Will Jim Leach call Biden onto carpet?

To the editor:

What ever happened to our mild-mannered, always civil, long-serving congressman, Jim Leach, representing us here in Iowa?s 2nd congressional district?

Like an hourly worker, impatiently waiting to hand off his workstation to the guy on the next shift ? in his case, Dave Loebsack ? when he lost the 2006 election, it was time for Iowa?s son to finally come home. And so he did ? to Iowa City. And to Princeton University. And to Washington, D.C.

This moderate Republican resurfaced on the national stage in 2008, when he endorsed the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, for president. We know what happened to Sen. Obama. But what happened afterward to former Congressman Leach?

Well, you may be surprised to know Jim Leach has made the cover of the Aug. 8 issue of The Weekly Standard. Going on two years this month, our former congressman has served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, having been appointed by President Obama.

Yes, good old Jim Leach is still mild-mannered. But, according to Andrew Ferguson, author of the cover story, Leach has traded in his old civility for ?The New Civility,? or, as The Weekly Standard has titled the article, ?Civility, Obama Style.? And, as chairman, Leach has appeared in 80 cities preaching the gospel of civility.

In his usual snarky style, Ferguson has, in so many words, accused Jim Leach of being a political hack. Now, this is not how I remember Jim Leach. But let?s keep an open mind about Ferguson?s train of thought for a minute.

First, the cover art, although cartoon-like, is not unflattering to Leach?s features. He is drawn smiling and sitting in his chairman?s chair, holding a mug with an Obama logo on it as if welcoming us to join him. Could he possibly be drinking tea? This is the hospitable Jim we?ve come to know over his 30-year congressional career. Alas, there is one disturbing feature in the picture: in his other hand, the artist has depicted a set of brass knuckles.

And this symbolizes all the difference between civility and the ?New Civility.? What Ferguson writes is that, ?The old civility is social, a matter of behaving the right way: speaking softly, listening quietly, keeping your temper in check. The New Civility is psychological, a matter of thinking the right thoughts: thinking, as it happens, like Jim Leach and his boss.?

Some examples of the ?New Civility? come from the recent heated debate on the debt ceiling:

?Unfortunately, all the chambers seem to be loaded on the House side. They want to shoot every bullet they have at the president.? ? House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.

?What we?re trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We?re trying to save life on this planet as we know it today.? ? Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

And finally, Republicans have ?acted like terrorists.? ? Vice President Joe Biden.

Terrorists? Because they disagree with you? Calling fellow elected officeholders terrorists certainly doesn?t seem civil. At least according to the old civility.

It seems that the ?earnest, soft-spoken, impeccably honest? (in Ferguson?s words) chairman Leach has an 81st city to visit to preach civility: Washington, D.C. 

Leach used to do this. In the 1990s, serving on the House Banking Committee, he upbraided a colleague who indiscriminately accused opponents of McCarthyism by saying that that kind of incivility was, itself, a kind of McCarthyism.

This good old Jim Leach is the one to call Joe Biden on the carpet and teach him this old civility. That is, unless Leach has changed into the political hack Ferguson has accused him of being and put his hope in the ?New Civility.? Which one is it, Jim? 

? H. Ben Winkler, Fairfield