I met Ned Lamont last night
Tue May 23, 2006 at 08:06:35 AM PDT
Last night I met US Senate candidate Ned Lamont at a small gathering in a suburb of Hartford. I was excited about the opportunity to meet the latest hero of the blogosphere. And, as a Democratic voter in the state of Connecticut, I wanted to hear the man I plan to vote for in the August primary.
My overall impression after hearing Ned Lamont last night - he's not a hero. He's not a celebrity. He's not a savior. He's just a guy who had enough with a government that wasn't doing its most important job - working for the common good.
I recently moved to Connecticut, so I do not know the state very well or its political history. I am just fortunate to have arrived at the site of one of the most interesting political quests of the year - the bid to unseat Joementum. My story is like a lot of yours. I am a relatively new political activist/enthusiast who came of age during the 2003 Howard Dean campaign. I found Daily Kos during that time and have been hooked ever since. My activism is limited to reading about events, making an occasional donation and attending a political rally or speech from time to time. My comments on Mr. Lamont may not be terribly insightful, but I thought some of you, particularly from out of state, might enjoy a first-hand account of Ned Lamont.
My wife had to teach last night, so I took my two boys (ages 3 and 5) to hear Ned Lamont at a condominium complex in Farmington, CT. My 5 year old, also a veteran campaigner from that fantastic summer of 2003, was getting back into the spirit of things on the ride over. "You have the power!" he recited from the back seat. That was an optimistic time in 2003 as Dr. Dean started to really explode on the scene, packing city blocks in town after town as his momentum (in stark contrast to Joementum) grew. My then two-year old would climb up onto his toybox and shout out, "You have the power!" It made you almost believe anything could happen. Then things turned sour as 2004 went along and that spirit began to fade. And today I struggle with fears that it may never return. Yet, in hopes of rekindling that sprit and due to that need to believe that great things can still happen in America, I headed out with my two young boys last night to seek out the next great thing. I couldn't help but expect to meet the next Howard Dean as I settled into a room with about 30 other people awaiting our honored guest - our savior.
And then a regular guy walked in the room.
I have had a chance to see many of the major Democrats in person in the past few years - Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Howard Dean. They would explode onto the scene to loud cheers and immediately begin to work the room, pumping fists and quickly moving from one person to the next with a painted on smile and a how are ya'? nice to see ya' they must have repeated a million times at thousands of events. Ned Lamont's entrance, by comparison, seemed so... well... normal. He walked in and just sort of looked around the room taking in the scene... very much like I did when I first walked in. Then he just started smiling. He chatted briefly with the first group of people near the door and then crossed the room to the front with a big smile on his face. I was in his path, so he came up to me and introduced himself with as genuine a smile as you could want from a candidate. It was the same genuine look of appreciation I saw on Howard Dean's face when I got to meet him in 2003. This guy was not a celebrity. At least not yet. This was not an entrenched power politician. This was a guy who was genuinely appreciative that a complete stranger would come out on a Monday night to meet him.
Ned was quickly introduced by the host of the evening then began a short speech. Now... its almost unfair to keep thinking of Howard Dean, but he is really my only frame of reference in the political arena. My first impression of Dr. Dean was a televised clip of his now famous speech to the California Democratic Party in February of 2003. Dean blew the roof off that convention as we all know and Democrats across America fell in love. But even then, Howard Dean was a multi-term governor who had given his share of political speeches and by nature, a pretty fiery character. Ned Lamont is a confident, but pretty humble guy who was not about to blow off any roofs last night. And I was actually pleased by that. Ned just went about giving a good-natured description of why he was running and what he believed in. He was not the fire-breather that Dr. Dean was. He did not want to pummel the evil Republicans and their pet Joe Lieberman into oblivion. In fact, he made it a point to state how he would not be going negative against Lieberman because it just wasn't his nature. He believed in making contrasts and describing how Joe was not in touch with the priorities of many in Connecticut anymore, but that he liked Joe Lieberman and wouldn't attack him personally. He did state, however, that the constant criticism from the Lieberman camp that the war in Iraq is only one of many issues was misguided. He explained how to the 2,400+ families of our killed soldiers, or the tens of thousands of our wonded soldiers it is more than just one issue of many. And how it defined the moral standing of our country. How the symbol of America used to be the Statue of Liberty and now it is in danger of being replaced by Abu Ghraib.
