Jennifer Foster: D.C. rife with politicians, statesmen in short supply

U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) rolled out his health care proposal this week to much fanfare and attention … well, from the media, anyway.

Several senators downplayed his announcement and the chances that his bill will pass. The rest ignored it altogether.

Baucus chairs the Senate Finance Committee. He leads the group that figures out how to pay for all the stuff everyone else wants to do. He’s kind of important.

He has worked on this health care proposal for more than a year, coordinating negotiations with a small group of centrist Republicans and Democrats – the so-called Gang of Six – trying to come up with a consensus plan.

But when the bill’s rollout date came, even the few senators with whom Baucus worked so closely on the bill were underwhelmed by its content. Only one reserved judgment and seemed willing to give it a fighting chance.

Why would such a highly anticipated plan on such a contentious issue proposed by such an important senator be declared all but DOA on the day of its announcement? Back to that in a minute.

That one senator reserving judgment is U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Her relatively low profile belies her frequent involvement in high-profile negotiations.

Snowe spends her time meeting with stakeholders – all stakeholders. She listens. She tries to establish and build on the point of consensus.

In other words, she’s too busy actually working to have any time to preen and posture for the national media.

What has this low-profile, worker-bee approach brought her? Is she wasting away in obscurity, struggling for relevance in an influence-less career?

Hardly. She has become the go-to senator for folks from every corner of the political world. They know that, while she may not agree, she will at least listen. There’s actually a chance that you can reason with her. And on controversial issues like health care reform and Supreme Court nominations, she may actually be the Senate’s single most powerful member.

Snowe’s power was on display this week as Baucus introduced his bill. Following his statement, reporters swarmed around other members of the Finance Committee. As they were busy drenching any possible bipartisan spark to the health care debate, Snowe was staking out her standard, pragmatic ground, without grandstanding and without partisan rancor.

Baucus was perched right over a reporter’s shoulder, listening intently.

He was walking away when he was asked whether he would consider an amendment addressing one of Snowe’s concerns.

“Whatever Sen. Snowe wants to do, I’m for her,” he said.

It was a lighthearted line, but it was heavy with reality.

Partisanship – the affiliation with a political party – is fine, so long as it doesn’t eclipse one’s affiliation with and commitment to the country as a whole. Our problem is that so many American politicians are partisans first.

For me, statesmanship is the subjugation of partisanship. It’s the willingness to listen to the other sides (and yes, there are more than two). It’s the willingness to take the chance that stepping out of your party line to advance the greater good could make you unpopular in the primaries.

For example, we’re told that most Americans agree on 80 percent of what needs to be done to reform America’s health care system. Why not pass a bill that does those things?

For the same reason the Baucus bill faces a bleak future: Because health care reform is only a great election-year driver if it remains undone.

Partisanship, plain and simple.

I’ve had it with politicians. I’m desperately seeking statesmen.

I hope that next year, you will be, too.

Jennifer Foster is a political enthusiast who writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News. She can be reached at