Harold Ford Jr. Makes Rare Memphis Appearance

On a devastating election night, nearly three and a half years ago, Harold Ford Junior's 15 month crusade for a Tennessee US Senate seat ended agonizingly short of it's goal.

Addressing a saddened crowd that night, an emotionally drained Ford reflected, "These are moments, you can either shrink from or grow from."

Yet, in spite of having to temporarily abandon dreams derived from a previously skyrocketing political career, an appearance as a guest speaker at the Tennessee Bar Association Convention in Memphis on Friday, proved Ford jr. has grown quite comfortably into a man intent on responding to the beat of his own drum, for right now, at the expense of advancing his personal political fortunes.

Ford told the gathering, "In many ways this presents a real and meaningful opportunity for us to do some different things. To try things at an opportunistic moment and not only to hope, but believe the best will come from it."

Ford, who declined requests for interviews with the Memphis media, basically spoke in generalities about the national and international challenges facing the Obama administration. His carefully crafted themes reflected his stance as the head of the centrist think tank Democratic Leadership Council.

While he acknowledged his support for President Obama, who as an Ilinois Senator, helped generate funds for Ford's ill-fated 2006 Senate run, he didn't exactly rub it in for an audience of lawyers probably evenly split in their political allegiances.

In measured tones, Ford declared, "The great thing about his election is that really the reset button, the renewal button, that we're always able to push in this great country. The race was unremarkable in the sense that it continues a tradition in our country of we, we as Americans, of electing a person who is a response to the person before him."

Sharing the dais with Ford, was former U-S Senator and memorable Watergate Hearings Chairman, Tennessee Republican icon, Howard Baker. He too echoed the need for a middle-of-the-road approach to government rather than being mired in political partisanship in Congress.

Baker insisted, "The political system continues to work. There is a level of polarization. But, there's also a level of cooperation."

There may still be some mental scars from his vigorous 2006 campaign, but it's obvious, Harold Ford Junior has moved on.
He's gone past that fateful crossroad, down a path that may one day lead him back to his dreams.