Why Jim McDermott Thinks Global, Disdains Local

Where was Seattle's Jim McDermott? Being knighted by the king of Lesotho, a monarchy about the size of Maryland located in the middle of South Africa.

McDermott has now joined the Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe (named for the kingdom's founder). King Letsie III recognized McDermott for his work on the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which helped make Lesotho Africa's No. 1 exporter of apparel to the United States and created 50,000 new jobs in the country, according to McDermott's office. (A few weeks later, the king issued another decree, asking his populace to spend the next three Sundays praying for rain.)

It was standard M.O. for McDermott, whose district extends south to SeaTac and north to Shoreline. While many members of Congress stay busy filling potholes (or the equivalent), Seattle's nine-term representative in the House can more often be found trotting the globe, visiting the world's most impoverished, ignored, or outcast countries, seeming more like an appointed ambassador of leftist good will than the elected representative of a Pacific Northwest city.

Data from D.C.-based research service LegiStorm (which tracks the trips paid for by private and public interests) indicate that, since 2000, only six of the 535 members of Congress have traveled more than McDermott. His prewar trip to Iraq in 2002—where he declared, "I think the president would mislead the American people"—made national headlines. And in 2006, he became one of the first U.S. lawmakers to set foot in North Korea. This year he's been to Germany and has checked in with heads of state in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia. Later this month, he'll travel to Cuba to research its health care system (recently celebrated in Michael Moore's Sicko).

His legislative agenda is similarly internationalist in scope. This spring he introduced a bill to prevent the deportation of a California resident who'd been convicted in Bangladesh of murder in connection with a 1975 coup in Pakistan. And this session he is again the co-chairman of the Congressional India Caucus, which advocates for issues important to India and Indian Americans.

Is this the representation Seattle actually desires? Or are Seattleites no more active or engaged than the voters in countless other districts who lazily return their incumbents year after year, regardless of their record?

With the Democrats back in control of the House, McDermott now a subcommittee chairman on Ways and Means, and a growing list of local needs, at least some in Seattle are starting to wonder if they still prefer a representative more in the mold of Bono than Warren Magnuson.

Being knighted wasn't actually on McDermott's August itinerary; it was just a happy surprise. He had gone to Africa on his own dime to see his wife, Therese, a Seattle trial lawyer who is currently living there and working to promote AIDS awareness. The couple went whale watching off the coast of South Africa, saw gorillas in the jungles of Rwanda, and sampled wine at South African vineyards. McDermott also took time out for more serious pursuits, including an informational visit to eastern Congo, where the AIDS epidemic and battles over natural resources have claimed millions of lives in the past decade. The call to be knighted came as he was in Lesotho to celebrate the one-year anniversary of a medical clinic run by Paul Farmer, an American doctor known for his efforts in Africa. Unprepared for an audience with the king, McDermott says he had to borrow a shirt and jacket.

Over coffee last month at his favorite downtown cafe—Senso Unico, though McDermott calls it Mario's, after the owner—McDermott says it was hard to return to the States, particularly since he roamed Africa untethered by e-mail or the Internet after his BlackBerry charger broke. "You hear people talk about culture shock," McDermott says, his grandfatherly features settling into a soft smile. "It was being away from this, seeing the problems of AIDS, poverty, all that's going on, and then coming back to Washington [D.C.] and realizing you could pick up the paper and it was almost like the day you left."