As we remember Hamilton Jordon, I reflect back on the service to his country of the great Georgian Bert Lance.
Today's headlines and news stories are all about Hamilton Jordon, and well they should be. I had the pleasure of meeting him years ago here in Douglas. What a figure; was a true visionary.
While everyone else will be writing about Hamilton Jordon, I want to reflect upon the service to his country of another great Georgian whom I met in December 2004 at an all-day Saturday meeting in Atlanta of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia. In a 12-20-04 post about that meeting, I noted:
Bert Lance [is] someone for whom I have always had a lot of respect and a very high opinion, [and have] my strong feelings about how he was treated in D.C. Getting to meet him and being able to chat with him for an half hour was a personal highlight of the day.
A month or so later I did a 1-13-05 post on my day in Atlanta at the Democratic National Committee Southern Caucus meeting where seven candidates launched their bids for the DNC chairmanship, replacing retiring Terry McAuliffe.
In that post I wrote:
Prior to sharing my thoughts and reflections, I cannot resist telling you that I got a mild case of the bighead at the meeting. How so? I got to sit at the head table.
Not the one up front with Chairman Bobby Kahn and the seven candidates, but one in the audience. On my left sat Bill Shipp; on my right Bert Lance. Was I ever in hog heaven. What hallowed company! What great Georgia Democrats!
Today Matt Towery, writing about Hamilton Jordan in InsiderAdvantage Georgia, remembers:
[M]any of the problems attributed to [Carter's] presidency -- massive inflation, an impossible situation in Iran, a growing energy crisis -- were all inherited from the administrations of Nixon and Ford.
Hamilton Jordan had the courage of his convictions. He believed in the plan he created for Carter’s upset takeover of the Democratic Party and the White House in 1976. He took the potshots and slights that came his way from a D.C. Establishment that resented not only Jordan and [Carter Press Secretary Jody] Powell, but also close friends of Carters like former Office of Management and Budget Director Bert Lance.
Lance was unfairly and shabbily treated by a “company town” media for issues that, compared to this current administration, would never have caught anyone’s eye. He went on to be one of the Democratic Party’s most influential behind-the-scenes movers and shakers.
All of these men took the shots and aggressively tried to serve their nation.
[B]ecause they were southerners surrounded by an old guard elite in D.C., they learned to circle their wagons and rely on their best attribute -- loyalty to one another.
Thanks Matt, we needed to be reminded of that.
And Bert, please know that I proudly display my copy of your book The Truth of the Matter in a prominent place on a mahogany lowboy in my office, and try to live up to your kind autographed message therein: "To Sid Cottingham, a "Real" Democrat. Best Wishes. Bert Lance."
While everyone else will be writing about Hamilton Jordon, I want to reflect upon the service to his country of another great Georgian whom I met in December 2004 at an all-day Saturday meeting in Atlanta of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia. In a 12-20-04 post about that meeting, I noted:
Bert Lance [is] someone for whom I have always had a lot of respect and a very high opinion, [and have] my strong feelings about how he was treated in D.C. Getting to meet him and being able to chat with him for an half hour was a personal highlight of the day.
A month or so later I did a 1-13-05 post on my day in Atlanta at the Democratic National Committee Southern Caucus meeting where seven candidates launched their bids for the DNC chairmanship, replacing retiring Terry McAuliffe.
In that post I wrote:
Prior to sharing my thoughts and reflections, I cannot resist telling you that I got a mild case of the bighead at the meeting. How so? I got to sit at the head table.
Not the one up front with Chairman Bobby Kahn and the seven candidates, but one in the audience. On my left sat Bill Shipp; on my right Bert Lance. Was I ever in hog heaven. What hallowed company! What great Georgia Democrats!
Today Matt Towery, writing about Hamilton Jordan in InsiderAdvantage Georgia, remembers:
[M]any of the problems attributed to [Carter's] presidency -- massive inflation, an impossible situation in Iran, a growing energy crisis -- were all inherited from the administrations of Nixon and Ford.
Hamilton Jordan had the courage of his convictions. He believed in the plan he created for Carter’s upset takeover of the Democratic Party and the White House in 1976. He took the potshots and slights that came his way from a D.C. Establishment that resented not only Jordan and [Carter Press Secretary Jody] Powell, but also close friends of Carters like former Office of Management and Budget Director Bert Lance.
Lance was unfairly and shabbily treated by a “company town” media for issues that, compared to this current administration, would never have caught anyone’s eye. He went on to be one of the Democratic Party’s most influential behind-the-scenes movers and shakers.
All of these men took the shots and aggressively tried to serve their nation.
[B]ecause they were southerners surrounded by an old guard elite in D.C., they learned to circle their wagons and rely on their best attribute -- loyalty to one another.
Thanks Matt, we needed to be reminded of that.
And Bert, please know that I proudly display my copy of your book The Truth of the Matter in a prominent place on a mahogany lowboy in my office, and try to live up to your kind autographed message therein: "To Sid Cottingham, a "Real" Democrat. Best Wishes. Bert Lance."
posted by Sid Cottingham | 12:01 PM
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