Amy Walter:
And I feel there was one thing actually necessary about that period, as a result of they might, as Tam mentioned, combat on the ground, combat over points, even get into fairly acerbic back-and-forth with each other, however they basically understood they had been on the identical group. I might need a blue jersey. You’ll have a purple jersey.
And possibly some of the highly effective moments I bear in mind of Bob Dole’s life, particularly his later life, was when Dan Inouye, senator from Hawaii, very liberal Democrat from Hawaii, additionally served in World Battle II, additionally was grievously injured — they shared a very particular bond.
And Bob Dole was in his wheelchair. It was onerous for him to get to the service within the Rotunda the place Dan Inouye was mendacity in repose, and he did all the things he might to face up in salute him.
That would change if, proper, we get again to this concept that we’re all serving collectively as Individuals, not one get together or the opposite.
One fascinating statistic, though the variety of veterans in Congress has dropped loads — it is now solely 17 p.c — the variety of folks below 45 who’ve served within the army who served in Congress is a few third.
So, if, theoretically, we will get these people, these youthful people who’ve served within the army to get into management positions, which may be one option to kind of break a few of the dysfunction in Congress.
