America Was Welcome to Listen

The most emotional moment in the House impeachment inquiryyesterday, Nov. 19, was when Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, in front of the entirenation, assured his father that he would be all right because their family was safein America now.

“Dad,” said Vindman, the National Security Council’s topUkraine expert, uttering a single word that seemed to stun the bigcongressional hearing room. His father wasn’t there, but he must have heard theword clearly through the surrounding silence.

In that heartbeat of direct-address intimacy, the big, crowdedroom with all of its congressional people and spectators utterly disappeared.

For a moment, so did the stench of President Donald Trump’s proposeddeal that’s gotten him into so much trouble – Ukraine’s public allegation ofdirt against Joe Biden, real or imagined, swapped for nearly $400 million inaid for a desperate nation besieged by Russia.

But now, we had Vindman, this decorated war hero, standingup to Trump, the country’s biggest bully. And Vindman could do it, he said,because of the journey undertaken four decades ago when his family fled Ukraine.

“Dad,” Vindman declared, “my sitting here today, in the U.S.Capitol, talking to our elected professionals, is proof that you made the rightdecision 40 years ago. Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth.”

In that instant, Vindman was not only assuring his father ofhis safety, he was reminding the nation of the classic immigrant’s journey toAmerica – and how this country inspired Vindman and his two brothers todedicate their lives to public service and serve lengthy careers in themilitary.

In a week of hearings devoted to investigating presidentialwrongdoing, Vindman’s words carry heavy implications. We’ve got one ambassadorwho’s already changed his congressional testimony. We’ve got politiciansrefusing to acknowledge obvious truths. And we’ve got potential witnessesdodging subpoenas, either from White House pressure or sheer cowardice, or both.

Vindman stuck with simple facts and reminded us why he feltthe courage to say them out loud.

And then, as if to reinforce his notion, we had Rep. SeanPatrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) asking if Vindman’s father was anxious about his son’sappearance. Yes, his father was “deeply worried,” Vindman said. But his son,the decorated lieutenant colonel war hero, was not worried.

“Because this is America,” he said.

To which a spontaneous burst of applause filled the bighearing room.

Oh, yeah, America.

We can speak our minds here. We aren’t afraid of bullies.We’re the people who stand up to those who would enrich themselves at the costof other people’s lives.

Vindman was talking to his father, but America was welcome to listen.

A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books. His most recent, “Front Stoops in the Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come of Age,” has just been re-issued in paperback by the Johns Hopkins University Press.