Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 89
I agreed with practically all the broad-stroke descriptions of Gramm’s policies and with
his vision for America and the world. It was a thrilling discovery to actually participate on
the outer fringes of the inner circles of a presidential campaign. Gramm was one of the
famous political fundraisers in America, and he had accumulated an impressive war
chest for the campaign. Despite successful funding, his indefatigable vigor and, to me,
the excellence of his message, he could not reach a large enough swath of the public to
catch national prominence. His message, I think, was perceived as too technical and
confined to economic issues. It was also criticized as lacking charisma in its delivery.
Our effort failed when we lost the Louisiana caucuses. The winner, Pat Buchanan, won
because of the militant “go vote” fervor of the religious right that, in an unholy alliance
with the segregationist followers of a former Ku Klux Klan leader named David Duke,
supported him. I was actually a first hand witness to this activity, as it happened right at
the precinct I worked as a Gramm observer in a New Orleans suburb. At the end of the
day when volunteers compared notes, this observation turned out to be common in all
the precincts we had worked. The Louisiana win temporarily inflated the sails of
Buchanan’s narrow policies that at times evoked faint tunes of dogmatic Islamic
isolationism heard in the Middle East. This defeat killed Gramm’s wider vision of open
trade and greater role for the individual in society. It was, in my view, a loss for America
and the world.
During George W. Bush first campaign for Governor of Texas, I was once more heavily
engaged in political funding, meriting the inclusion of my name among his most
significant supporters in an article of the Dallas Morning News dated September 26,
1995. Since the first time I met him, I realized his leadership qualities, which added to
his easy disposition and engaging personality, made him, in my eyes, a great candidate
for the job.
On April 25, 1994, he called on me at my office, which was in the Aerofit building.
Aerofit is a health fitness center that I then owned. We celebrated our mutual friendship
by going out for a run and then, after a quick shower, we were off to shake hands with
laborers at a construction site my company had at the time. He was totally at ease with
the workers and everyone else. The funny thing was that many laborers wouldn’t
believe it was him, for they could not imagine that such an important candidate would
actually take the time to go see them. When later they finally believed that they had just
shaken hands with the governor-to-be, they became his avid supporters even though
most had never voted before.
A few months after his inauguration as Governor I thought that the unending spiral of
receptions and political events might have gotten him a bit out of shape, but much to my
elated surprise I was wrong. The Governor had actually improved in his running and
now could easily beat me in training runs at Memorial Stadium in Austin at noon on
summer days. When after two and a half miles he was still going at 6’30” pace and I
could no longer keep up with him, he would run another half mile and start talking about
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