You may have seen Rep. Karen Bass on the news a lot lately. She's the head of the House Black Caucus, and was tasked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to head up the effort to bring a new police reform bill before the House. Ms. Bass is my representative, and last night she did a telephone town hall. At one point, she mentioned how the India Ambassador was talking with her the other day, and he wanted to brag. She explained that India has a population of 1.3 billion (which is four times the United States), but the Ambassador noted they only have had 16,000 deaths from COVID-19 -- which she quickly corrected herself, and said, "I mean 12,000." The United States has 120,688 deaths due to the coronavirus. And Mike Pence is telling us this is a "cause for celebration." I mention this all because of what happened in Montgomery, Alabama. The city has been building towards a hospital crisis, as coronavirus cases have been heading up precipitously. On Wednesday, the City Council took a vote on a proposal requiring the public use of face masks. A group of doctors showed up to make an impassioned case for the issue -- but the vote failed to pass by a 4-4, split along racial lines. When the measure didn't pass, Montgomery mayor Steven Reed, who understood the emergency and crisis, stepped in and issued an executive order. That brings us to yesterday. One of the City Council members who voted no, Glen Pruitt, called a press conference. He also invited the doctors who had spoken before the City Council the day before. And he explained why he was mortified by his voted and apologized. As readers of these pages know, Nell Minow and I have formed the Apology Institute of America, of which we are, I believe, the only members. I'll have to check the minutes. We grade public apologies by public figures, most of which are pretty poor, though occasionally an impressively good one crops up -- though even those rarely make an A grade. I can't speak for my partner here, but I'm not only giving Councilman Pruit an A, he gets a rare A+. What's so interesting, for all those who feel they might have reason to make a public apology at some point and are taking notes, is not the rarity of a politician apologizing nor that he didn't have a lawyer write it, but that he gets such a lofty mark for his apology despite not falling over himself apologizing (although it would certainly be okay if he did). Indeed, what makes it a high-grade apology -- the standard for any high-grade apology -- is the understanding of what you did that was wrong, explaining it, and making clear that it wouldn't happen again and why. This is how you apologize.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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