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Date Published: March 30, 2005
Graham, DeMint work their way to Senate spotlight
Normally, it’s not good when a politician is
in the spotlight because of a controversial issue. However, in the
case of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, it might not be so
bad.
Having been elected to replace U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond
in 2000, he made a name for himself back in 1998 when he played a
major role in making his case against President Bill Clinton during
the impeachment scandal while he was in the U.S. House of
Representatives. More recently, Graham is showing other lawmakers in
Washington that he is a player and is there to stay. Graham is
staking out the middle ground on Social Security and working on a
bipartisan compromise which is an arduous task.
According to
other representatives and senators around our own state, Graham is
fast becoming well respected within the Senate.
Politicians
are saying that he is making a name for himself as a conservative,
independent thinker who works well with both parties and is looking
to resolve issues.
He has shown remarkable leadership in a
short time period and has quickly displayed conviction and courage
when voting on such tough issues as the prescription Medicare bill
and other health care reform issues.
Despite being in the
same party, he has not become a yes-man of the president like so
many other Republican senators have become. The mindset of most
South Carolinians has been that losing long-time veteran senators
like Fritz Hollings and Strom Thurmond might have set us back a bit
in terms of clout and prestige.
However, Graham seems to be
stepping up to the plate and trying his best to fill Strom’s very
large (and old) shoes despite his lack of longevity in the
Senate.
The news continues to be grim for Social Security and
its pending bankruptcy in 2041. Graham has picked arguably the
toughest issue in years for two sides to try and agree on. He’s
catching heat, of course, and is offering a plan that, despite the
Democrats not having a plan except to just wait and see what
happens, is difficult to sell to those who are not sold on whether
the situation merits urgent attention.
One might assume that
his concern with Social Security comes from being just 49 years old
and believing he too will be in the Senate another 50 years like
Strom and wants to receive his benefits as well.
Even newer
than Graham is freshman U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. All eyes will
be on him in the coming months as he takes on the responsibility of
chairing the new Senate subcommittee on disaster prediction and
prevention. No one wants to think about hurricanes and other natural
disasters that come our way every year but there will no doubt be at
least major threats that will have to be dealt with. This will
certainly put him in the spotlight whether he wants it or not. How
he handles himself, his subcommittee and dealing with these types of
crises will define him for many years to come. Neither Graham nor
DeMint seem to be senators who are scared of the spotlight. Perhaps
they know that to make things happen for South Carolina in a
reasonable amount of time, they need to make their mark in
Washington. That’s a tough thing to do in a town where everybody is
there for the same reason. But, with a few more colorful quotes from
Graham like “My nose is peeling because of the spotlight,” at least
he may be on his way.
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March 30, 2005 
