A Little Life Lesson From California Recall Election

The night of California's recall election was a different kind of night.

Soon after the news networks projected Governor Gavin Newsom to have defeated the recall effort against him, and on his way to a win by a 2-1 margin, he walked into the state’s Democratic Party headquarters and made comments to reporters and then said good night.

Unlike what usually happens when a politician wins an election, especially by a large margin, there is a noisy music-filled victory celebration. But there was no party last night for Gavin Newsom as he left the podium after a few minutes and prepared to continue his job as California’s governor.

Many of those who watched or heard what he had to say last night remarked that it was unusual for him to have said he was humbled by what had happened in the recall election. It is rare for most politicians to express humility but the fact that Newsom expressed it, seemed surprising to some of the political pundits.

Having survived the threat of being kicked out of office before his term is up is probably the kind of thing that can and probably should humble you. And in fact, wouldn’t it be nice if all politicians were more humble?

Humility though is one of those character traits that is lacking in a lot of our political leaders. Maybe what happened in California last night will serve as one of those little lessons of life for other leaders who are supposed to be public servants

(Photo Getty Images)