Harry S Truman once said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
Well, he kinda said that, and for sure liked the idea, which is great.
But that idea was probably first written down by a guy in England, who heard a Jesuit priest say it back in 1863. That priest is long gone, but I’d like to think that if he is looking down on us now he is happy that his idea lives on, even if he doesn’t <irony alert> get the credit.
That thought came to mind yesterday while reading President Trump’s post about Daylight Saving Time. Here it is in full, though broken up into paragraphs for the ease of reading:
For many years, the vast Majority of Americans have asked to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, but no Administration has been able to get it done, until now. I am proud to announce that the House of Representatives has passed the Bill, and it has now gone to the Senate for final approval.
People are sick and tired of having to change their clocks twice a year. It is foolish, inconvenient and, in some cases, very costly. For Cities and States with Watchtowers, and hard to reach places, it costs Millions of Dollars.
A recent case was made that it is also bad for your health in the anxiety it creates. Leading Medical, Crime, and Economic Studies have shown that ceasing the biannual time change, giving us one extra hour of natural sunlight in the evenings, will help Decrease Robbery and Murder Rates, Reduce Car Accidents (especially those involving Pedestrians!), Lower Risk for Cardiac Issues, Stroke, and Seasonal Depression, Make It Safer for Children to Walk Home from School, Increase Time with your Family, Strongly Support Extracurricular Activities, Boost the Sports, Fitness, Tourism, Retail, and Restaurant Industries (and more!), and Save Money on Energy Bills, because everyone will be enjoying an EXTRA HOUR OF DAYLIGHT.
In other words, leave it as it is now, and never change again.
This is an issue that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents can unite behind. I am asking Republican Senators to release their holds, and allow the hotline to clear on the Republican side. LET’S PASS THE SUNSHINE PROTECTION ACT, ASAP.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
President DONALD J. TRUMP
I don’t know exactly why he decided to write that yesterday. The House vote that he’s talking about was a couple of weeks ago.
My personal (and completely unverifiable) theory is that he read his hometown paper, the Palm Beach Daily News, which had a great story yesterday morning by the incomparable Kimberly Miller, who’s been doing an amazing job on this topic for more than a decade.
That story linked to my personal site, this one you are looking at right now, where I’ve had a collection of posts and research forever. In fact, if you look over at the research page, you’ll see a list that looks like it was the basis for the whole middle part of that post.
That’s fine with me! I don’t care who gets the credit!!!
And while I may have differences with President Trump, I am willing to overlook those on this topic, like a lot of others, I think.
That then leads us to the end of the post.
The President is doing something here that’s interesting: he’s using the insider language of Senate staffers and longtime lobbyists. He’s asking senators to “release their holds, and allow the hotline to clear…”
What he’s saying there is that he wants this to pass the Senate by Unanimous Consent, which it did under the last session of Congress, but then didn’t go anywhere in the House. This session of Congress a bill has passed the House, and one committee in the Senate, but hasn’t yet cleared the whole Senate.
Will that work?
All the insiders I’m talking to say no. But the quote that Kimberly used as the kicker in her story in the Palm Beach paper that President Trump very possibly read is exactly right: “Nobody expects it to get a vote, but nobody expected it to get a vote in the House either, so I remain optimistic.”