David Price Made Politics Work
If you want to know politics at its best, study David Price.
He was showered with well-earned praise when he retired from Congress earlier this month.
But too few people fully appreciate what a force for good Price has been for so long – for the Triangle, for North Carolina, for the Democratic Party and, above all, for America’s system of politics and government.
I have watched him and learned from him for 40-plus years – since 1980, when he took a leave of absence from teaching at Duke to be executive director of the state Democratic Party; through 1981 when he was staff director of the national Democratic Party’s Commission on Presidential Nominations, chaired by Governor Jim Hunt; and then as chair of the state Democratic Party during the difficult and disappointing 1984 election cycle.
Since he was elected in 1986, Price has done his work quietly and well, respectfully and constructively.
He’s the opposite of the congressional clowns who get gobs of media coverage, like a Cawthorn, Green or Gaetz.
He has written several editions of his book The Congressional Experience, the definitive work on how Congress should work.
He has remained modest, gracious and humble; hard-working and high-minded; a good and decent man and a dedicated public servant.
This quote from Price, in a column by E.J. Dionne Jr. of The Washington Post, is advice that everyone in politics, especially Democrats, should heed:
“(U)nderstand that not every battle can be won on the first try and that politics is a matter of striking a balance between … compromising and finding common ground where you can, and fighting where you must.
“The art is, of course, knowing which is which. And within the Democratic Party there needs to be a kind of sense that not every battle is Armageddon …. You just don’t necessarily solve all the problems at once.”
Thank you, David Price, for all you did, for all you taught us and for the example you set.
Dionne column: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/28/david-price-congress-exit-interview/
David Price Made Politics Work
If you want to know politics at its best, study David Price.
He was showered with well-earned praise when he retired from Congress earlier this month.
But too few people fully appreciate what a force for good Price has been for so long – for the Triangle, for North Carolina, for the Democratic Party and, above all, for America’s system of politics and government.
I have watched him and learned from him for 40-plus years – since 1980, when he took a leave of absence from teaching at Duke to be executive director of the state Democratic Party; through 1981 when he was staff director of the national Democratic Party’s Commission on Presidential Nominations, chaired by Governor Jim Hunt; and then as chair of the state Democratic Party during the difficult and disappointing 1984 election cycle.
Since he was elected in 1986, Price has done his work quietly and well, respectfully and constructively.
He’s the opposite of the congressional clowns who get gobs of media coverage, like a Cawthorn, Green or Gaetz.
He has written several editions of his book The Congressional Experience, the definitive work on how Congress should work.
He has remained modest, gracious and humble; hard-working and high-minded; a good and decent man and a dedicated public servant.
This quote from Price, in a column by E.J. Dionne Jr. of The Washington Post, is advice that everyone in politics, especially Democrats, should heed:
“(U)nderstand that not every battle can be won on the first try and that politics is a matter of striking a balance between … compromising and finding common ground where you can, and fighting where you must.
“The art is, of course, knowing which is which. And within the Democratic Party there needs to be a kind of sense that not every battle is Armageddon …. You just don’t necessarily solve all the problems at once.”
Thank you, David Price, for all you did, for all you taught us and for the example you set.
Dionne column: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/28/david-price-congress-exit-interview/