That night our own Kelly Loeffler gave a sterling performance of holding her own, standing her ground, and delivering the message entrusted to her by her cohort.
Many others have commented on the nationally monitored debate earlier this week that resulted in the Georgia Republican Senator’s robotic performance in her interaction with Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock.
But as an African American I sympathize with the way in which the Senator maintained poise and self control, while presenting herself in the way that many of us are coached to imitate alpha males. The effect is compounded by a kind of terror when we feel our professional image or public power shifting underneath us and threatening to dislodge our imperiled status.
For our Senator the result had a near catatonic effect, evident to all viewers, as the impact left her a key recourse for emotional stability, personal safety, and professional integrity: by all means ‘stay on script.’
For all that I say, ‘Bless her heart!’ as we Southerners knowingly and compassionately invoke here in Georgia. “Bless and do not curse” (Romans 12:14).
And I pray that I never find myself caught in the vise between such colliding forces. But I also offer the preceding commentary as a mediating effort, and as an appeal to the rest of us who continue to witness — while some of us continue to engage — those same terrific forces assailing our fellow citizens who step up and offer themselves for public office: an appeal for understanding.
___________
See the story:
POLITICS – NEWS ANALYSIS
Kelly Loeffler Gets Raked for Being a Robot in Debate: Refuses to Answer Questions About Trump
BY JASON MICIAK DECEMBER 6, 2020
