Mr. Hoeffel Builds His Dream Blog

In 1948 Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Louise Beavers appeared in a movie called “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” about an urban couple who decide to move to the country and build their dream house. (It was remade as “The Money Pit,” not nearly as good as the original.) As you can imagine, there are many bumps in the road between the first shovel of dirt and the final move-in day. The subplot about the trusty friend who may or may not be putting the moves on Loy’s Mrs. Blandings is wonderfully, subtly done. Beavers, cast, as usual, as the family maid, plays in a pivotal role in Mr. Blandings success at work.

I thought of this movie when I read recently that Joe Hoeffel plans to launch a website and blog in the near future, to be located at www.joehoeffelandfriends.com (don’t visit yet – it isn’t there). I have some advice for Mr. Hoeffel, who represented Pennsylvania in Congress for several terms and a variety of other elected offices before that. Now, I could send these to him privately without my Above Average Jane Lone Ranger mask on, but, much as I think he’s a nice guy, I can’t help but think he will pay more attention to what I have to say in a more public forum.

Before I get to that, though, let me say that I like Joe Hoeffel. In past years I even contributed a little bit to some of his campaigns (for a cumulative total of about $75.00). One year, for my birthday, in lieu of a present, Mr. Jane agreed to pick up the entrance fee to a fundraiser, one of Mr. Hoeffel’s less expensive do’s, to be sure. I’ve spoken to Mr. Hoeffel a few times in person and he has been uniformly pleasant, even when I’ve just run into him on the street and struck up a conversation. Once I had one of the little Janes with me and Mr. Hoeffel conversed in the manner of someone who genuinely likes and is comfortable with children, not as a politician trying to butter up a voter. I have read some of his postings on My DD and found them interesting.

One thing I especially admire is his ability to speak his mind and turn someone’s comment back on them without seeming to offend. At one public meeting I attended, a number of people asked about outsourcing, with all the outrage of those who might have lost their job because of it. Mr. Hoeffel spoke about the problem, but also said that we could not make it illegal to shop at discount stores. I liked that. He pointed out that we were part of the problem ourselves. By demanding lower prices as shoppers and higher returns as investors, we have put companies in a bind. While there are corporate and governmental bad guys out there, we the people are not guiltless in this matter. But I digress. My point is that Mr. Hoeffel spoke to the questioner’s pain and emotion but did not make promises he could not keep. I have observed him doing this in other venues as well.

I hope this quality is present in his site and on his blog. Most politician's blogs are either rabidly partisan, appealing only to those who share the narrow frame of reference or so willing to agree with anyone that they are mind numbingly dull. For Mr. Hoeffel’s blog to maintain any sort of regular readership he will have to allow multiple people to participate or at least to engage other bloggers in conversations across blogs. To do that he is going to have to discuss specifics and not generalities, to stake out some territory on issues, and sometimes stir things up a bit. Just regurgitating the party line won’t bring in anyone.

His support of Mr. Casey’s senatorial campaign has caused some talk as they differ on a number of issues. Just saying that we need to elect a Democratic senator won’t cut it. We need to hear about his differences with Mr. Casey and some valid reasons why we should still support him. Hoeffel’s successor in Congress, Allyson Schwartz, has engendered some discontent with her support of recent bankruptcy legislation. How about that, Joe?

Hoeffel’s announcement said the site would be a place for progressives to gather. Can we start by discussing the definition of progressive and how some of the Democratic party’s stands might be conflict with that definition? Can we talk about those in office who aren’t being whatever progressive is, even if they might have a D by their names? Can we engage in civil discourse on a number of issues? Will there be a mechanism for politely worded disagreement? (Flamers and trolls don’t deserve much respect, IMHO). In other words, will it be a real conversation or just a lecture?

“Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” was a great movie because all of the characters, even the small ones, lent something to the picture. Cary Grant was the star, of course, but his interaction with the rest of the cast made the movie what it was. I hope that Mr. Hoeffel will also let those around the state be a part of his dream, and contribute to his story.