Russert

I'm not going to take the obvious lesson of Tim Russert's sudden, shocking death by heart attack. Overwork seems to be the occupational hazard, the dangerous part, of the journalistic career he chose, and he took it on joyously.

I want to thank him for his diligent efforts and the public-service benefit they often produced; he regularly tore up the most powerful figures of the world, but he resisted the temptation to take on that coercive power for his own purposes. Sometimes, as with Wesley Clark in 2004, my faves had the odd new orifice revealed; sometimes, it was Dick Cheney torn a new one. We have to accept the bad with the good, and recognize that the mongoose must be itself whether the cobra is defanged or not.

The biographical note in his obituaries which struck me as particularly important was not his previous political experience--that had been readily apparent in his respectful, friendly command of tone and language, and his obvious, permanent condition as political junkie--but his original professional training as a lawyer. Certainly the penchant for research was present in his methods, and he often seemed particularly interested in proving his point to some non-existent jury.

I'm trying to remember the now-ironic episode recently when one of the candidates--McCain?--referred to Russert's late Dad, "Big Russ", in the past tense, and Russert pointed out that his patriarch still lived. Big Russ should be the one to express for us how we all feel--nourished, but saddened and sympathetic. I hope Russert's ideal will live on, and we will all be able to enjoy the take he would have made of this upcoming general election contest--it is no exaggeration to say that he lived to cover the primaries this year.


A personal note: My respect is for one of a superb professional in a distinct area of endeavor from my own. I am no journalist, seeking to maintain objectivity; I am not even in the role of editorial writer, who is forced to bring out the factual news element of his/her opinions by a decent respect for the truth. My objective in my political scribbles is to work out persuasive arguments through trying to express my observations coherently and directly. And to have fun.