the opinionist

JC Watts exudes a quite intoxicating calm. True, my meeting with the man was only thirty minutes long but if you tried, quite unfairly, to give him one label; one stark quality; ‘calm’ would be mine.

Oscar Wilde suggested, more than once I believe, that ‘nothing is so aggravating as calmness!’ I’d extend that quote one step further and suggest nothing is more aggravating than a calm than a ‘forty something’ that has accomplished more in his life thus far than seven men could possibly hope to accomplish. And to be so calm? Is ‘calm’ a product of that experiences that have molded him or have his experiences been accomplished by his calm demeanor? An interesting thought.

At the age of forty six Julius Caesar Watts has done it all. A star quarterback with the University of Oklahoma and the CFL’s Ottawa Rough Riders and Toronto Argonauts; MVP titles abound. An ordained Baptist. A sports columnist for SportingNews magazine. Chairman of a plethora of companies under the JC Watts banner. A regular political analyst on the Fox News Channel. And did I mention his four terms in Congress as a state representative for Oklahoma and a key member of the House Republican leadership. Not bad.

Technorati Tags: j c watts, politics, president, war on terror, iraq

Representative Watts was heavily criticized for indirectly labeling Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s ilk as ‘race-hustling poverty pimps’ for keeping African Americans dependent on government. Being the Republican party’s sole African-American representative did not, however constrain nor fashion Representative Watts as solely being the GOP’s monotone drum for racial politics; far from it! As chairman of the House Republican Conference Rep. Watts directed the communication of the party’s broad vision on all subjects to the GOP’s members. That’s no mean feat!

So why interview a ‘former’ Congressman? Because somehow JC is not going to sit on his laurels and soak up retirement. He has served his nation with distinction and certainly deserves to ‘spend more time with his family’ but despite his many accomplishments; somehow I believe he’s got a lot more to do!

Interview:

OpEx:Besides your Father, who you obvious deeply respected and admired (according to your book, “What Color is a Conservative?”), who else has given you the energy and guidance to make you what you are? Your inspiration?

Watts: The type of people we become in our adult lives is determined the the foundations we get as a kid. My father, obviously as you read in my book, but also my grandmother, who would verbally twist my ear sometimes. I’ve had coaches, I’ve read a lot of Frederick Douglass, Dr. King, Abraham Lincoln …It’s been a fascinating jorney for me to learn how did Lincoln do it. I mean, can you imagine being the leader of a nation torn by civil war? Brother against brother? Or Winston Churchill in a time of war. All these great leaders, which, by the way I don’t include myself, have a common thread character, of courage, of knowing who and what you are. My foundation gave me a good sense of faith, of knowing who I am. I don’t have to validate myself with or in anybody – with Republicans or Democrats, black, white , red or brown. I have a good sense of who I am. It’s not the good times that determine who you are, it’s the bad times and I’ve had enough good and bad to help me determine who J C Watts is.

So I read your question and I did ask myself how I had the time to do all these things!

OpEx: Why would the man in the street, the Jack Ryans, the Everyman’s, want to run for public office when every weakness throughout your lifetime is examined, analyzed and dragged out into public by our media? What type of personality, what type of individual would want to out themselves through these campaigns of rumor, innuendo, and personal assault?

Watts: I’ve often asked myself that question. Rev. Jackson and I don’t agree on a lot of things but one of the things he’s said that I do agree with is ‘we’re not perfect servants, we’re public servants.’ I think it is very unfair that if you choose to run for public office someone will try to snapshot your life twenty five years ago and project it into your campaign as who you are now. People do and can change and it’s deeply unfair. The political arena today it has become a lot about attacks on personalities with innuedos. It’s easy for people to be scared away, but I would encourage them to understand that it’s important to serve, to make a difference, and I concluded early in my political career that that’s the price you have to pay – as you try to defend the values you believe in, your value system. It’s just the price you have to pay to serve. Throughout history in America, there has always been somebody in this country that has challenged us, as a nation, as to where we want to be in twenty years. These days we’ve become so focused on the next election that we no longer think beyond the next election and I think that Abraham Lincoln, Jack Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, they challenged us, our values. We have nobody out there to encourage us to be our best, not our worst, give our most not our least and that concerns me. Quick gratification is what we’re chasing. At some point in time we’re going to pay a price for that.

OpEx: The nation has never been so polarized, the nation is split 50/50 across party lines and yet the nation has never been so apathetic and disheatrned by the political system. How would you fix this problem should or when you enter public service again?

Watts: Well, lets focus on the next election, … I think we have two futures on our ballot in November, in the Presidential race and many congressional races. A future that says we’re going to totally redefine what family is and we’re gonna shake years of tradition, and culture and say that’s the way it’s gonna be. A future that says we should appease and negotiate with the terrorists and we can make them like us. And then we have a future that says no. we will defend ourselves at any cost. John Kennedy said (paraphrasing) we will defend ourselves and we
will stand with any ally and against any foe that threatens the freedoms of the United States of America. A bully in the playground of an Elementary school in Chicago or a bully in the international community … if you don’t deal with them sooner or later they will terrorize the playground and the international community. You deal with the bully by … dealing with bully. That decision, that future is on the ballot for us to choose.

We’ve got one candidate saying Bush is pandering to the fears of the American people. You know … September 11 2001 was real. It is real that Al Qaida, the Taliban, hate our guts. They hate us because women can own businesses, be chairmen of corporations. We have freedom of speech and religion regardless of religion. We can be critical of our government. People picketed in front of my congressional office and my staff would get upset. I’d say no, don’t get upset, celebrate it. This is what we can do in America! So we have two clear choices on the ballot and if there is ever a time for people to think clearly about voting it is for this next election. They can stay home but if anyone tells me they don’t vote – I don’t want to hear about their complaining and their whining!

OpEx: Will Iraq be the make or break for President Bush? Will the success or failure of our mission in Iraq define Bush’s present term and/or determine a possible second term?

Watts: I think the American people will have to make a decision – who do we trust our security with? Who we do trust our freedoms with? I just don’t see it with John Kerry.

OpEx: Are you saying this choice is regardless of the success or failure of the U.S. venture in Iraq?

Watts: I think we stand a great chance of a shift in Iraq after the June 30th handover. We should not extend the date of the handover. We have to place the face and imprint of the Iraqi people back into Iraq. We can’t continue to occupy Iraq but we can be a force of safety. The sooner we make the transition the better we’re gonna be.

OpEx: Will Iraq’s neighbors allow the U.S. to make Iraq a success, and
the vision the U.S. sees for the middle east?

Watts: I don’t think they want it to be a success. They’ve got terrorists is Iran, in Syria, and throughout the Middle East. The terrorists see the Iraq enterprise as their Super Bowl.

OpEx: What about the states that sponsor these terrorists? Will Iran or Syria allow Iraq to be the success the Bush administration envisages?

Watts: Oh sure, the terrorists are going to try and disrupt anyway they can but they can’t break America’s will. I don’t care where we (the U.S.) are going; in Great Britain, in Africa, in the United States. There is a mechanism in everyone of us from the day we’re born that says ‘I wanna be free’. It’s no different in Iraq. Most people having experienced just a taste of freeform post Saddam Hussein – will make freedom bond for many many years. The will to be free is a very powerful tool. I trust the people will choose opportunity and freedom or lack of opportunity and terror. That’s what I’m betting on!

OpEx: You’re a regular on FoxNews so I’m certain you’d have an opinion on this question: Is FoxNews ‘fair and balanced’ or fairly balanced against the liberal media?

Watts: The Left say they’re a very conservative network. I don’t think they are. Fox tries to give the other side of the story. I don’t believe they are conservative. Bill O’Reilly always pushes himself as an independent. Greta Van Susteren is a Democrat. Horaldo Rivera is a liberal democrat – but I love his reporting! You don’t know where he’s gonna pop up! – Iraq, Syria, you name it. ‘Fair and Balanced’ is a good slogan. I don’t appreciate Fox because it’s fair and balanced but because it presents both sides and lets the American public decide.

OpEx: You book describes your fond memory of sitting on your family porch at the end of the day and your family would recant the adventures of the day. Do you sit on your porch now and do the same?

Watts: I’ve got a confession to make. My wife and I made a conscious decision that she would not work outside the home. I don’t do that as much as I’d like to do! One of the reasons why I left Congress was because I realized that! The last fifteen months I’ve done parent-teacher conferences again, gone to movies midweek with my wife, I do get a chance to go to the mall with the kids and we have a little cattle ranch that gives me quality time with my family. We don’t have porch on my house but I’ve always wanted one and one day I’ll get one because I learnt a great day during my childhood on my family porch. A lot of the times that was where most problems would be solved!

OpEx: Thank you.

Richard Buchanan interview with the Hon. J.C. Watts Friday April 16 2004 in Chicago, IL.

“What Color is a Conservative?” (J. C. Watts, Chriss Winston)

Posted on April 17th, 2004 under Fox News, Interview, Iran, Iraq, J C Watts, President, Syria •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback