Friday, February 23, 2007
President Spitzer???.....Gabe Pressman thinks so...
Gabe Pressman's View: What Is Spitzer's Destiny?
A preview of an upcoming Spitzer presidential campaign??? Governor Spitzer sounds great........President Spitzer really sounds awesome........andy
Does New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer believe in speaking softly but carrying a big stick? Does he want to make deals to accomplish his goals?
As he answered questions Friday about various issues, including his plan to revamp New York's health care system and a growing dispute with the health care workers union, Gov. Spitzer talked, too, about Teddy Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. And he confessed that both had long been role models for him.
It was Roosevelt who advised, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." And it was Lyndon Johnson who, by his deft negotiating, managed to pass President Kennedy's civil rights legislation after his assassination. In Johnson's inaugural address in 1965, he said, "For every generation there is a destiny. For some, history decides. For this generation, the choice must be our own."
On Friday, in his first sit-down tv interview on WNBC, Governor Spitzer seemed to be taking inspiration from both men. Asked about his battle with the leaders of the Legislature, the Democratic Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver, and the Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, he said he expected to reach compromises with them on various issues "in the public interest."
Like Teddy Roosevelt, he was speaking softly but wielding a big stick - his continuing threat to run candidates against those who oppose the Spitzer agenda. Like Lyndon Johnson, he was promising heavy negotiating to fashion compromises out of issues that clearly divide him from the legislative leaders.
Eliot Spitzer seems comfortable in his new role as king of the hill; Albany's capital hill. He is philosophical about the future. Obviously, he believes in his personal destiny.
Does he have a rich fantasy life in which he may wonder whether he, like Teddy Roosevelt, can aspire to the Presidency one day? That question didn't come up. But what is clear about New York's new governor is that he has immense confidence in himself. He may succeed in passing a big reform agenda. He may not. But what's equally clear is that the years ahead will be most interesting.
In his inaugural address on New Year's day, he invoked the words of Teddy Roosevelt that you can't make progress without entering the arena.
Spitzer said, "We won't win every fight, we won't win every battle, but we will raise the right issues...."
Roosevelt said, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again... if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
A preview of an upcoming Spitzer presidential campaign??? Governor Spitzer sounds great........President Spitzer really sounds awesome........andy
Does New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer believe in speaking softly but carrying a big stick? Does he want to make deals to accomplish his goals?
As he answered questions Friday about various issues, including his plan to revamp New York's health care system and a growing dispute with the health care workers union, Gov. Spitzer talked, too, about Teddy Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. And he confessed that both had long been role models for him.
It was Roosevelt who advised, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." And it was Lyndon Johnson who, by his deft negotiating, managed to pass President Kennedy's civil rights legislation after his assassination. In Johnson's inaugural address in 1965, he said, "For every generation there is a destiny. For some, history decides. For this generation, the choice must be our own."
On Friday, in his first sit-down tv interview on WNBC, Governor Spitzer seemed to be taking inspiration from both men. Asked about his battle with the leaders of the Legislature, the Democratic Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver, and the Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, he said he expected to reach compromises with them on various issues "in the public interest."
Like Teddy Roosevelt, he was speaking softly but wielding a big stick - his continuing threat to run candidates against those who oppose the Spitzer agenda. Like Lyndon Johnson, he was promising heavy negotiating to fashion compromises out of issues that clearly divide him from the legislative leaders.
Eliot Spitzer seems comfortable in his new role as king of the hill; Albany's capital hill. He is philosophical about the future. Obviously, he believes in his personal destiny.
Does he have a rich fantasy life in which he may wonder whether he, like Teddy Roosevelt, can aspire to the Presidency one day? That question didn't come up. But what is clear about New York's new governor is that he has immense confidence in himself. He may succeed in passing a big reform agenda. He may not. But what's equally clear is that the years ahead will be most interesting.
In his inaugural address on New Year's day, he invoked the words of Teddy Roosevelt that you can't make progress without entering the arena.
Spitzer said, "We won't win every fight, we won't win every battle, but we will raise the right issues...."
Roosevelt said, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again... if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
