Tale of Two California Congressmen
A Contrast in American Leadership, circa 2017
I’ve been thinking lately that focus, strategy and real leadership were the real victims of the 2016 election.
It’s been hard to think straight since January 20th. This country has been thrust into a tailspin of superficial headlines, diversion tactics, rapid changes of direction and an utter lack of policy objectives. It is exhausting to try to keep up. Professional journalists seem to be able to. Well, some of them anyway. People like David Axelrod can. But most people — even the people on all those panels on television — seem to just sit there an respond to whatever twist, turn or diversion pops up from The White House or Capitol Hill.
Last night, when I was flipping between CNN and MSNBC I could literally feel the tension building. There had been far too much silence — from the people who could do something about it — regarding this week’s chemical weapons attacks in Syria. For a twitter-addicted president who has condemned taking action in Syria, criticized Obama when he did something and then again when he didn’t and then campaigned on a hypocritical strategy that we should and could actually somehow create real safe zones in Syria (like we could actually do that?)… the silence was odd.
Two nights ago, I’d tweeted to every concerned journalist with a platform, and to every leader who supposedly represents me in Washington, that we could not stand idly by. Crickets.
And so after a day and a half of this spinning tragedy that is Syria finally hitting the tipping point, yesterday morning I was completely surprised by some very sudden, very good things.
I felt strange all day… how could three “right” things happen all at once when for months it has felt like only insanity coming from D.C.? Who was the adult who sailed in? Was it Mad Dog? Was it General McMaster? It was strangely calm, strangely mature and strangely quiet. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was happening. How could all of this… well…. reason… happen in one morning? And why did something good happening feel so disquieting?
Then, last night, twilight of a day when I actually thought some good things happened, all the journalists seemed to be poised on the edge of their chairs waiting to pounce.
Over the past two weeks, like many other Americans, I have been watching that other drama unfold. In equal parts I felt mind-boggling confusion at Devin Nunes and his bungling of his role in the investigation into Russiagate… why he did what he did, why he believed he could still run an impartial investigation and how he could stand in front of a camera and act as if he had done nothing questionable. I met with my own Congressman two weeks ago and asked him if he would support Nunes removing himself from chairing the investigation. He said no, why would he support that? Mind-boggling.
Then the story would switch and I was back in the ping-pong of the last few months, now feeling admiration and gratitude as I listened to the soothing voice of Adam Schiff as he quietly and patiently pounded away in his focused, reasonable and intelligent tone, at how what America deserves is a full and fair investigation.
The contrast was incredible.
Nunes quickly came to personify the qualities that have been leading us astray since the election: impetuousness, false bravado, ego, defensiveness and an unwillingness to even allow for their to be alternative points of view. Schiff, on the other hand, has come to personify what I can only define as leadership…. if we can all just take a breath, look at the facts, try to figure out what problem we are trying to solve (it is about collusion with Russia more than it is about leaks from the White House to the White House) have a conversation with other smart people, outline a few options, we can then work together to come up with a solution.
What a beautiful and calculated contrast, and resulting lesson, in leadership from these two Congressmen from California. Nunes concentrated on himself and his own role, a sad and narcissistic reflection of The White House he ran to and the President he feels such a need to protect. Schiff focused on the opposite: in his interviews it did not seem to be about him the person, but rather him the representative, that his duty is to the American people, fairness and uncovering the truth.
Nunes felt partisan. Schiff did not.
Nunes made me nervous. Schiff made me calm.
Nunes left me filled with fear. Schiff felt like a ray of light in a sky filled with dark clouds.
And yesterday, after Congressman Nunes recused himself, who but Congressman Schiff was out there in front of the cameras, gracious and kind and constructive. He spoke for all of us who are desperate for someone somewhere to inject some civility back into politics.
I live in Illinois. These Congressmen are both from California. Although I consider myself pretty engaged, they were not names I had ever heard or people I noticed before a month ago.
On November 9th it hit me hard that the ultimate irony of this election was that the future of this democracy now lay in the hands of a lot of conservative, white, Republican men, John McCain and Paul Ryan chief among them, not to mention the one who represents me in Congress who is even more conservative than both of them.
No matter how you feel about Hillary Clinton the individual, what she represented (women who were more than qualified and finally able to take a hammer to the last layer of glass) in 2016 was as powerful as what President Obama represented in 2008. My fantasy was that children I see every day walking to their elementary school would become teenagers in this great country having only had a black man and a women as their presidents.
But that was not to be. And not only was my fantasy completely squashed, but the morning after the election it felt like we were worse off than before. On November 9th of 2016, even Mitt Romney seemed close to perfect. As I wondered how in the world we were going to keep our democracy safe now that The White House was in the hands of an unfit and unprepared president who lost the popular vote and his evil sidekick #presidentbannon, my only solace was at least McCain and Ryan had run for the White House and perhaps they had the chance to prove us wrong for not electing them when we had the chance.
But as January and February unfolded this was not to be. Speaker Ryan’s long-awaited replacement of the ACA turned out to be a massive tax cut for the rich. As much as Senator McCain objected to the change in Senate Rules regarding the number of votes it would take to confirm, he failed to stand up to the Majority Leader to say enough is enough. He allowed it to happen. He definitely voiced his opinion, but he did not find a way to get it done.
And then last night I flipped on the news on this odd day that capped so many odd weeks and sure enough, MSNBC got it before CNN.
The president who lost the popular vote launched 59 Tomahawk missiles.
I flipped between four news stations looking for some kind of explanation, some kind of logic, some kind of strategy. The anchors all surmised and hypothesized. The commentators commentated. The analysts analyzed. I watched and waited, needing someone official to make me feel something other than fear and worry. While it seemed right to take a stand against chemical weapons and this seemed like a clear stand, I couldn’t shake the thought that this was this administration’s biggest diversion yet.
And then there he was again…. out of nowhere, Adam Schiff.
Calm. Reasonable. Clear. Direct.
Once again, getting to issues that truly will protect and defend this democracy, and somehow, as he always does, leaving room for more than one point of view but clearly communicating his.
Yes, we could not stand idly by.
No, it was not authorized by Congress.
Yes, we need to worry about it.
And he called on the other swamp-dwellers to stand up and be counted.
Once I heard him speak, late last night, I could finally go to sleep.
When I woke up this morning, I flipped on the news and saw more clips of more people explaining things. The inevitable pundit marathon had begun.
But all I could think of was that scene from my favorite move, A Few Good Men, when Demi Moore says “because they stand on a wall and say no one’s going to hurt you tonight.”
Adam Schiff may not wear a uniform, but in the madness of this post-election America, it sure seems like he is standing on that wall.
