By Bob Gaydos
I got a letter from Chuck Schumer the other day. It was marked "Private" no less. "To Addressee Only." And in bold red letters on the envelope, to make sure I knew it was important: "PLEASE sit down, OPEN this envelope, and READ IMMEDIATELY!
Well, now, what a coincidence. I had been thinking of Chuck lately, not having heard from my longtime senator for quite a while.
(Note: Schumer grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in a middle class family. Went to public school. I grew up in Bayonne, N.J. in a middle class family. Went to public school. Senator or not, with those backgrounds, he'll always be Chuck.)
So, as I was saying, I was glad to hear from Chuck because I had a couple of things I wanted to talk about. Like where the hell has he been lately while Trump has been starting a war and driving up the price on everything while his family and friends make a killing on the stock market?
I was anxious to see what Chuck had to say in this important "private" letter he sent to me marked "addressee only."
Well, for starters, I was a little hurt and kind of let down. "Dear fellow American," is not my idea of introducing a private message of immediate importance. In fact, it kind of sounds like all those other letters of importance I receive asking for donations because, as this letter begins, "our country is at a critical crossroads."
And yes, Chuck was asking for money. Not specifically for himself, mind, but for the group that collects and spends money solely for the election of Democrats to the United States Senate -- the Senate Majority Pac (SMP).
Chuck isn't running for reelection this year, but he has a profound interest in electing Democrats to the Senate so he can transition from being the minority leader to the majority leader and run the show.
I get it. I've been praying for a Democratic super majority of 60 filibuster-proof votes in the Senate for 15 years, since the party managed to pass Obamacare. But apparently the message this group has been putting out hasn't been enough to convince enough Americans to vote likewise. It's kind of why I wanted to talk to Chuck or at least hear from him.
I think times have changed and it's time for a change in what he's saying and how he's saying it. Nobody's listening. Forget trying to work with a couple of Republicans here and there to stymie Trump or win a small political victory here and there. It's time for something that I'm sure Schumer grew up experiencing in Brooklyn: some moxie.
What's moxie? For non-New Yorkers or non-Jerseyites, AI says: "Moxie is an American slang noun referring to a person's courageous spirit, determination, nerve, and skill. It describes someone with guts, spunk, and the ability to face challenges with energy and pep. It implies a combination of boldness and know-how."
Absolutely. In other words, the time for playing nice with Republicans has long passed. They don't do it. They don't care. A fellow Brooklynite, also in the Senate, gets it. Bernie Sanders has been telling it like it is as long as he's been in the Senate. Unfortunately, he's not a member of the Democratic Party, but rather, is a Democratic Socialist. That means he can't get any money from SMP. Actually, he's a Democrat by any other name these days because he can't possibly coexist with the Republicans in the Senate.
But Bernie, who grew up in a lower middle class family in Flatbush, has moxie. He doesn't hesitate to lay the blame for Trump's ongoing disaster of a presidency on Senate Republicans who have had the power to stop him at any point and indeed to reject every one of this trash heap of nominees that make up the cabinet.
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