IF IT'S SUNDAY...

IF IT’S SUNAY…, June 14, 2008
This past Friday, America lost someone they spent a lot of Sunday mornings with. NBC’s Meet the Press host; Tim Russert suffered a heart attack and passed away Friday at the NBC studios here in Washington. He had just returned from a graduation trip to Europe with his wife and son. Meet the Press was the standard for all Sunday morning talk shows. It was the gold standard and the envy of all the networks. It was copied, but never duplicated.
Candidates, elected officials and community leaders made the decision to take his questions each weekend. There they would be subjected to intense questioning of their previous statements and policy positions. Russert was a master of using the interviewee’s own words as they basis of his line of questions. Meet the Press was the leading Sunday Morning Talk Show in terms of both audience and importance. Russert was tough, probing, but always fair. He was always prepared his research better than everyone else’s, and he always seemed to have a rare quote that the guest had made that contradicted their current opinion. He was able to use the guests own words in contradicting their opinions. There were no softballs, nor puff interviews on Meet the Press. Russert’s thirst for knowledge and understanding of a particular issue allowed him to ask the tough questions, and not accept the bland talking point. One did not go on Meet the Press expecting to pontificate ones position with no in depth, detailed counter arguments, because Russert would have the counter arguments and ask opposing points of view questions.

While I never met Mr. Russert, he is an extraordinary example for those of us that have spent time in public service. Russert worked for both Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Governor Mario Cuomo. While that background might give me or some of his guests a moment of concern, it never seemed that he allowed his personal beliefs interfere with the interview. While he was a former Democratic staffer, most viewers would not have known of his background based upon the questions he would ask. He wanted information and in his thirst for information was usually better prepared and had a better understanding of the issue than the guest. He knew policy and typically asked the questions that everyone wanted asked – why, how, to what extent, and so forth.

Tim Russert is someone we all would like to emulate, someone that we all respected and looked up to. He was someone that we all wished we could be like. He was someone I spent most Sunday mornings listening to, and debating with. Much to my mother’s disappointment, I would rather spend my Sunday morning listening to him than to my local parish priest.
One of the positive things outside of the actual interview that personified Russert was his relationship with his father. He has written two books chronicling his relationship with his father. On this Father’s Day weekend, all of us should personify Russert in making sure that we all tell our Fathers how important they are to each of us and how much they influenced us in our daily lives. And while his death came suddenly to us, perhaps he had accomplished all that God wanted from him and so he brought him up to heaven.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I love you!