Life of Wry

Look who I got to spend some time with tonight!

The UC Davis College Dems somehow managed to bring Adam Schiff to Davis tonight and we got to walk on down to the I-House where a standing room only crowd got up close to a real hero in the democratic party. This was pretty thrilling. Adam Schiff is a powerhouse intellect, a constitutional expert, a democracy warrior and just nails it every single time he comments on what’s going on in Washington. He is incredibly articulate. He spoke eloquently and knowledgeably about issues I care about.. so you know, I was a happy camper. I could have listened to him for hours. Bummed they cut the Q&A short in favor of doing photos. I’d have been delighted to stay and watch, and even shake his hand or pose for a pic (!) but we had a Valentines Dinner to prepare and consume. So took off as the picture taking was commencing.

Back to his comments: He was far more optimistic about the state of our government than I usually feel. He says, “this too shall pass,” and we will get to the other side of the many crises we are in. (Reeeeally?!) He talked about how he worked well with Nunes on the Intelligence Committee (a committee he’s now been removed from, thanks to petty Kevin McCarthy who’s now beholden to the nutcase wing of his party and has to do truly stupid things to appease them). They agree on little, but could work effectively together to get the work of the committee done. That was interesting to me. I’d have loved to hear more about the inner workings of congress, as we don’t see that side the story. And I’d have loved to hear more about where his optimism comes from. I would welcome optimism over the despair I usually feel.

Schiff said one the most insidious things trump did was to put all of his energy into dividing the country. This has always been my biggest resentment of the disgraced former so-called president. Schiff said trump woke up every day with new ways to gin up hate toward, and distrust of, the other side. For example he’d tell his followers that we elite dems thought they were stupid. By perpetuating that idea, he could ensure they’d never trust, never listen, never find common ground with us. trump came out of the election with hate in his little icy heart. He was never going to be the president of everyone, he was never going to try serve the whole country, he was never going to unify. His infamous line — he alone could fix it — flew in the face of unity, of the country working together to solve problems. His MO was disunity.

I truly hate him for that, and for what he did to our country. I will never get over it.

So listening to someone like Adam Schiff is like a balm. His calm demeanor, casual intellect, and decency are soothing. I trust his principles for governing. He nailed it on gun violence, he nailed it on the preservation of our planet being at the existential core of absolutely everything. I especially appreciated his comments about how to bridge the divides (listen and respect those on the other side). I also loved when he talked of an enduring democratic party that would serve and lift all corners of the country with justice, kindness and respect.

Now that’s a vision. No wonder trump and his ilk are afraid of Adam Schiff.

And with Dianne Feinstein announcing today that she will not seek reelection, his campaign to replace her in the Senate began, officially, tonight!

I’m in.