There was much to admire about Bob Dole, the former Kansas senator and unsuccessful presidential candidate who died this past weekend at age 98.
There was his wartime service, which left him maimed for life but didn’t stop his determination to serve his country in political life as he once did in fighting the Nazis.
There was his abilities as a legislator to get things done. If that meant reaching across the aisle, the Republican leader in the Senate was willing and able to do that.
There was his commitment, rooted almost certainly in his own disabilities, to make life better for those with physical handicaps, resulting in the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act.
There was his dedication to fellow veterans, as embodied in the World War II Memorial, whose creation in Washington Dole helped spearhead.
And then there was his wonderful, deadpan sense of humor. Although he could be quick with a quip that cut opponents to the core, Dole, especially in his later years, more often than not directed most of his barbs at himself, including at times when he should have been at his lowest.
As The Associated Press recounted this week, when Dole’s bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 1988 was torpedoed by a loss in New Hampshire to George H.W. Bush, Dole famously joked that after that stinging defeat, he “slept like a baby. Every two hours I woke up and cried.”
Such self-deprecating humor has been replaced too often by narcissism with today’s generation of politicians, who are so in love with themselves that they assume everyone else must be as well.
What Dole, once labeled the “hatchet man” for the GOP, came to understand is that humor works best when it is directed at the person delivering it. Otherwise, it can come off as mean.
Being mean today may not be as fatal for a politician as it was during more mannerly times. But it’s still a character flaw.
Dole might have had flashes of meanness during his long political career, but that’s not how he is remembered. He is remembered as a war hero, an accomplished statesman and a funny guy. That’s a pretty nice epitaph.
