GLORY IN POLITICS rarely comes through moderation. It’s the stuff of visionaries and ideologues, all those who vowed to go where others would not. But while they were out chasing windmills, it was reassuring to know that there was a figure such as Olympia Snowe on hand to ask the tough questions and suggest some practical compromises.
Snowe, the Maine senator who announced her retirement on Tuesday after 33 years in Washington, offered all the virtues of moderation. She thought before she spoke. As a longtime member of the Senate Finance Committee, one of the rare outposts of bipartisan cooperation, she developed an in-depth understanding of the federal budget. While many of her fellow members approached the Senate as a debating society, she considered it primarily a job, and studied hard so she could fairly vet the proposals of her colleagues, left and right. She was rarely the first senator to stake out a position, but her colleagues realized that they needed her support to get their legislation approved.
At 65, Snowe is at an age where many senators would be planning on at least two more six-year terms. A Tea Party conservative was challenging her renomination by the Republican Party, but almost everyone from Portland to Bangor thought she was a lock. Politics, however, was no longer enjoyable for Snowe, and the problem was mainly in Washington, not Maine. Her parting shot against “polarization and ‘my way or the highway’ ideologies’’ should be heard and fully digested by voters across the country, as well as all members of Congress.
In recent years, Snowe provided bipartisan backing for such moves as overturning the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ law and confirming Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. She made clear to the world that not every fight need be partisan. In her willingness to stand up against the worst excesses of a bitter political age, Olympia Snowe did more than serve the people of Maine; she also displayed a kind of understated glory that the capital badly needs.