Congressman Ami Bera... on governing, campaigning, and American patriotism [13:57-19:00]

Hi, I'm congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and you are listening to Trust Me, I know what I'm doing. Hi, I am congressman Shri Thanedar. Hi, I'm congressman Rokana. Hi, I'm congressman Rajak Krishnamurthy. You're listening to Trust Me, I know what I'm doing with Abhidandika. Welcome back to Trust Me, I know what I'm doing. Let's come back to our conversation with US Congressman Ami Barra. I've heard this said before where your first day as an elected official is exactly also your first day running your next campaign. So I mean, is it this constant battle between governing and fundraising and campaigning where you have to have those lanes running all at the same time. And does it also become, I wouldn't say a struggle, but a fine needle to thread of staying authentic to what you who you've been. And yet every two years having to in a way kind of rethink and reimagine and reinvent yourself so that you can be a part of that next cycle. Yeah, so certainly when you first got elected to this like that, one piece of advice I give candidates and newly elected folks is stay authentic to why you ran stay authentic to your values. Because it's easy to lose yourself if you just try to play to what you think the electorate wants. Believe what you believe, but be open to other perspectives. That said, now that I'm in my sixth term, it probably was the first two or three terms where I had really tough real elections. Now the easiest way to get reelected is just to do your job and be there for your constituents. And I think that does get easier as they get to know you and now they see you as their congressman. Do you feel more comfortable in the role and by comfortable, I mean allowing yourself a little more grace, being able to take slightly more risks. Simply because you know that you have that relationship already developed and you can think a little more boldly or is it always a constant calculation. Now I think it is, it allows you more latitude to engage in more difficult conversations. And clearly there are a lot of difficult conversations out there. But we see, you know, I'm, I'm a senior member on the Foreign Affairs Committee. So, you know, right now we're trying to end a war in Europe. We're trying to contain a war in the Middle East and figure out a way to bring that war to an end, but potentially create a better future for that entire region. And then, you know, my focus area is Asian, the Pacific. And we're trying to prevent a war in Asia. But back to the Middle East, that is a hot initially today. And I don't think we should shy away from that you see a generation that's engaged, but it's incredibly complicated. So I don't shy away from those difficult conversations. I'll talk to my Palestinian American constituents, because I certainly see the tragedy of loss of innocent life. And what does that look like? And how can we avert a humanitarian crisis that's averting that's really evolving right in front of us right now in terms of starvation, lack of food, lack of water, lack of medicines. At the same time, I understand the trauma that the Israeli population went through for seventh, you know, how can we help get the Israeli population to a place where they feel safe and secure as well. Again, super complicated. And I'd say I'm better able to navigate these different conversations today. Some of that is I just have a lot more knowledge base now that and a lot more experience, but it probably is I'm what I'm also more comfortable in my role as a member of Congress. I'm curious because, of course, having served six terms and, you know, being a more senior statesman, if you will, means that you've won a lot of elections. And yet a lot of these conversations are so deeply complex. There are no quick fixes and solutions. And so it's hard to necessarily gather wins when you have complex issues or even stagnancy in motion. And so unlike the role, perhaps of being a physician where you make a decision, you execute it and you rapidly learn, what if you had to perhaps unlearn in being a Congress, Congress member. Probably that they're like, again, let's just stick to this difficult conversation in the Middle East. There's no winner here in necessarily write the what happened on October 7th was tragic.