A GOOD MAN IN A TOUGH WORLD
It was great to read here that Senator Richard Lugar is to be knighted by the Queen, the high honor that Britain can bestow on an American.
As a member of the Senate, Lugar distinguished himself as one of best in the chamber's history. A post, written last year, on Lugar's departure from the Senate, remains one of this blogger's most read and forwarded entries.
It appears fate may have captured Lugar in a sad irony. The day we read of the honor is the day that will be remembered for the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Lugar's announcement as a Presidential Candidate on April 19, 1995 was the day of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed. The launch of his campaign for the 1996 nomination was in essence stunted by the overshadowing event.
Lugar could have been a great President. A brilliant and scholarly man and a former Naval Intelligence officer, Lugar represents the kind of tough intellect that could have exercised the power of the Oval Office in an historic way. Wise in the ways of the Senate, respected in the world as a strategic and even visionary thinker, he had the verve of a pragmatic mind that could have paid huge dividends to the Republic as its Chief Executive.
Though only British subjects are referred to as "Sir," the knighthood of Richard Lugar will, I hope, permit an occasional, if even lighthearted reference, to Sir Richard.
Last year I called him a Lion of the Senate. Now we know him as a Knight.
Still there is that irony, which were it not for the obvious tragedy of the coincidence would make it a perfect kind of Kurt Vonnegut fiction device-Vonnegut being a graduate of the same high school and Indianapolis neighborhood. Both men reached summits of achievement.
As a member of the Senate, Lugar distinguished himself as one of best in the chamber's history. A post, written last year, on Lugar's departure from the Senate, remains one of this blogger's most read and forwarded entries.
It appears fate may have captured Lugar in a sad irony. The day we read of the honor is the day that will be remembered for the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Lugar's announcement as a Presidential Candidate on April 19, 1995 was the day of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed. The launch of his campaign for the 1996 nomination was in essence stunted by the overshadowing event.
Lugar could have been a great President. A brilliant and scholarly man and a former Naval Intelligence officer, Lugar represents the kind of tough intellect that could have exercised the power of the Oval Office in an historic way. Wise in the ways of the Senate, respected in the world as a strategic and even visionary thinker, he had the verve of a pragmatic mind that could have paid huge dividends to the Republic as its Chief Executive.
Though only British subjects are referred to as "Sir," the knighthood of Richard Lugar will, I hope, permit an occasional, if even lighthearted reference, to Sir Richard.
Last year I called him a Lion of the Senate. Now we know him as a Knight.
Still there is that irony, which were it not for the obvious tragedy of the coincidence would make it a perfect kind of Kurt Vonnegut fiction device-Vonnegut being a graduate of the same high school and Indianapolis neighborhood. Both men reached summits of achievement.
THE CALM OF THE SHORE
Even more precious on a day like this
See you down the trail.
