David Obey Retires

Conventional wisdom has it that David Obey ‘retired’ from politics because he feared being defeated in the next go-around by Republican Sean Duffy. The facts show otherwise. Though Duffy has been able to raise more money than any other challenger in 21 elections, Obey has remained the favorite to win in his heavily Democrat district.

Could it be that what sparked Obey’s sudden decision to retire was not the fear of losing, but the fear of winning? Obey gave all kinds of reasons for his decision not to seek reelection – none of which sounded very convincing. For one thing, he blamed the media which embarrassingly remains 110% in support of Democrats in general. He claimed that he had succeeded in helping to secure passage of health care legislation which had been his singular aim from the start. He said he was tired and had no immediate plans.

Besides being a liberal and a Democrat, David Obey was also a mechanic par excellence; a master in conducting a fair fight. He has much to be proud of. His position as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee made him a key player in Washington. One does not relinquish such power lightly.

I suspect that Obey, as so many other Democrats, has hung up his spurs because he has seen the structure of our entire political process disintegrating into chaos. He has likely noted that his unique specialized expertise would in the coming years cease to be relevant; that the old rules no longer apply; that, from now on, ideology would reign supreme, trumping both procedure and protocol.

Some years ago my father-in-law was killed in an auto accident. He died immediately and was said to have suffered no pain. At the time of his death he was in the best of health. Everyone says he was lucky.

We are watching the slow and painful death of our nation. It began to gather in significance when a majority of our citizens suddenly realized that the heart of it – the people – was slowly being cut out and shunted aside. It has been a slow and painful process to watch. No right-thinking Americans can take much comfort in saying that they have been a part of it.