Nov 20th, 2008 · Many voters and commentators responded to Barack Obama as if he were a candidate of great, big ideas — a transformational thinker, a visionary. But, by Obama's own account, he is a pragmatist, not strongly bound to any "isms."
Nov 29th, 2007 · One year ago, Trent Lott asked the voters of Mississippi for six more years in the Senate and the voters said yes. Now he wants to leave after serving just one of those years. Some of his constituents are sure to feel abused by the turnabout. But is Lott really quitting early? That's got to depend on what you mean by early. Lott may be only 66, but his 40 years in Washington already span a great gulf in the history of the Congress, not to mention the history of his state, region and country. Lott's lifetime has seen the decline of many traditions, not a few of which he defended personally. These include the race-based customs of the Deep South and also the time-honored courtesies of a Senate where even mortal political enemies knew they eventually had to get down to dealing with one another. How you feel about Lott's departure depends on how you feel about those traditions, and for more than a few people in Washington that stirs a strong brew of emotions. The shadow of the Old South seemed to hover just behind this Mississippian at every juncture of his career. He first arrived on Capitol Hill in 1968 as an Ole Miss law school grad on staff for William Colmer, the last Dixiecrat to chair the House Rules Committee. When Colmer retired in 1972, he helped Lott shift the seat to the GOP (breaking a tradition that dated back nearly a century). Lott went to work encouraging his region's partisan shift, campaigning for underdog Republicans in Southern districts. One whom he championed in the 1970s was a Georgia college professor named Newt Gingrich. Lott rose during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, becoming the No. 2 Republican in the House. At the time it was the highest any member from the Deep South had risen in the ranks of the House GOP. In 1988 he made the move to the Senate, replacing the legendary John Stennis, the last Democrat from the state to serve in the chamber. Lott's roots also led to the transgression that cost him his job as Senate Majority Leader in 2002. It began with a remark at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party and farewell. Lott said his own state of Mississippi had voted for Thurmond in 1948 when Thurmond was the presidential candidate of the segregationist States Rights Party. Lott added that if more states had done the same, the country might have avoided a lot of problems that came after. Lott always maintained he was just being nice to his retiring colleague and meant nothing racial with his remark. But lots of ears heard it differently, including some at the White House. The president bailed out on Lott and within days Lott was out as Senate leader. Many expected him to retire when his term ended. Then Hurricane Katrina ravaged his beloved Gulf Coast (leveling his own home), and Lott got his groove back. He took on insurance companies and the Bush administration and easily won re-election in 2006. Then he went after the Number Two job in the Senate GOP and won it by a single vote. It was a double shot of redemption. It also happened at a moment when Democrats had clawed back on top by a narrow margin in the chamber, making cantankerous Harry Reid the new Senate Majority Leader. The new Republican boss was to be the equally battle-ready Mitch McConnell. Lott looked like the guy who could dilute that otherwise combustible mix and make it possible for both sides to do business. After all, that had been part of his history as party leader in the 1990s, when he still saw himself as preserving the courtly ways of the Senate of yore. The mid-1990s saw nearly constant combat between President Bill Clinton and the newly-elected Republican majorities in Congress, symbolized by Gingrich, the new House Speaker. Lott had celebrated his party's new majority status in the Senate by getting elected whip, and when Majority Leader Bob Dole stepped down to concentrate on his presidential bid in 1996, Lott became his party's Number One. What followed in the middle months of that year was a remarkable catalog of bipartisan achievement. Bridging the partisan divide within the Senate, and also the chasm between Gingrich and Clinton, Lott was the vital center for one deal after another. The Congress and White House enacted a minimum wage increase and a historic overhaul of the welfare system few had thought possible. They also struck a bargain permitting health insurance portability and a new law protecting drinking water. By so doing, Lott made it easier for Republicans to retain majority control of both chambers in the 1996 elections. He also made it easier for Clinton to win re-election over Dole that same November. It was a tradeoff that made sense to Lott, an institutional pragmatist who preferred moving the merchandise to closing the store. So why did Lott pull the plug so abruptly now, leaving the Senate he clearly loved? Perhaps he was hoping to become the next chancellor at Ole Miss, his alma mater. Or perhaps, as most assume, he will surface soon as a million-dollar lobbyist. But he may also have concluded it's no longer possible to practice the politics he knew best: talking tough but coming to the table. Before dismissing Lott as one more former leader on the make, or as one more reminder of the Southern past, we should also ask who will fill his role as a deal maker in this Congress, and the next. It may not be a skill that inspires admiration or presidential nominations, but it is sorely missed in the current leadership in both parties in both chambers of this wartime, war-torn Congress. Related NPR Stories Political Junkie: Lott's Move Leaves Miss. with Two Seats to Fill
Feb 21st, 2006 · Hamas presented a former university administrator on Monday as its choice to be the next Palestinian prime minister. Ismail Haniyeh has a reputation as a pragmatist who prefers compromise over conflict when dealing with Palestinian rivals.