The Capitol is plagued by Senators who are afraid to articulate their positions on issues, who are slaves to the media spotlight and who disingenuously attempt to create a image as ordinary "men of the people." The citizens of the State of New Hampshire are fortunate to have a junior Senator who suffers from none of these faults: John Sununu. Senator Sununu visited Hanover recently and he was kind enough to join myself and a few other students for dinner before his speech. He seemed very ordinary, although I hesitate to use that adjective since he is anything but conventional in the ego-driven halls of the Senate.
I chose the word ordinary because he struck me as the type of guy who you might see at a Red Sox game in the bleachers rather than in a luxury box. There are many politicians who attempt to portray themselves as a "man of the people" or, if that is not credible, at least as an advocate for "working Americans." Senator Sununu used none of these tired clichs during his trip but he seemed to be much less highfalutin than some of the candidates running for president in 2004, who often use them. These candidates, like John Kerry and Dick Gephardt, seem to use proletarian nomenclature at every opportunity to highlight how they empathize with the working class in ways that their opponents do not. Other candidates have done the same in the past: Al Gore had his earth tones to make him more accessible and Lamar Alexander wore casual plaid shirts at inappropriate times to demonstrate his solidarity with the everyday man. Yet Mr. Sununu appears far more genuine in his portrayal of a regular guy, perhaps because he is closer to being one.
It has been reported that John Kerry spends $75 on his biweekly pompadour haircut. I feel confident in judging that Mr. Sununu does not. Mr. Sununu reminds me, in many ways, of another Senator with whom he might appear to have little in common: Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed. If ever a Senator, save Ted Kennedy, deserved the label "liberal" it would be Mr. Reed; by contrast Mr. Sununu is a true blue conservative. Yet neither wears clothes from Savile Row, nor does either one offer himself to the cable political shows at their every whim, and each is fairly anonymous outside his home state.
In short, they are ordinary guys in an extraordinary position. Mr. Sununu is still working out of modular office space months after his inauguration, but he seemed more bemused than angry about the delay. I think this characteristic, of being a bit closer to Joe Six-pack than your typical Senator, makes each of them a useful addition to Congress.
In his lineage Mr. Sununu was blessed, as his father was a prominent politician. But unlike Al Gore or Lisa Murkowski, two Senators who also benefited from famous fathers, Mr. Sununu took the road less traveled before he entered politics. He studied engineering at M.I.T. then ran his own business. He benefited greatly from his father, but one does not get the impression that he had been planning to be a Senator since elementary school. His atypical voyage to the Senate does not necessarily make him a better person, but it does imply that he is not particularly hungry for power.
Mr. Sununu sends his children to public schools and Mr. Reed, if he had them, certainly would as well. This decision gives each of them greater credibility regarding issues like public education than the numerous Senators who utilize their own form of school choice in sending their children to private schools, while denying that same opportunity to the less affluent. Reasonable people can disagree about whether school choice is prudent policy, but it is admirable that both these men support the system for which they are indirectly responsible.
I mentioned that neither Mr. Reed nor Mr. Sununu are slaves to the media spotlight. Unfortunately, some of their less-restrained colleagues are to political talk shows what women of the world's oldest profession are to 42nd street in New York. Two of the more obvious examples of this breed are Sen. John McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman. There's nothing wrong with being accessible to the media; indeed accessibility for one's constituents can be a good thing. But when a Senator goes out of his way to solicit invitations to national political talk shows, there is something unbecoming and rather egocentric about it. Creating a national personality is immensely useful when running for President, but the job description of a Senator is to represent his state, not to seek higher office. Mr. Sununu is not a regular on the Sunday morning talk shows. That much is evident when he walks through a doorway with someone and there is room for both people and his ego to pass at the same time. The same could be said about Mr. Reed, but not about many of his colleagues from neighboring states.
The final way in which Mr. Sununu and Mr. Reed differ from other Senators is that each is forthcoming about his political views. The former characteristic is all too rare in today's focus group-tested politics, in which candidates rely on vacuous pledges to "support education" or advocate for a "strong defense" and other unspecific guarantees. The ideal Senator is one who represents his constituents and explains his views without obfuscation. Because they represent very different states, Mr. Sununu as a conservative in New Hampshire and Mr. Reed as a liberal in Rhode Island, each Senator fits the above definition quite well.
The same characteristics that make these men good Senators also preclude their advancement to the highest office. Those appearances on Meet the Press yield great benefits for a candidate trying to raise funds nationally, though they deliver few unique benefits to home state voters. There are other factors at work too: neither Mr. Sununu or Mr. Reed is as telegenic as Sen. Edwards or some of our past presidents. But ultimately, it comes down to ego. Mr. Reed served in the military and Mr. Sununu was an entrepreneur, but neither brags about his accomplishments the way Mr. Kerry frequently mentions his service in Vietnam. It takes a substantial ego to run for President and a belief that one can perform the job better than anyone else. These men are far too humble to hold that view. Their constituents are fortunate to have their service as a result of this humility.