhat surprised that John Kerry is the junior Senator from Mass., given his 20 or so years there. But I am sure there are more egregious examples.
At least in the Senate, there is some turnover, though not as much as I would like. In the House, there is very little - given the prevalence of gerrymandering.
I much prefer the citizen-legislator, as we now have in Colorado (except at the federal level, due to Supremecy, etc.) Maybe if we can get term limits in enough states, we can impose them federally for Congress.
Mea culta about Stevenson- I don't know what made me think that...
Two other nominees for great Senators:
Hubert Humphrey and Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
I would say that LBJ belongs in the group of great Senators.
LBJ was a crook -- from the get-go. More dead people voted for him than Boss Tweed and the Chicago Daleys combined.
Of course, if you're gonna be a crooked bastard, getting the Civil Rights Act of '57 through the Democrats in the Senate and signing the '64 Act tend to atone.
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