Majority Leader Tom Daschle

Statement

MAJORITY LEADER TOM DASCHLE

‘But he faced every challenge head on, and because of his tenacity, and devotion, and skill, he now finds a permanent home in this place of national memory'

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks at the unveiling of Majority Leader Tom Daschle's congressional portrait in the United States Capitol:

"When the Senate met in this room, the office of the party leader didn't exist. Yet a close reading of history shows that even before the days of elected party leaders, unofficial leaders, men who were outstanding in their abilities to speak or legislate or persuade, never failed to emerge.

"Their names are well known — Webster, Calhoun, Clay — and their personalities still illuminate our nation's history. One Senator from those days, speaking specifically about Henry Clay, summed up the influence these men had. He wrote: ‘When that Senator shakes his head and says, ‘I hope not,' we know how the yeas and nays will stand as well as if they had been taken and counted.'

"Later on, when party heads were actually elected by ballot, exceptional leaders continued to emerge. And like the people who make up the country itself, they all brought different gifts.

"There was the arm-twisting Texan who would become our 36th President. There was the son of our 27th President who would be remembered mostly for his nickname, Mr. Republican. There was the courtly West Virginian whose devotion to the Constitution would have made our Founders proud.

"And there was the decent, soft-spoken man from Aberdeen, South Dakota, who would steer his party through some of the toughest moments the United States Senate has ever known.

"In the history of party leaders, only one Democrat has had to deal with a chamber that was divided 50-50 between two parties. Only one has served as Majority Leader and Minority Leader twice. And in the history of party leaders, there has only been one like Thomas Andrew Daschle.

"Just look around the room.

"In a place where staffers move from office to office or jump at the first chance for a normal life, Tom Daschle's office was different. He treated his staff with uncommon decency and respect, and they loved him for it, and paid him back with the best years of their lives. Many of them are here, as if to say, as Tom has said of being his party's leader: ‘We had to do it, and We'd do it again.'

"Daschle staffers were so loyal that some took to calling their office the Hotel South Dakota: ‘You could check out any time you like, but you could never leave.' Others cherish a thank you note, or the memory of an unexpected phone call thanking them for some small task, or to wish them a happy birthday when there were plenty of other important things for the Majority Leader to do.

"They liked his quirks. Who else listens to books on tape about management … while jogging? Who else would be so absent-minded as to leave a memory-retention book on an airplane?

"And they admired him. The way he stood up to his political opponents, to really mean guys like me. And for his effectiveness on the floor, where he was always a force, however unlikely that might have seemed to some of his early opponents. One Democrat who voted against Tom in his first Leadership race said he didn't plan to vote for a guy who looked like a ‘park ranger in a dark suit.'

"It was just one more obstacle he'd overcome, like beating shyness as a young boy by lying awake at night and imagining both sides of a conversation. He didn't know then what good training it was for holding together a caucus that included voices as different as Paul Wellstone and Zell Miller. But he pulled it off the way the best always do. He made it look easy.

"And when the time came to leave, he did it with dignity and grace, more concerned about finding jobs for staffers than drafting his memoirs or settling scores. He and Linda made a pact, he said. They'd never look back.

"Tom Daschle has said that he got into politics because he was amazed that a country run mostly by Protestants would elect a Catholic as president. It was the same thing Tom Lantos was getting at shortly before he died, when he said that only in America could a penniless Holocaust survivor expect to get an education, raise a family, and rise to the halls of power.

"But America is more than a nation of unlikely heroes. It's also a nation that honors them. And today we honor one more. Thirty years ago this year Tom Daschle launched his first campaign for elected office. If he had any illusions about the challenges he would face, those doubts vanished the day he was mistaken for a paper boy on the campaign trail.

"But he faced every challenge head on, and because of his tenacity, and devotion, and skill, he now finds a permanent home in this place of national memory. He and his family can be proud of his work and of this rare honor. And we can all be proud of a country where a boy from Aberdeen, South Dakota, can achieve so much."

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