Washington (DC)
Tenacity, Strength, Courage – Leadership
“We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we will parachute in.”
Who said this? General George Patton in World War II? Field Marshall Montgomery, leading the British Forces? General DeGaulle leading the French resistance to recover France from the Nazis?
None of the above.
The quote is from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The last sentence of the quote reads, “But we are going to get health care reform passed.”
She never gave up. Her healthcare legislation had passed the House on November 7. The Senate passed it on December 24 after a month of debate.
On January 19, the Washington political world was turned upside down with the election of Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts to replace Senator Ted Kennedy, thus denying Democrats the 60 votes needed for a supermajority.
Washington seemed stymied on the healthcare bill after Scott Brown was elected. Press reports and political observers also indicated thatthere was wavering on the health care legislation from some in the White House and Congress.
But Speaker Pelosi never wavered. It seems that after the going got tough, she was the toughest. The daughter and sister of both Mayor D’Alesandros, Tommy Jr. and Tommy III, then made the “we will go through the gate” statement.
And while it is true that President Obama hit the road and called and met with over 60 members, and he deserves credit, it is Speaker Pelosi who stood at that critical moment and gave the leadership what they needed to go forward to victory.
Time and time again, she has stood with our mayors and our cities. She has been with us on key urban programs from day one. And working with Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer in 2007, she supported and pushed our energy block grants. She said at our Winter Meeting she supports multi-year funding for our energy block grants.
We need more leaders like her. If you have the votes, and she can count, she is willing to go for it one way or the other. She wants to get things done.The mayors once again thank her for her leadership and we know we can count on her during one of the most turbulent periods in our history.
Words of Hate
During the House vote, while some were celebrating, others, including me, were disturbed, and I still am as the rhetoric of hate continues from both the right and left and even from some moderates. Civil debate is whatmakes America the open democratic country it is. But we have to be careful in the power that many elected people have with one fringe group or another because the “nutwings” are out there. There are too many guns in this country just out there, unaccounted for, and in the hands of those who might snap and start shooting at people and we could have more bloodshed.
Since 1963, and the mood of Dallas at that time, forewarned by attacks on Adlai Stevenson, my mind went back there as I watched TV covering the verbal abuses hurled at Congressman John Lewis and the spitting upon Congressman Cleaver, the former Mayor of Kansas City.
Two things that we have now that we didn’t have in years past, more guns in the hands of criminals, mentally ill, and youth. Plus we have 24/7 television that repeats, and repeats, and repeats which drives some people to do strange, mysterious and deadly things. It’s scary. It’s not a dream. Violence in America is not a bad dream. You don’t wake up when it’s over and it’s gone. You wish you could but you can’t. Violence, guns, and yes – hate, still exist in America. We must talk about it. We must discuss it with our children and our grandchildren. And we must hold our elected officials up to condemn and take action. It’s not to be tolerated, or laughed at, or excused.
What we need is a Summit on Civility and Tolerance. What a great country! What a weak country if we let one small group or any elected individual or any other leader to endorse lawless violence against another citizen in this nation. While we are going through whatever we are going through right now with the tea party, the coffee party or any other party of any other liquid we drink, kool-aid, coca-cola, lemonade, beer, vodka, black jack, bottled or even tap water... let’s all condemn violence and threatening language and just hope that the country cools down and nobody gets killed.
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