Big Tim; Larger than Life

One of my former 8th grade students once told me that he would be a basketball great if only a key player or coach could see him soon. In response, I smiled and nodded at his 4’9” frame.

My dream is just as lofty and unlikely. I believed that if I could just get 5 minutes with Tim Russert and chat politics, ideally at a tailgate prior to a BC football game, I would be discovered as a young political mind. Russert was both key player and coach, a teacher and a student; he always had a seat at my table in the game “10 historical people” with whom you’d most like to have dinner. Aside from my fictional ideal world emulated in the West Wing series, Meet the Press is my favorite television program. Under Russert’s guidance, MTP became the closest to ideal that our tumultuous political schema could attain; his persistence in seeking the truth, the transparency in his questions and his love for political life was a rare breath of fresh air.

My love for Tim Russert was solidified and marked eternal during the Scooter Libby trial. Ultimately, Russert served as the key testifier that resulted in Libby’s conviction, a role that career and social ladder climbing members of the media and political arena would have relished for the ability to carry the ‘scoop’. Yet, the formidable Washington player visably loathed the position in which he was placed. He loved politics for what it could be, the role it could serve and the possibilities it could engender. The scandals and disgraces that others may exploit for personal gain he dismissed; such things degraded the promise of politics and cast a shadow over the light that truth and fairness could bring to the political forum.

This presidential election has been so special to me because politics is ‘cool’ again. I delight in conversations overheard at gas stations, grocery stores and around kitchen tables regarding not only the politicians but the ISSUES. Russert has been a steadfast compass to me and other students of government with regard to the need to communicate politics on an approachable and relevant level. I will miss his professionalism and wit, but most of all, I will miss his passion for politics- the better side of politics.