Former Tennessee Congressman Harold E. Ford Jr. appears to be going through the process of “sending out feelers” and “exploring the possibility” of a run for the Senate in his new state of New York.  In an interview with the New York Times, Ford explained his positions on many issues and seems to be “evolving” as a politician in his “golden years” (Ford is still just 39).  According to the Times story, he has apparently distanced himself from several previous positions – opposition to same-sex marriage, his description of himself as “pro-life” , and his tough stance on immigration law. Not that this should surprise anyone – I mean come on.  He did make the quantum leap politically from Tennessee to New York.  That’s not exactly the same as moving from Alabama to Mississippi.  Trust me, as someone who has made that transition – its a whole new world to a Tennessean.

What more could you expect from a politician?  They have to be able to adapt.  They have to be able to change their spots, erase their stripes, and blend in with their new surroundings.  Frankly, the whole story makes me want to laugh.  I am glad Ford is now New York’s problem.  As a native Tennessean, I have feared this man’s rise to power for quite some time.  I cringed at the thought of his some day running for Governor of the Volunteer state.  While my loyalties to both states are great, one seems destined politically to remain with the Left and the other remains the conservative stronghold that filled my brain with Right Wing ideology.  I am optimistic that one will someday Right itself but in the mean time, I certainly don’t want to see the other one pulled to the Left by moderate to liberal politicians.  Make no mistake, Ford is a charismatic and skilled politician.  He has the “It” factor that so many political hopefuls only dream of having.  He rose to relative prominence even in that bastion of right-wing politics that is Tennessee.  With that in mind, he should not be taken lightly.

In fairness to Ford, if one really needs to be “fair” to chameleons, Ford was a liberal stifled by his geography.  He had political ambitions that his state wouldn’t allow him to ever realize.  His move to New York, or any blue state for that matter, was all but predetermined when his politics “evolved” in such a manner that would have made him a pariah in his home state.   So what does a Ford candidacy mean to New Yorkers?  For those New Yorkers that vote with the Right, I have to tell them buyer beware.  Its unclear at the current hour which Harold Ford will truly stand up – the moderate from Tennessee or the Liberal he may have to become.  I guess the reality that they must face is the old lesser of two evils dilemma.  If you’re choosing between Ford and Gillibrand, I’d say vote for him.  She’s a Reid/Schumer-controlled Lib in the traditional sense and he has an outside chance of returning to his quasi-conservative roots.  Its an unenviable position, but it may be the one New York Republicans are left to deal with.

On His New Home in New York

After Mr. Ford, a five-term Tennessee congressman, arrived in New York, he took a job as a vice chairman at Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America). But he kept a toe in politics, becoming a commentator on Fox and then NBC, which features him several days a week on programs like MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Speaking from a conference room at New York University, where he is a teacher, Mr. Ford, 39, expressed enthusiasm about his new hometown, though he described a life quite different than most New Yorkers. On many days, he is driven to an NBC television studio in a chauffeured car. He and his wife, Emily, a 29-year-old fashion executive, live a few blocks from the Lexington Avenue subway line in the Flatiron district. But Mr. Ford said he takes the subway only occasionally in the winter, to avoid the cold when he cannot hail a cab.

Asked whether he had visited all five boroughs, he mentioned taking a helicopter ride across the city with fellow executives, at the invitation of Raymond W. Kelly, New York City’s police commissioner. “The only place I have not spent considerable time is Staten Island,” he said, adding that “I landed there in the helicopter, so I can say yes.”

Asked about his baseball loyalties, he responded: “I am a Yankees fan,” and added that he had yet to visit Citi Field, the home of the Mets.

He has breakfast most mornings at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue, and he receives regular pedicures. (He described them as treatment for a foot condition.)

On the Issues:

Mr. Ford declined to discuss what he is paid by the bank, but publicly available data suggests that he earns at least $1 million a year. Asked what role outsize pay packages played in fueling the financial crisis, Mr. Ford said he objected to capping executive compensation on Wall Street. “I am a capitalist,” he said. “I believe that people take risk, and there are rewards if they do well; they should lose if they don’t.”

But what is likely to gain the most immediate attention is his record on issues, which Ms. Gillibrand’s defenders say is too conservative for New York.

Mr. Ford twice voted for legislation in the House that would make same-sex marriage illegal. In 2006, when Tennessee voters considered a ballot initiative to outlaw the practice, he vowed to support it. “I oppose gay marriage,” he said at the time.

But in the interview, he said he had changed his mind. He said that he had endorsed civil unions since entering Congress, and that, after watching the debate about marriage unfold in state legislatures and courtrooms, his position had evolved.

“I don’t think it’s a great leap to go from civil unions to gay marriage,” he said. “I may be in the minority in believing that. But I don’t think there is.”

When pressed, he said he would seek to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage, and said he would “revisit” the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Mr. Ford has repeatedly described himself as “pro-life,” and has voted to ban a procedure opponents call partial-birth abortions and to require that minors receive parental consent before receiving an abortion.

In the interview, however, he said: “To describe me as pro-life is just wrong. I am personally pro-choice and legislatively pro-choice.”

Explaining the previous remarks, he said he refused to cede “the language of life” to the political right. Mr. Ford said that he had always supported abortion rights, but that when he campaigned in Tennessee, he used the phrase “pro-life” more broadly to highlight what he saw as the hypocrisy of Republican policies that denied benefits to returning war veterans, or equal pay to National Guardsmen.

He said he would not abandon his opposition to partial-birth abortion and support for parental consent, saying that if a 15-year-old girl cannot see an R-rated movie without an adult, she should not receive an abortion without a parent’s permission.

Read the Full Article here…

Tags: congressman, gillibrand, harold ford, new york, senate, Tennessee

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 9:01 am and is filed under THE LIBERAL-DEMS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.