When I saw that Sean Barney was ready to run, I knew a long bank of switches were being flipped, and guys in short sleeved white dress shirts wearing ties and bulky headsets were saying, “Mission?”
“Mission Control is GO!,”
“Houston?”
“Houston is GO, flight”
…as well as other rocketry stuff to each other back at Carper HQ. I heard Carper talking up Barney eight years or so ago at a Jeff/Jax and figured, “Okay, this is happening.” And so it is. But can a product of Carper, Inc keep his human heart? The experience of John Carney says that it is a long-shot. Beholden to banks? Check. Utterly ignoring issues of social and economic justice? Check.
Is Sean Barney going to be more of the same?
His background, and what he says about himself anyway, actual provides a slim ray of hope that he might not be another Carper clone.
This is from the Center for Public Leadership.
I grew up 15 minutes outside Newark, New Jersey. I was conscious growing up that very close to home young people were denied by circumstance opportunities that many in my community took for granted. In high school, I joined with a friend from the Central Ward of Newark to form a group called Everyday People, which brought students together from schools in Newark and the surrounding suburbs to plan and carry out joint service projects. My subsequent experiences in Newark convinced me that conditions there were a manifestation of broader social neglect. My emphasis slowly shifted away from localized community action toward national politics. As a campaign and legislative aide, I have sought to assist leaders who are unwilling to accept complacent or cynical responses to social injustice with their burdens of public persuasion.
I enlisted in the Marine Corps after 9/11 because I am concerned by trends indicating that the well-educated and well-to-do are increasingly absenting themselves from our “all-volunteer” military, and thus from the frontlines of our nation’s wars. I have been blessed with opportunities early on to participate in our nation’s public life. My intention is to remain involved, as a civil rights and impact-litigation attorney, an advisor to progressive public officials, and perhaps a candidate for office myself someday. I am grateful for the opportunity that the Zuckerman Fellowship provides me to engage with, and learn from, an intellectually, professionally, and culturally diverse group of exceptionally talented and public-spirited young colleagues.
UPDATE: Mentioning Sean Barney reminds me that this song/video which makes me happy. (Warning: the “F” word is used by John McClain)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5in09EwYV0]