Remembering Everett Dirksen

As the nation prepares for the inauguration of a president from the state of Illinois, it's worth pointing out that today is the birthday of Everett Dirksen, who was a senator from Illinois before Barack Obama was born.

Dirksen, an old-school Republican, was born on this date 113 years ago. He served for 18 years in the U.S. Senate, the last 10 as minority leader. As a young man, he served in the Army during World War I.

I remember Dirksen's gravelly voice, his rumpled appearance and his oratorical gifts that led to the nickname "The Wizard of Ooze."

He was reliably conservative on economic issues; even the most casual student of American history must be familiar with the statement he made concerning government spending — "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money."

Makes me wonder what he would have thought of a Republican president presiding over the greatest expansion of federal spending in history (it's certainly been a "through the looking-glass" kind of eight years). Perhaps he would have revised his statement to "a trillion here, a trillion there ..."

It's been nearly 40 years since Dirksen died. He succumbed to cancer in September 1969.