The RP Celebrates A Month Clean & Sober (From Politics) w/a Diverse Array of Osama Commentary

Yesterday was an historic day for the country, and an exciting anniversary for The Recovering Politician.

We marked the one month birthday of this web site with a series of posts that proved why a post-partisan forum for civil dialogue is so essential. Without ratings-generating hype, partisanship, rancor, chest-thumping, or name-calling, our contributors provided a diverse set of thought-provoking posts about the meaning of Sunday night’s history-making events.

If you haven’t had a chance to read yesterday’s pieces, here you can browse through the links to posts by former Congressman Artur Davis, history professor Ronald J. Granieri, New York transplant Mark Nickolas, State Senator/international businessman Jason Atkinson, and myself (here and here).

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Yesterday, of course, I also celebrated a month of sobriety, from the toxicity of the political system.

My recovery has been spectacularly easy. First, a ten-day period of unemployment, highlighted by a family spring break in San Francisco (the celebration muted only slightly by the UConn basketball team). Then, my first few weeks in the private sector in more than a decade.

While the real world offers its own bureaucracy (health care applications, time sheets), it’s been undeniably liberating. I’m working on the kinds of issues that drove me into public service in the first place (climate change, energy independence), and I can see progress just a short distance into the horizon.

Best of all, I’ve had tons of quality and quantity time with my family. My proudest accomplishment in the private sector has been attending all of Abby’s high school tennis matches.

I’ve been asked numerous times if I miss my political fix. That’s easy: Not for a second.

And that’s largely because of you. In four short weeks, The Recovering Politician has grown in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Our outstanding contributing writers have been well-received, and already have drawn us some very positive national attention. Best of all, so many of you have joined the conversation — on the site, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

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I want to take the opportunity to ask for your help one more time. Reflecting back on the past 30 days, what did you like best? What missed the mark? What have we failed to do? What can we do better?

Please give me your candid feedback in the comment section below. We want to make this site best reflect your interests.

Thanks again for your support. I look forward to celebrating many sobriety anniversaries together.