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Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, today, for me, in one particular respect, it is both a happy day but also a sad day.

With me on the floor is Mr. Michael Wong, to my right. Michael is my State director. I will come back to him in a second.

Also with us today is Michael's spouse, Jamie, in the Gallery. Jamie is not only Michael's spouse; she is in her own right a nationally known and locally renowned expert in special education.

Michael and Jamie have two children. I am going to read their full names and embarrass them: Mr. Thomas Miller Wong and Miss Julia Rose Wong. Thomas is 7. Julia is 5. They are both whip-smart. They are both future leaders of this country and, I hope, of Louisiana because I hope they will stay in my State. On top of that, Julia is quite the gymnast, and Thomas is a heck of a right fielder and a heck of a point guard and a heck of a quarterback. And they are both cool. They are both what ``cool'' looks like.

Now back to their dad.

I say it is a sad day for me because Michael is stepping down from government. It is a happy day because he is going to pursue some very exciting opportunities in the private sector. Michael has been working for the American people and the people of Louisiana for 16 years. Before he worked with me, he worked with Senator David Vitter, and he worked with Congressman Steve Scalise.

Michael has been my State director every single day that I have been a U.S. Senator. Let me tell you, it is a tough job, and it is one of the most important jobs.

As the Presiding Officer knows, we are here in Washington, and our people are back home. A State director has to make sure that their needs are being addressed back home and that their concerns are heard. The State director has to manage our local representatives and make sure that they are representing me in all of the different functions I need to do.

In Michael's case, he is also a valuable source of policy advice. I am going to miss that every day.

Michael has one of the best--maybe, the best--political minds in Louisiana. And he is a nice guy, much nicer than me. I just can't overstate how important he has been not just to me but to the people of Louisiana.

I said Michael has one of the best political minds. He has one of the best minds, period, not just in terms of policy and politics. But I want to mention the political mind in one respect.

Michael ran my reelection campaign. It was certainly the best-run campaign I have ever been involved in. I stepped back. Of course, I was the candidate, but as you know, Mr. President, the candidate is only one small part of the campaign. Michael and his team--and I had a great team--they managed everything from the ``get out the vote,'' their work on the analytics and data--I still don't understand how they did it-- their vote targeting, and their TV commercials.

I had 13 different opponents, and I was expected to win in the first primary. Those weren't my expectations, necessarily. The media back home would repeat that repeatedly, and that put pressure on us. It is hard to do when you have got 13 opponents. That was Michael's responsibility.

I was just hoping to win, period. In the first primary, I was hoping just to get 50 percent plus 1. Michael managed the campaign that returned 62 percent. It was just breathtaking.

I have talked about Michael's policy chops. I have talked about his policy expertise. I have talked about his political acumen. I have talked about the fact that he cares about people. As an aside, a wise person once told me: People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Michael understands that.

I mentioned Michael's beautiful family. He has also always made time for his kids and for Jamie, and I know there are times when it has been difficult. But let me tell you one particular attribute, among many, with respect to which I most respect Michael.

He will do the right thing, and he will tell his colleagues in a very tactful way, but a firm way, what they need to hear. He will tell me what I need to hear, not what I just want to hear.

I am not going to go into detail, but early in my first term, we, in our office, had what I will call a capital ``T'' tough, capital ``I'' issue. I will call it a tough issue. It involved our whole office. I thought I knew how to solve this capital ``T'' tough, capital ``I'' issue.

We basically had option A and option B, and I chose option A. Michael didn't agree with me. Some others in my office didn't agree with me, but they tried to implement option A, my option.

Michael told me from the beginning: Option A is not going to work. We need to go to option B, but I will try to implement option A.

But what I respect most about Michael is that he tried to implement my option A, but he never was frightened to look me in the eye and never was scared to look me in the eye--and I hope our pages are listening to this--and tell me, in a respectful but firm way: Kennedy, you are wrong. It is going to hurt you. It is going to hurt the people of Louisiana. We need to go to option B.

He kept coming back, and back, and back. Sometimes, I would get kind of angry and say: Michael, I have made a decision. Implement option A.

He would say: I am trying to, but I think we are wrong on this one.

Do you know what? He was right, and I was wrong. If Michael hadn't had less courage and just said, ``OK, the path of least resistance is just to agree with Kennedy; I know he is wrong, but, you know, let him find out for himself,'' I would have been hurt and the people of Louisiana would have been hurt.

That is not easy because all of us in this room have worked for somebody before. My first job in government was for a ``reform'' Governor. I was his legal counsel. Like Michael, he was very, very, very smart. God rest his soul. We used to say about Buddy: Often wrong, but never in doubt.

Buddy was a tough boss. Part of my job was to go to him and say: Governor, you are wrong on this.

Then I would cover up and take my whipping. Sometimes the Governor would change his mind, and sometimes he wouldn't. But he was very opinionated. That is one of the things I loved about Buddy.

That is a hard thing to do. It is hard to go to your boss in a firm, respectful way and say: Sir, I know I have told you before, but I am going to tell you again: This is a mistake. This is a mistake.

Michael did that. He avoided a lot of heartbreak--I don't want to overstate the case, but a lot of heartbreak--for me, for our office, and for the people of Louisiana. That is the kind of guy he is--a guy who doesn't think he has all the answers, but when he thinks he is right, by God, he will stick.

I am going to miss Michael. I am going to miss him every single day. I mean, he is not dying or anything. He is going to be around, OK. I know that. I am still going to call him and say: What do you think about this? What is going on?

But I wanted to rise today and thank Michael Wong, and thank, Jamie, and thank Thomas, and thank Julia for their years of service to the people of Louisiana. I wish them Godspeed. I wish them health. I wish them happiness. I can't wait to watch how Thomas's arm develops as a quarterback.

Thank you, Michael.

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