Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s "Hardball," is fond of saying you learn what a politician really believes when he or she makes a concession speech. The same might be applied to a candidate announcing that he will not seek reelection.
That being the case with Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona who made a speech on the floor of the Senate announcing his decision to forgo a second term. His speech laid bare the contempt he feels toward President Trump as well as for his lack of faith in his own Republican Party, which to date has not stood up for the values Flake deems important.
What’s notable about Flake’s exit speech is that it gets to the heart of what it means to lead in an age of hyper-partisanship. And for that reason it’s worthy of dissecting a few key points.
Speaking truth to power. "We have fooled ourselves long enough that Trump . . . will return to civility . . . We know better than that,” said Flake. "No leader worth his salt can stand on principle if he does not speak up for what he believes, especially in the face of adversity.
Living the values. “When we remain silent . . . because we might alienate the base . . . we dishonor our principles and forsake our obligations,” Flake continued. "We must never accept . . . personal attacks, threats against principles, freedoms and institutions." America is a nation of values, and leaders who seek to bind followers together in purpose know that values outweigh short-term gains. If you lose your values, you have nothing. Dissolution is the inevitable result.
Taking a stand. “We cannot continue to ‘call true things fake and fake things true.’ I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so Mr. President, I will not be complicit or silent,” said Flake. Flake believes it is better to step down in order to step up to the challenge of the day: rebuking a man whom he does not trust.
A leader who shies away from the truth because it is uncomfortable and because silence will bring comfort is a leader who denies history. History is populated by good men and women who believed in the courage of their convictions and exercised them, even when it cost them dearly.
Flake closed his speech with words from Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address. Lincoln spoke pointedly and hopefully to Southern states that were already or preparing to secede from the Union. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break the bonds of our affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely as they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
In other words, if we allow the passions of the day to erode what holds us together we are lost. Leaders strive for unity by emphasizing, as did Lincoln, what unites. If only the aspirant hope that “better angels” will prevail.
Few are under the illusion that Flake’s speech will make much difference. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders immediately dismissed Flake’s decision as something that is good for Arizona since he was unlikely to be reelected. Flake is trailing badly in the polls.
Politics aside, Flake’s speech should be mandatory reading for all high school students. Not because he criticized a sitting president but rather because he reaffirmed what it means to be an American citizen.
Sometimes a politician has to do what a politician has to do. And in his remarks Flake made no bones about doing what he felt was right. Better to live for his values than to abandon them to a president and a party who do not embrace them.
The Senate will be poorer for his absence, and so too, will the nation.
NOTE: Special thanks to Axios.com for highlighting the original Flake quotes used in this post.
