From Tuesday's WaPo and Dallas Morning News:
"Add Wendy Davis to the long list of politicians (and public figures more broadly) who shave a little here and add a little there, all in an effort to connect with and inspire voters by being both accessible and exceptional. It’s a version of the campaigning in poetry, governing in prose idea. And when it comes to biographical narratives, campaign verses are often written in broad strokes -- compelling Horatio Alger-like stories, full of up-from-nowhere Americana.
They are what literary types call narratives of ascent. In Davis’ retelling of her story, she was the single teenage mom who juggled low-wage jobs, then worked her way to a Harvard Law degree. It’s an inspiring story. Generally true. Yet the details -- a lawyer husband who helped her pay for school and take care of her daughters -- make it more complicated, less catchy.
And politics, where being a self-made man or woman is a selling point, is full of these types of bite-sized stories. Often that shorthand way of describing a life doesn’t quite hold up to scrutiny, as Davis is finding out.
Davis, who is running for governor in Texas, and her allies are now pushing back, blaming opponents for a story that appeared in The Dallas Morning News that questioned some of the public details about her life story. She also released an early biography that clarifies and fleshes out her early years."
As you know, she is Texas' version of a liberal, which for the rest of the country, is really a moderate, or someone just to the left of center.
Ms Davis gained notoriety nationally last summer during the Texas State Senate's debate on abortion rules for the state. As you recall, she filibustered for several hours in order to try and prevent the tightening of the state's law, which is now in effect.
She is now running for the Democrat nomination for governor.
Essentially, the Senator took some liberties with her bio, which all public figures have done, in order to sound more appealing to the voters. Even our current President has done so, by calling himself a "Constitutional Law Professor", when clearly his actions show he knows nothing about the Constitution.
Anyway, we all have written a resume', right? And what is a resume'? It's nothing more than a bio which we use to sell ourselves to a prospective employer. And, can anyone honestly say we never embellish it?
We highlight those attributes or accomplishments which will put us in a better light, don't we? And why not? Aren't we trying to improve ourselves? We know what the employer is looking for, based on the ad in the paper, or what the head-hunter told us. So, we write the resume' for the job.
While I am not fan of Senator Davis, she is no more guilty of anything all of us do. So, if you want to criticize her policies, that's fine. Her bio is hers, much like our resumes' are ours. She and we have to live up to what we write about ourselves.
Get over it.
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