ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- Good mentors can teach us a lot, except how to say goodbye.

One of mine -- who entered my life a quarter century ago as one of my graduate school professors and who I was later fortunate to call "friend" -- schooled me both in and out of the classroom.

Even now, I hear his gravelly voice in my head offering a gentle scolding: "Ruben, before you get sentimental, just give them the facts."

Yessir.

David Gergen -- who advised four presidents (Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton), wrote two books, served as a senior political analyst for CNN and taught at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government where he founded the Center for Public Leadership -- died last week at 83 after suffering from Lewy body dementia.

In class, Gergen taught me about the things he was passionate about: politics, history, leadership, communications and public policy. He went through the succession of U.S. presidents and explained what made each a good leader or a poor one.

One of personal qualities he admired most was resilience. He really respected the ability of some leaders to overcome adversity. Think Franklin D. Roosevelt shepherding America through the Great Depression and guiding us into World War II while battling polio.

Out of class, my friend took the time to help me open some doors and kick down others. He coached me on how to navigate the media minefield, how to explain the complicated in simple terms and how to think strategically about my next career move.

Gergen also taught me how to look anew at the journalism trade that has consumed much of my life for more than three decades. The new vantage point sprang from the fact that, although he spent many years working alongside journalists, he wasn't one himself.

Although he was an excellent writer who would later work as an editor for U.S. News & World Report, he wasn't trained as a journalist -- unless we count that stint in college when he served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News. He never worked as a cop reporter or chased the city hall beat at a daily newspaper.

He did, however, after growing up in North Carolina, serve in the U.S. Navy on a boat docked in Japan, graduate from Harvard Law School, write speeches for U.S. presidents and help shape the communications strategies of both Republican and Democratic White Houses before going into the worlds of media and academia.

The truth is that, while he was working in the White House for those four presidents, his job was to steer journalists away from the story, not toward it -- especially if the truth might cast the boss in a negative light. Journalists have a long list of names for people who serve that role (flack, spin doctor, etc.), and none of them are complimentary.

President Ronald Reagan's White House Chief of Staff, James A. Baker III, recognized Gergen's ability to distill complicated ideas and put policy into context so that everyday Americans could understand it.

"He's the best conceptualizer, in terms of communications strategy, that we have," Baker told the Washington Post in 1981.

Yet, it was also clear that Gergen respected good journalists, and he understood that a free and independent press is essential to democracy. He was also a big fan of what the Founders built -- a constitutional republic with checks and balances.

That may be one of the reasons that, in 2017, my friend changed his party registration from "Republican" to "Independent." He was a "never Trump'er" from the start, a decision I'm sure he never regretted.

As the curtain closed on a remarkable life, Gergen was out of sync with what passes for political commentary these days. He was a good man and an old-school pundit. As someone who chose his words carefully and liked being thought of as a centrist, he had no interest in the snark, the personal attacks, the slash and burn tactics of what I refer to as the yakkity-yak industrial complex.

In 2011, about a decade after I left Cambridge, my friend and I appeared together on CNN to discuss why -- even back then -- our government was broken. He began his remarks by saying what a joy it was to appear with a former student. He was proud of me, and the feeling was mutual.

Thank you, David, for showing up. In a life devoted to service, you were always there for your country, colleagues, family, friends and students. You've earned your rest. We'll take it from here.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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