Political realities
Regarding William Donald Schaefer, the 84-year-old state comptroller who faces a real challenge in the Democratic primary, McDaniel College political scientist Herb Smith remarks:
"Few politicians, or professional athletes, know when it's time to go. The stage, the allure of fame, the simple fact that in America, we are what we do overcomes hard-edged self-objectivity."
Smith is a political historian, too, and reminded us of Rep. Clarence "Doc" Long, who served the Second District in Baltimore County for a couple of decades, until he was finally defeated by Republican Helen Delich Bentley in 1984, in the second Reagan landslide. "Long was a mere shadow of himself in the final terms," Smith says. He was 75 at the time, and his advancing years certainly played a part in his defeat.
Peter Jay, who produced an excellent column in The Sun for several years, wrote that Long "satisfied the voters in his district, irritated his colleagues, intimidated his staff. He was a respected man, in his day, and few would deny that he served his district and the nation well. But he was a loner with a surly streak . . . He understood the anonymity that comes with departure from elective office, and before he experienced it he often referred to it with cold realism. But that didn't make dealing with it any easier for him, when at last the time came."
The voters in his district changed and grew tired of Long, who was more liberal than his constituents, though they elected him to 11 terms.
"In the end," Jay wrote, "what happened to Clarence Long is what happens to everyone who hangs around too long. The tide came in and swept him off the beach. Because of his unwilling departure and joyless retirement, his career in retrospect seems more sad than triumphant. If he had stepped down voluntarily a little earlier, this might not be the case. Future Clarence Longs, hoping to protect themselves against this sort of humiliation, might consider a vote for term limits."
