Family Values

That was Tom Reynolds wife Donna behind him and to his right at his acceptance speech last night. It was a brief speech and I think he thanked her.

But when he finished he turned around and walked right by her to shake hands with people on his right, turned and walked by her again to greet people on his left. It was as if she was invisible. She looked uncomfortable, slowly fading away off camera.

It was a remarkable moment to this observer. In the pursuit of power we can get caught up in the busyness of our lives and we can ignore the people who should be foremost. Remember, he had a plane to catch because he is the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Things were not going well for him across the country.

Probably it struck me because when I was younger the mother of my children, Grammy in Chief, used to say that she sometimes felt invisible in my milieu.

The Republicans bill themselves as the party of family values. Recent events have made it clear that includes a strong element of hypocrisy. But there is a real lesson too. Tom Reynolds' political legacy will be that he was a part of the power structure of the meanest most divisive administration in my lifetime. He is part of the clique that is the most incompetent in memory and gave us Iraq.

Hopefully Tom Reynolds can leave a more positive legacy with his four children.