He then described what he called a villain, a victim and a hero that inspired him to enter the race. The villain was the "Congressman from Alaska" that pushed for the Transportation bill with the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. I am not sure why he kept calling him the Congressman from Alaska and not by his name - Ted Stevens. It is possible he forgot the man's name. Or, its also possible that he felt a little bad referring to the man as a villain. Then he went on to describe the victims of Katrina - highlighting the distinction between how George W. Bush cut off his vacation to fly to Washington in the middle of the night to sign intrusive legislation on the private agony of the Schiavo family, while ignoring the residents of New Orleans who climbed to their rooftops to escape the rising waters. Finally, he described his hero - Jack Murtha. He explained how the men and women in uniform have no greater friend in Washington than Congressman Jack Murtha and how it was such a relief to finally have a Democrat in Washington stand up and tell the country that the troops needed to come home. Those three things inspired him to run and I think they were pretty good reasons.
He went on to discuss a few other issues and then took questions. I tried to listen the best I could while keeping my two kids (who behaved surprisingly well I must say) semi-entertained. He wanted to protect Social Security calling it an insurance program and not an investment opportunity. He felt that corporations needed to be good citizens. He stated that they benefited from being in the United States of America and they needed to appreciate that fact by providing US workers with living wages and good benefits. He wanted to take advantage of Connecticut's strengths to create new jobs including investments in health research and renewable energy. A few other exchanges during the question/answer period that struck me included one where an elderly woman asked him to talk a little bit more about his background. Lamont kind of froze up for a second, which I found odd. That's when it really struck me that we were not dealing with a career politician here. Most politicians have their polished and edited for the campaign trail biography ready to go and can recite it in their sleep. I really think Lamont froze up for a second because he was thinking how do I tell this woman my entire life's story in 60 seconds? He did go on to describe how he was born on Long Island and then attended Yale Management school, so he had lived in Connecticut for about 30 years (which seemed to be long enough to appease the questioner and others in the audience who let out audible sighs of relief). He started up Connecticut Cablevision and has steadily grown the business the past 20 years. He has a house full of teenagers as he put it and has been involved in local government and teaching in community colleges about starting your own business. He also has been doing work in Washington at the Brookings Institute regarding small businesses. The other question that was a potential "uh oh" moment was when a young woman started describing the proposal for a cabinet level Department of Peace and whether Lamont would support it. Now I don't want to start any fights here, but when Kucinich started talking about this Department of Peace, I thought it kind of sounded silly. I'm a proud liberal, progressive Democrat who wants us to stand up for progressive values, but even I thought that an official Department of Peace sounded a little too cutesy for my liking. I was afraid this was an example of a progressive trying to impose a litmus test of perfection on this candidate and I wondered how Lamont would handle it. He told the young woman that he was very sympathetic to the idea, but that he really thought that this was what the Secretary of State's job was. The Secretary of State was supposed to stand up to the folks in Defense and fight for diplomatic solutions to crises. I thought that was a pretty good retort, showing that he was on the woman's side with regard to the sentiment but was not going to give into her entirely.
In the end, I thought it was a good meeting and I was glad to get a chance to meet the next Senator from Connecticut. My five-year old grabbed one of the many lawn signs which he knew said "Ned" and then some other words. Even my three-year old got into the spirit. "You have the power!" he said as we walked back to the car. Then, as is often the case with three-year olds, the questions began. "Do you have the power Daddy?" "Yes, son." "Who gave you the power?" Hmm.... good question. "We were born in the United States of America. We were born with the power. No one gave it to us and no one can take it away." And that spirit of optimism I felt three years ago started to creep back again ever so slightly.
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