The "P" Word

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner claimed, amid harsh questioning and criticism by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the AIG bailout, “I have worked in public service all my life. I have never been a politician.”

In response, Representative Mike Turner, one of the two Congressmen from my home town (I grew up on the border of two districts) in Ohio, responded “I want to assure you from your answers today that you are absolutely a politician,” with no small level of contempt.

What Geithner said is telling. He wanted to garner sympathy for being an honorable life-long public servant, not a “dirty” politician. What Rep. Turner said is disturbing. In an effort to kick a man while he was down, he called a man the “P” word.

But wait a minute, you might plead. Isn’t CONGRESSMAN Turner a politician? The answer, simply, is yes. So why would Rep. Turner belittle himself and his occupation?

The answer, again, is simple. Elected officials understand that the best way to be popular with constituents is to be on their side and oftentimes this means hating politicians. It is easy and popular to be a party that rails against the establishment. Just ask the Republicans of 1994, who won 54 additional seats in the House due to discontentment with Clinton, or the Democrats of 2006, who added 31 seats to their House ranks thanks to the unpopularity of Bush.

Following up on my most recent post, this is very sad for democracy. I work very closely with the Hill and I will tell you, most Members of Congress are there representing their districts honorably and effectively. Of course there is dead weight and abuse of power in D.C. But the only reason it is noticed so much more in D.C. is because more people pay attention and the stakes are so high; not necessarily because it is more frequent.

The truth is that most people run for public office to do good for others. Yes, there is a level of narcissism, but most politicians endure public scrutiny and false accusations in the hopes that they might be able to make this world a little better for future generations. The media and voters beat up this profession enough; do the politicians really need to jump in and help?