Andrew Card of Jaffrey kicked off the Amos Fortune Forum on Friday, with a talk titled “Democracy Now,” and discussing how the political landscape has changed since he first stepped into politics.
Card is no stranger to politics, having served as the White House chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, and in senior government roles under three presidents, including George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
Card was the one to inform Bush of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and can be seen in now iconic photos and video whispering the news in his ear while Bush was visiting a classroom in Florida.
More recently, he has served as chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C., as the interim chief executive officer of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation and as president of Franklin Pierce University.
Living in New Hampshire gives its residents a special spot in politics, Card said from the stage of the Jaffrey Meetinghouse on Friday. The state is site of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, which makes it a prime spot for campaigning presidential candidates, and is one of the most politically active states in the country.
New Hampshire has also been part of changing how the United States runs elections. In 1948, it was the first state to change its laws regarding how the president was elected, allowing citizens for the first time to vote directly for presidential candidates in the primary, rather than electing delegates who would choose the candidate.
“It changed the nature of democracy,” Card said.
Card said he has seen changes in democracy over his career and since he has left the political arena, saying there are more extreme views and less compromise.
Card, who earlier in his political career served in the state House of Representatives in Massachusetts, said he learned early on the need to give an ear to all his constituents, not just those that agreed with him, and to work across the aisle. He ran a door-knocking campaign, and was able to overturn an incumbent Democrat with 67 percent of the vote on his first outing.
While working in the White House, during a debate on whether to raise the debt ceiling in 2006, the vote was two votes short of passing. Looking at past voting records, Card called up Democratic U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was a holdout but had previously always eventually voted for raising the ceiling. After their discussion, Kennedy agreed to support the motion, and to assist in gaining the last vote necessary.
When asked by Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader at the time, where he’d gotten the votes, Card told him, “from the other side of the aisle.”
“And he slammed the phone down,” Card recalled.
But he said that’s what makes democracy work.
“If you come into politics thinking it’s my way or the highway, you shouldn’t be on the road,” Card said.
Card said todays politics appears to be much more “fringe” than “carpet,” and said there needs to be more middle ground, and more “inclusive than exclusive.”
The next Amos Fortune Forum forum is this Friday, July 14, at the Jaffrey Meetinghouse at 8 p.m. Storyteller Andy Davis will be giving a talk entitled “The Sweater,” for a talk that features personal narrative, New Hampshire and North American history and Scottish folklore.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext.244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.