ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 12, 1995 TAG: 9512130001
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ELLEN GOODMAN
PAT SCHROEDER describes the last few days with just the right mixture of humor and wonder. ``It's like reading about your funeral,'' says the congresswoman from Colorado, ``only with a funeral, your family has to write the thank-you notes.''
First there were the news reports of her retirement that invariably talked about her in past tense. Then there was the Republican sign in her district announcing: ``SHE'S GONE!'' Next there was the glee with which Rush Limbaugh told his dittoheads, ``Christmas is indeed early, ladies and gentlemen.''
And of course there were the calls flooding her Capitol Hill office from supporters who were all, in a word, ``bummed.'' Finally there were the flight attendants who surrounded her on a plane asking ``How can you do this to us?''
Even in a season when politicians are deserting Congress as if it were a sinking ship - at last count 19 representatives and 12 senators - Pat Schroeder's retirement hit a nerve. For some 23 years, she's represented two constituencies: the 1st District of Colorado and a national community of women. They've both counted on her wit, her energy, her commitment to women and family issues. They've counted on her being there.
``People keep asking me, 'Are you sick? Is your mother sick? Do you have a federal judgeship in your pocket?' I'm not looking at retirement, I'm not going to take up needlepoint. I just want to do something else while I have the time and energy.''
Schroeder explains this at the kitchen table of the modest home she bought by telephone in 1972. She rode into office, as she likes to joke, on George McGovern's coattails.
The house has the warm cluttered look of family life that you would expect from a woman who still signs her letters with smiley faces. It's pure Schroeder - as opposed to Martha Stewart - from the vintage avocado wall-oven, circa 1956, to the Christmas tree, circa 1995, to the dog ``Wolfy,'' circa 1979.
A window ledge is covered with bottles. A ``very special son'' ribbon is still pinned onto the bulletin board. There are photos everywhere. On the loaded fireplace mantle sits a drug company giveaway: a glass ovum that lights up.
An old campaign poster - ``If She Wins, We Win'' - shows the ponytailed 31-year-old Pat when she, her husband Jim, her 6-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son arrived at this house and the other House. Now, she says, ``I toilet-trained my children here and went through menopause here and if I'm going to do anything else, I have to do it now.''
Schroeder is not about to admit or even believe that she is being driven out by the angry new crowd. In fact, the designated Dean of the Women in Congress was never one of the boys. Even when the Democrats were in control, ``I was a minority in a majority.''
But it's clear that the recent changes in Congress have taken their toll. Frustration lurks just below the surface of Schroeder's normal high spirits. ``There's this angry populism targeted at government. It's mindless. I get up every day and that's the forum I'm operating in. Get mad about this, blow up that.
``We're in kill-or-be-killed politics now,'' she says. ``People take every issue and think, 'What kind of a 30-second ad would that make?' It's gotten so surly and so mean because there isn't a theme for this pudding.'' Instead of debating what this country is about, campaigns are fought over wedge issues and personalities.
Of course, the woman who used the phrase ``Teflon president'' to describe Ronald Reagan is no slouch in the sound-bite contest. As someone portrayed by Soldier of Fortune magazine with a bull's eye around her head, she's familiar with conflict.
But what is clearly troubling her and many other progressives is that ``we lost the national dialogue. If you listen to talk radio, if you watch the Sunday pundits, you say, `How far can this go?' The things I hear make me nuts. I want to think about what in the world happened and how to turn it around.''
What next? Schroeder doesn't know, but repeatedly mentions getting together with people like Mario Cuomo and Ann Richards and figuring out how to change the dialogue. In an offhand line that may be directed more than a little to herself, Schroeder adds, ``It's time to stop quipping and start thinking.''
As for women like the flight attendants who told Schroeder, ``We worry about who will stand up for us''? Well, the congresswoman answered, ``You need to worry. We all need to worry. I'm just one vote.''
Next year, it'll be one vote less. But after 55 years of age and 24 years of service, Pat Schroeder isn't disappearing. You might even say that the Dean of the Women in Congress is ready to graduate.
- The Boston Globe
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB