You may know Tommy Sowers as the Democratic candidate who has used his out-of-state contacts and connections within the national Democratic Party to raise buckets of money in his surely quixotic quest to unseat perennially-popular Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson. However, that is not how Sowers wants the people of the district to know him – he wants to be their next-door neighbor.
In what was undoubtedly an effort to enhance his local credibility and look more at home in southeast Missouri, Sowers sold his foreign Volvo in New York and replaced it with a pickup truck. Taking a page from the playbook of several other established politicians, he has announced his intention to drive around the district with his dog, doing a different job in each town he comes to in order to show the people that he is exactly like them. (What a wake-up call it would be if he came to a town and, like far too many in the Eighth District, found no job waiting for him.)
Will he be using this trip to explain his stance on any policies or shed light on what he would do for the district? Of course not. The St. Louis Beacon said that his publicity stunt is “aimed at introducing him to 8th District residents, as well as offering a glimpse of his approach if elected to Congress.” They quoted him as saying, “It’s the way I did things in the military. You don’t just show up and issue a 14-point plan.”
If this is really a “glimpse of his approach,” it appears his main actions as a Congressman will be to collect money from anyone he can and let others discuss policy while he spends time cultivating the personality façade he has created. He does not understand that meeting people and raising money is not all there is to being a Representative. Congress requires people with ideas, people who are willing to issue a “14-point plan” at the same time they are shaking hands and kissing babies. Sowers may be a politician, but he is not a leader.
Not a leader? Tommy Sowers is a former Major in the US Army’s Special Forces. He led soldiers in Iraq. To fault him for taking the time to open his eyes and look around, to gain perspective into a floundering district he’s been away from (serving his country) for a few years – is ridiculous.
To attempt to implicitly associate him with the lack of jobs in the district is also unfounded. This slide of the 8th into an economic quagmire happened – oh yeah! – on Emerson’s watch. Maybe if she had spent more time in the district and taken the time to open HER eyes to the day-to-day realities of people on the ground, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.
The election is more than six months away – for Sowers to take the time to build a policy foundation grounded in the realities of the district before blindly putting forward a “14-point plan” sounds like wisdom to me – and, yes, a characteristic of sound, reasoned leadership. It sounds like something I wish we had more of in Washington.
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1 David Anders // Feb 12, 2010 at 9:43 am
Not a leader? Tommy Sowers is a former Major in the US Army’s Special Forces. He led soldiers in Iraq. To fault him for taking the time to open his eyes and look around, to gain perspective into a floundering district he’s been away from (serving his country) for a few years – is ridiculous.
To attempt to implicitly associate him with the lack of jobs in the district is also unfounded. This slide of the 8th into an economic quagmire happened – oh yeah! – on Emerson’s watch. Maybe if she had spent more time in the district and taken the time to open HER eyes to the day-to-day realities of people on the ground, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.
The election is more than six months away – for Sowers to take the time to build a policy foundation grounded in the realities of the district before blindly putting forward a “14-point plan” sounds like wisdom to me – and, yes, a characteristic of sound, reasoned leadership. It sounds like something I wish we had more of in Washington.
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