Remember Mike Dukakis: He Didn't

After reading my last post on Richard Gephardt one could easily be upset, mortified, shocked and certainly one more step along the path about being cynical themselves. Toward preventing this feeling I offer this remedy. Micheal Dukakis.

We all remember the former Governor of Massachusetts, the failed candidate of the Democratic party for President in 1988. Much is written of Dukakis in the same Richard Ben Cramer book I spoke of earlier and though I am only halfway through it is easy to see that the seeds in the Governor's personality that would prevent him from playing well to the nation as a whole.

However as the main point of my last article about Gephardt was not his accomplishments in office but what he has done in retirement from political life I would like to offer this positive example in Mr. Dukakis. After leaving office as Governor in the early nineties Dukakis had ample opportunity to cash in if you will. Never for a moment did he consider it. The Governor has always known who he is and while it might not have been a prescription for victory on the national stage it has been a fine example for anyone who cares to notice.

The Governor has taught classes at both Northeastern and UCLA. He has spent a great deal of time in efforts to keep young people involved in politics, believing in the system and working to change the system from the bottom up. When we saw pictures of the Governor and his wife Kitty Dukakis campaigning door to door for Senator Elizabeth Warren on the last Saturday before the election in November it was not a cute photo op. It was what he does and would have been doing with or without the cameras. This is a good and decent man who, as the son of immigrants, has never lost his belief in the American dream and the decency and ability of America.

Looking at the craven run for the cash Gephardt has taken and the quiet life of still giving to his community the ex Governor has taken one can see the difference between the two men. George Bush was and is a good man but it does go without saying that America gave short shrift to a very good man in Micheal Dukakis. A fine man. A fine example. He lived the life he touted for others, in the end, is not that what we should ask of all our public servants.