A LION GOES DOWN

A LOSS OF EXCELLENCE

    All political careers end eventually and rarely does the last act play out in grandeur, but I am saddened by the defeat of Richard Lugar. 

    Indiana voters did a shabby disservice to America. A small turn out in a strident and nasty campaign ended the reelection hopes of one of America's longest serving senators. He is also one of the most capable to grace the US Capitol's upper chamber.

     I first covered Lugar when I was assigned to city-county government.  The Mayor's office was part of my beat and I learned rapidly this young mayor meant to serve with intelligence and a sense of vision. 

Tom Cochrun and Richard Lugar in May 1979 at Fitness Fest

I was producing a documentary. Senator Lugar was an active runner and fitness advocate

     David Halberstam called the John Kennedy team The Best and the Brightest, though the highest meaning of that phrase could apply to the Lugar administration in the Indianapolis City County building.  Dedicated and imaginative people helped turn Indianapolis from a decaying rust belt city toward the dynamic and exciting urban success America saw most recently in the saturation coverage of the Super Bowl. Lugar planted the vision and started the renaissance.

     For the better part of the next 4 decades I covered Lugar.

His 36 years in the Senate is worthy of study and will no doubt be the subject of historians and political scientists. He continued to be a visionary, a consensus builder, he chided presidents, of even his own party, he was a conscience and remains one of the world's wisest on matters of national security, foreign policy, nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction.  

      He and Sam Nunn did more to save the world from harm, after the fall of the Soviet Union, than people can imagine.

He has also advocated farm and agriculture reform and continues to campaign on issues of nutrition. 

     Some of my favorite memories are of those nights when I was president of the Press Club and when Senator Lugar 

and Representative Lee Hamilton, another foreign policy stalwart, joined us for dinners and debriefs. It was the end of the cold war, the wall was coming down, the USSR was breaking up, the world was changing and on long winter nights Lugar and his friend Hamilton analyzed and gave us

insights they gave to Presidents.

      Pundits, fellow politicians and journalists have all said

Lugar would have been a great President, but was too bright to be a good candidate.   

      Presidents, current and past, admire and respect him.  World leaders have sought his wisdom. Members of both parties acknowledge he is one of the smartest.  But even that does not make one immune from the voice of the voter.

      In this time when a tea party mind set exerts power, when reason gives way to anger, when invective and right wing money have sway, Lugar's time for departure came in a sad little primary vote.  Eventually the clock would have run on his time of service, but when reason and skill are in such short supply, it is unfortunate his service is being checked now.  America will be the poorer because of it.

DAY BOOK

SPRING SCENES

See you down the trail.

THE GREAT ONES

REMEMBERING GREATNESS

     Reading of the election difficulties of two long time US Senators, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Oren Hatch of Utah renewed a nagging thought.  From where are the new "Lions" coming?  Generally, and this is a purely subjective take, the quality of upper chamber, the US Senate, has been in steep decline over the last decade.

       There was a time when men and women of conviction and deep political differences could legislate. There was a time when our Federal legislature was not mired in a morass of gridlock, petty interests, cheap hustles, and political gamesmanship above all else.  

        If you doubt that, then regard those times in our history when we recovered from war, helped Japan and Europe rebuild and re-tool, led the way in manufacturing, education, medical research, science, when the economy grew, and there was a sense of prosperity and hope.  It took an obliging, motivating, visionary Senate and even House.

       Here's a way to spend a few educational moments.

Link to this historical list of members of Senate. 

       Some of the names will recall history lessons. Others will remind you of people of skill. Here's just a few names, from our era, to say nothing of the historic Henry Clays or William Jennings Bryans, etc.

       Everett Dirksen, John Foster Dulles, Margret Chase Smith, Lyndon Johnson, Estes Kefauver, Barry Goldwater,

Mike Mansfield, Stu Symington, Alben Barkley, Clifford Case, Jacob Javits, William Promire, John Tower, Edward Kennedy, Abe Ribicoff, George McGovern, Birch Bayh, Edward Brooke,

Mark Hatfield, Harold Hughes, Robert Dole, Richard Schwieker, Robert Taft, Lowell Weicker, Hubert Humphrey, Sam Nunn, et al.

      These people were not saints, nor necessarily towering luminaries, but they were legislators, capable of working, achieving compromise and serving the interest of the Republic and the Senate.  Do you think some of the newly elected, or those circling to get in are of this calibre?  Perhaps some are unless they come in as "true believers" in an ideology over the common good of all. 

REMEMBERING A JAZZ GREAT

A CAMBRIA LOCAL

FOR JAZZ FANS

   Our unique village said good bye to one of our unique 

citizens, Red Holloway a jazz and blues legend.  Here is a 

five minute video with just a few of the highlights from

what was an extraordinary jazz and blues tribute Sunday

afternoon.  

       I shot this with a IPhone, so you are not going to see

a master production, but it will give you a taste.

      I suggest you click the youtube icon and watch it in a larger format

LOCAL COLOR

     And here in less than 30 seconds is a glimpse of 

the famed Morro Rock-one of the Great Icons of the 

central coast.

See you down the trail.