GUEST VOICE: A Wish About Invective on This Day of Obama’s Birthday — and Mine
Aug 4th, 2009 | 3 responses
Dear Readers, Today Joe Gandelman wrote about the ongoing issue of uncivil discourse, “Why don’t I just copy this first sentence and repaste it every week? But here goes: Just when you thought bar on American early 21st century political “debate” has fallen about as far as it can go, you’re wrong….”
In that exact vein, here is a Guest Voice by Elijah Sweete, a lawyer of many decades of experience. He shares a birthday with President Obama today, and contrasts the distinct and often cruel differences between celebration in private life versus public life. As you know, it is getting old to say that many thoughtful people who strive more toward statesmanship than toward ‘sink any ship in sight,’ are concerned and angry about the quality of what currently passes for debate, in part, because screed and scorn inhibit coming to terms with serious matters… and in timely ways… that are truly thoughtful, useful and effective.
By Elijah Sweete
Waking this morning to another birthday, one shared with the President, I listened to Peggy Noonan on Morning Joe bemoan the disrespect with which we treat our politicians and how so many citizens will not pursue a public life because of the personal attacks to which they and their families would be subjected.
Most notably she wryly said, “Sometimes the best people have the most interesting lives.”
Her words took me back fifteen years to a meeting in a private dining room at a Chicago hotel. My host was a friend and United States Senator. He had invited me to this private dinner to ask that I consider running for Congress in my home district. Upon arriving home the next day, ego bloated and filled with excitement, I shared the idea with my wife. Her response was swift and simple. “The day you run for public office is the day I file for divorce.” Well, we’re still married, living a quiet, private life.
A year and half later I had the honor of co-hosting a retirement dinner for the same Senator in Washington D.C. The week before he had broken ranks with his party and voted against his own leadership on a key platform issue. The room was filled for his retirement dinner. Among the guests were many friends, but only two Senate colleagues from his party. After 24 years, he was shunned on this personal day of celebration because of his one vote that dissented from others in his party. My wife was right.
In modern American politics, we too often eat our own. We have forgotten how to disagree without being disagreeable. We have forgotten the social grace of respecting those with whom we disagree. We have forgotten that policy differences should not equate to personal attack.
Contrasts: My Birthday Day:
Last night my wife and daughter stayed up late to bake a cake. Today my colleagues at the office will take me to lunch where we will laugh and celebrate. This evening I will go home to hugs and gifts, joy and some good humored teasing. No one, regardless of philosophical differences, will demean me or call me names or question my legitimacy to do my job.vs Obama’s Birthday Day:
This same day the President will have his legitimacy as President questioned. He will be called socialist, fascist, communist and maybe Chicago thug. He will be accused of bringing the country to ruin. Many who oppose his policies will, in the process, question his humanity and subject him to endless indignities and insults.Today is a good day to reflect on our government “of, by and for the people.” Our parents taught us courtesy. For this day, have the courage to employ the manners your mothers instilled, remembering that our leaders are human, not perfect but not the enemies of all mankind. For this one day, let’s resurrect the comity to disagree without derogation, understanding that people of good faith do not always agree, and having our differences without resort to personal attack.
So, on this day of common celebration, whatever our differences may be, I say to you Mr. President, without innuendo or agenda about birthers, boondoggles or bargaining… simply: “Happy Birthday. May you have many more.”
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3 Responses to “GUEST VOICE: A Wish About Invective on This Day of Obama’s Birthday — and Mine”
A very poignant post. It strikes me that civility in politics is a bit like free speech; if one is for it, one has to be willing to extend it to those that one disagrees with just as much as we wish it to be extended to ourselves and the people we agree with.
I agree! I am weary of the mud slinging from both sides. It seems that everything boils down to money, privilege, and power. And look where it's gotten us.
so true. . . .i woke this morning thinking about the vast difference in consciousness that are splitting our world these days . . . don't know how Mother Earth physically can withstand the tension and division of the vast crevice that seems to keep getting deeper. . . if the Natives are correct; we are at One with Mother Nature. . .then a really big earthquake is not far around the corner. . .then there will be the big fights about femma and obama that are always too much or not enough. . . how many will ever look in the mirror and take responsibility for how every word we send forth bind us to together or rips the heart of our shared existence. . .
is our only hope to learn and take responsibility is when the night rips back the covers and we are faced with the stark reality of what we have created in cores of narcissism gone rabid??? much like rabid animals everything one bites another more are created. . . this bringing awareness of the biters is so much more important than the publicity the birthers are getting these days. . . .
example the current birther bash is a lose/lose from every angle and the fire keeps getting more intense???. . . .and am already wondering how the biters will turn the Clinton attempt to gain the release of the young women in North Korea into anything other than a win/win?. . . .
what we are doing with free speech all too often these days is sickness, we cannot deny it anymore for we are setting up destruction at too many levels. . . for what? politics, ratings on AM radio, or for tinsel that all too often turns dingy green because of the greed and envy . . . . has cyberworld turned us into modern ID feast or another Babel? When i heard that story did not understand it, but modernity has left deeper understanding . . .