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Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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September 19, 2003
Governor Frank O'Bannon memorial service
Our governor Frank O'Bannon died last weekend. Today, Friday 9-19-03 we had a big outdoor public memorial service [broadcast live on C-Span].
Frank O'Bannon seemed like a decent enough fellow, as machine politicians go. He didn't provide much leadership on the biggest real issue of his time, the state's messed up property tax system. It took strong judicial intervention to eventually force O'Bannon and the legislature to deal with it. Oh well, if that's the worst complaint against him, then he wasn't so bad. And hey, it's not like the Republicans were any models of non-partisan co-operation.
O'Bannon worked and played pretty well with others. Even in the fairly harsh political climate of our times, our governor did not engage in the politics of personal destruction. He never demagogued his opponents, or engaged in harsh personal criticism. I don't recall ever seeing him run nasty attack ads.
By all appearances, he was a nice guy. He was a good family man. Even in life, you would have been hard pressed to find anyone who had much personal complaint against him.
Still, there were some things in the memorial service that did somewhat bug me. Don't get me wrong- this was in no way comparable to the despicable spectacle of the infamous Paul Wellstone memorial last year. O'Bannon had a nice, dignified service. Please take this then as friendly Hoosier family criticism.
One thing that bugged me was the nature of most of the praise, led especially by Senator Evan Bayh, for whom O'Bannon served as lieutenant governor. What great things O'Bannon did for the state! The top hyped thing was how he provided more generous health care to The Children. Also, he built a new monument to something or other.
Hey, it's not like HE did any of this. He was not a doctor donating his time to working in clinics, nor was he paying for any of it. You don't deserve credit for your great beneficence for spending OTHER people's tax money on welfare and monuments. Bill Gates and even danged ol' Ted Turner should get that kind of credit- they've given billions of dollars of THEIR OWN MONEY. If you're going to praise people for generous Indiana child welfare spending, then praise all those taxpayers going to work every day. THEY are the ones PAYING for the generosity of the governor and legislature.
Also, the careful contrivance of multiculturalism annoyed me. Some woman from some society of Islam gave a prayer in Arabic. I have no complaint against her. She seemed nice enough. But this really had nothing to do with O'Bannon. Did he even know this person? I find it unlikely that he had any interest in Muslim religion, or much personal interaction with Muslims.
It's more of a political statement, then, than any real remembrance of the governor. I'm all in favor of people of different hues and backgrounds, but I hate to think that you can't even have a funeral without carefully including, in the infamous words of James Watt, a black, two Jews and a cripple.
Most annoying, however, was a black preacher from a "Progressive Baptist" church in Ft Wayne. His presentation was a political speech presented as a prayer, asking God's help in continuing O'Bannon's legacy of diversity, and so on. This was a political speech, not a prayer.
I really hate when people do that. I don't dig it from Pat Robertson, and I didn't appreciate it here. I don't mind a religious person participating in public life, but don't purposely muddy the issues. This had jack squat to do with God. It's more like a way of leveraging an agenda in such a way as to make it like you're against God himself if you oppose their poliltics.
On the other hand, they had a barbershop quartet sing "Danny Boy" for O'Bannon. That was very nice.
Also, they closed on a good grace note. They had a children's group of whom O'Bannon was actually a known fan. Sandi Patty led them, complete with numerous ukeleles among other instruments, in singing "Back Home Again in Indiana." Now this was uplifting. It was actually even surprisingly good musically.
Parting words went to Julia Carson, who represents the Indianapolis congressional district O'Bannon lived in. I particularly dislike her, but even I have to say that she did well today. Perhaps some of O'Bannon's basic niceness rubbed off on her for a day. She made just a bit of light humor, and a couple of nice Bible verses to send the crowd on their way.
Minor complaints aside, it was respectful and dignified send-off for a decent human being and proud Hoosier.
Frank O'Bannon, 1930 - 2003. RIP.
posted by Al at 9/19/2003 06:16:00 PM
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