The House Sit-In was a Victory for California Dems … Here’s Why

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA--Sure, the sit-in in the House of Representatives didn’t deliver the vote on gun control legislation that was the stated purpose of the demonstration.

But that’s a very narrow way of looking at the results of the sit-in. Indeed, Democrats ought to call the demonstration a victory for one reason alone:

No one broke a hip.

Indeed, as I watched via Facebook and CSPAN late into Wednesday night, I must confess that I felt very worried about the Congressional members I saw. My worry was that someone would get hurt – doing all that standing late into the night, and holding up those posters.

I got especially worried when so many California Congressional members started speaking during prime time in California – and after 11p back on Capitol Hill. They looked awfully old, and that was even with the less than HD cell phone camera broadcasting their talks.

Grace Napolitano, who appeared for a while, is 79. Nancy Pelosi is 76. Maxine Waters is 77.

Even the California Congressional members who we think of as young are pretty old. My Congresswoman, Judy Chu, who looked like she was having a little trouble with one of the signs, is 62. Xavier Becerra is 58.

The good news is that I still recognized them. Congress has been so stalemated—and thus irrelevant—that it took a sit-in to get people really paying attention to Congress. It’s been years since many California Congressional members have tasted the limelight.

Of course, being unrecognizable is bad for a politician. But there are worse options. After all, they could be California Republicans.

(Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square ... where this column originated.)

-cw