Kevin Woster tripped my
trigger with his Politics in Keloland blog post on his recent breakfast club
meeting with Larry Pressler.
Thanks Kevin for the spark
and the opportunity to bolt on to your post. Kevin crafts a great story and
having him still contributing to recording and explaining the fabric of South
Dakota is a big plus for our shared culture. Thanks KELO for making a very
smart move snapping Kevin up when he separated from the RC Journal.
Larry Pressler should not
need an introduction to SD Political readers but just a few highlights. Larry
Pressler was first elected in the post Watergate election on 1974 (forty years
ago). He served 2 terms in the U S House and then 3 terms in the U S Senate
(defeating Don Barnett, George Cunningham, and Ted Muenster). He was defeated
in 1996 by Tim Johnson. Pressler again ran in 2002 for the U S House seat that
was won by Bill Janklow who went on to defeat Stephanie Herseth.
Pressler has a sterling
resume. Among his vitae, Rhodes Scholar, Harvard Law School, first Viet Nam
veteran to serve in the U S Senate, 22 years service in the U S Congress. Senator
Pressler as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee also oversaw the
rewriting of the mega important Telecommunications Act. He also did extensive
work on the Under the Sea Treaty. For a little spice, if you are a little
interested Google (the verb) Pressler Abscam investigation and (Google again)
Pressler amendment.
Larry Pressler is a
complex personality, always has been. For over a decade he was the Champion for
Senior Citizens and owned their votes. I have often thought that Larry Pressler
possesses somewhat of a split personality (never quite certain which Larry
Pressler he is); The United States Senator who is just a farm boy destined to
be the Champion for Agriculture or The United States Senator who is an Academic
(Rhodes Scholar, Harvard Law) destined be a University President or Ambassador
to the U N or some important nation. BTW Pressler was briefly a candidate for
the Republican nomination for President in 1980.
Despite Kevin’s claims
about the Janklow camp in South Dakota (I think I might have been on the Board
of Directors), there has never been any report by someone who witnessed the man
behind the door story. Where I agree with Kevin, Pressler often acts like the absent-minded
professor.
In my recent StraightTalk blog post, ,I noted that Pressler is simply past prime time, though
he in his own way will bring value to the fall’s campaign, i.e. the debates.
Larry Pressler literally
bumped into me a month or so ago at the wellness center. I, barely clothed in a
towel after showering was getting dressed and Larry Pressler who was walking
about holding his locker key and looking for his locker. At that point it was a
classic absent-minded professor scene.
I had not engaged with
Larry Pressler for 12 years. I acknowledged and greeted him as he did me. The
encounter was pleasant. At this point very similar to Kevin’s breakfast, just a
couple of old war horses doing some reverie about past encounters. He said he reads
my blog and was complimentary (at that point I hadn’t posted in 5 months.) I
appreciated his compliment. I acknowledged he was again a candidate, and he
jumped right in talking about his campaign.
He then in about 60
seconds told me that health care affordability was a big problem and that as he
campaigned people were telling him that. He said that Obamacare was not going
to be repealed and needed fixing (a very pragmatic view in my opinion). He then
offered what seemed to be the developing Pressler solution. Why couldn’t we (he
suggested), have health care delivered through cooperatives, like the Farmer’s
Coops? Profits would not be retained by for profit health providers or
non-profit health providers but instead by the cooperative’s members?
My purpose isn’t to pass
judgment on his evolving health care proposal but rather to compliment someone
for having one. Disclaimer: I am not supporting Larry Pressler, past prime time,
and supported Barack Obama in both his elect and re elect campaigns. While I
appreciate his effort to reach across the aisle, for those endorsements alone,
I cannot support him.
The 2014 campaign in the
GOP primary so far has been five candidates not talking about making anything
better. No new ideas, no policy proposals, no nothing. They are to varying
degrees angry birds. Just Shouting! Angry,
more angry, and pissed off! ? “I love guns more than you.” “I hate Obamacare
more than you.” “I am more conservative (says me) than you.”
Senator Pressler is out of
the closet (if he was ever in one) talking about effecting change. It is time
for the other candidates to come out of their closets and tell us how they are
going to make America better.