European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse 4 fat the political life and discourse of Cokie Roberts by Sylvia Lawler Allentown morning Call i okie Roberts who is everybody s sensible and admired big sister says she has t Al ways gotten that respect from the boys. But it always seems so automatic when she commands it / shutting Down Sam Donaldson during the round table free for Allon this week with David. Named one of fifty women we love by Esquire Magazine picked by Abc news to sub for Ted Koppel Onnig Olinc. t men always listened to her always paid attention to what she had to say no said Almpst-51-year-old Mary Martha co Rinne Morris Claiborne Boggs Roberts by Telephone from her Washington office. I think it took getting older and More obviously credentialed and also i think that a lot of what i have to say is just common sense and people sort of respond to that. I think that one of the Nice things about getting older is that peo ple do pay More attention to but surely by the time National Public radio s Ca Pitol Hill correspondent joined Abc news in 1988, began jutting that confident jaw and wowing them with her Wellesley sharpened intellect on Brinkley sunday morning Public affairs show. I Don t think that s True she said. Not that any body was in any Way mean or not polite. Quite the contrary. People were very gracious. But i think i did have to prove myself and was very aware of that. One of the advantages of being older is that i have been around Long enough to know How to behave in situations like that. Which is which is not to impose yourself in stantly or come on too Strong at the beginning said this daughter of the South and child of Congress. Her Mother took Over the Louisiana congressional seat held for 32 years by her father House demo cratic majority Leader Hale Boggs when his plane disappeared Over Alaska in 1972. Getting out to talk to the people is one Way to combat inside the Beltway insularity she says. Audit docs not Hurt to meet her television constituency because Roberts believes her crop of women in broadcasting the Diane Sawyers and Judy Wood ruffs and Cokie Roberts will have to wage still an other Battle of acceptance in the coming decades and that concerns ageism. A whole generation of us who came in 30 years ago Are now in our late 40s and Early 50s, and we Don t know what s Gonna does her doubt concern the american viewers letting them stay on the air or with network television s male Hierarchy both but i think it s More with the Hierarchy. It s possibly the viewers who could end up being the Sal vation one would Hope were there a problem. Obviously How you look is important and How a woman looks is More important than How a Man looks. And there is a serious question about How Long they la let a Bunch of women who Are getting wrinkled and a Little thicker around the Midriff stay on the a reminder that Barbara Walters once said that Anchor women Don t get older they get blonder brought an appreciative Roberts Guffaw and then and god knows she has been there blazing the Trail and All by herself for a Long time. We should All be Down on our Knees to Roberts who knew Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn As family friends allows that some who have known Congress longer than she says there were giants s so hard to know How much of your View of Cokie Roberts says of the Walters we should All be Down on Bur Knees to her.1 Abc these things is shaped by time. I was a child then and i m a woman now. The people who seemed Gigantic to me then might not seem As Gigantic to me As an adult but there Are people i have talked to who knew the Senate when it had Richard Russell and Hubert Humphrey and Everett Dirksen and when you say to them is it just getting older or is the sen ate really different they say the Senate is different. It s As though you Don t have people with that kind of stature now people who take up a room in that sort of Way. The closest i can see to it is Colin Powell but it s easier when you be never had to run for scandals of the who took a amount of dollars from where variety Don t thrill her but a Good Story can still curl her toes. We can All recognize them if they walk in. If the republicans took the House that would be a great Roberts believes that women traditionally take the longer View which May be Why women seem More troubled More of the time than men. We know that regardless of who is in Power or whatever country is the superpower we re still going to be having babies and changing diapers and taking care of sick people and educating the Young and burying the dead. It s our ardent Hope that people will not get in the Way of our ability to do that so i do think that women in general have a More Distant perspective and that s both our strength and weakness that we Are not As driven As they by immediacy. And i feel that very inversely could it be True that the male tendency to see things More in terms of immediacy was their weakness no kidding came the Roberts Guffaw again. But she maintains a certain understanding boys will be boys stance about her co players in the big leagues. Don t forget she says they might not Al ways think they re right but they have to pretend they think they re right los Angela to Law Washington Post news service november 13,1994 sunday Page 23
