What Happened to the "Friendly" Congress?
|
|
During the recent coverage of the death of Gerald Ford, I found it interesting to see who was actually talking about the former president. One of the most fascinating interviews was on CNN's "Larry King Live" with George McGovern, who talked about how he and his family actually voted for Ford over Jimmy Carter in the 1976 general election (McGovern did mention that he voted for Carter in 1980). McGovern also told a story about how he phoned Barry Goldwater and suggested the two of them go to Ford about a pardon for Richard Nixon...although Goldwater wasn't too keen on the idea (Goldwater told McGovern that he hated that s.o.b. Nixon).
Gerry Ford's first office when joining the House was next door to John F. Kennedy, and their friendship was one of the reasons Ford was asked to be part of the Warren Commission.
Of course, Jimmy Carter did a magnificent job in eulogizing Ford during the ceremony in Grand Rapids. And seeing Bob Dole reminded me of the 1996 presidential campaign, where I lost count of how many times he mentioned that Bill Clinton wasn't the enemy, but rather the opponent.
So what happened to this more friendly, less hostile environment? Where did the mentality of "we can be friends even if we don't agree politically" go? Did lead pipes in DC start feeding bad water to Congress, bringing on this change?
Opinions abound, but to my highly unbiased mind it seems like the change happened right around the time of the Republican takeover. I've never figured out why so many people literally hate Bill Clinton, but the combo of "Clinton dislike" and "Republican Congress" sure changed a lot of things. Politics is a lot of things, but at the end of the day Congress has been filled with a lot of animosity the past dozen years (and I'm not even getting the Executive branch involved in that statement, which is entirely another subject).
This past week, the Democrats took control of the House and Senate. Hopefully our new leadership can once again bring honor and true debate to Congress, and that we can move America forward at the legislative level. Congress needs to actually do something again, and I look forward to Democrats leading by example.
Gerry Ford's first office when joining the House was next door to John F. Kennedy, and their friendship was one of the reasons Ford was asked to be part of the Warren Commission.
Of course, Jimmy Carter did a magnificent job in eulogizing Ford during the ceremony in Grand Rapids. And seeing Bob Dole reminded me of the 1996 presidential campaign, where I lost count of how many times he mentioned that Bill Clinton wasn't the enemy, but rather the opponent.
So what happened to this more friendly, less hostile environment? Where did the mentality of "we can be friends even if we don't agree politically" go? Did lead pipes in DC start feeding bad water to Congress, bringing on this change?
Opinions abound, but to my highly unbiased mind it seems like the change happened right around the time of the Republican takeover. I've never figured out why so many people literally hate Bill Clinton, but the combo of "Clinton dislike" and "Republican Congress" sure changed a lot of things. Politics is a lot of things, but at the end of the day Congress has been filled with a lot of animosity the past dozen years (and I'm not even getting the Executive branch involved in that statement, which is entirely another subject).
This past week, the Democrats took control of the House and Senate. Hopefully our new leadership can once again bring honor and true debate to Congress, and that we can move America forward at the legislative level. Congress needs to actually do something again, and I look forward to Democrats leading by example.
