Greatness Changes: It doesn’t just go away.

In his time he was one of the most powerful men in America. At 78 former Senator Pete Domenici’s name still holds power but he is the first to say it’s not like it used to be.

On this side of the lights, a camera inches away, I sit asking questions of this man who served in the U.S. Senate from 1973-2009.

He tells me at the beginning of the interview he will do his best to remember details of the events that happened but feels it’s more important to talk about the man (Senator Mark Hatfield) who was more than a colleague but a friend that he loves.

As he spoke I watched the return of the Senator Pete Domenici that people talk about. He looked back and forth between my eyes and the eye of the camera and spoke with a softness that still commanded power. I couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like, in his prime, when he stood on the floor of the senate and spoke about what he believed.

Here in this room, with me, is a man who understands what age takes away but what he may not have seen, because of his proximity to his own perceptions, was what those of us working on the Hatfield Project clearly experienced. This is still a man of greatness.

As the Senator continued to speak I kept thinking to myself “How did I get here?” I can’t help thinking, the deeper we move into this documentary on Senator Mark Hatfield’s life that something even bigger will emerge.

Greatness is an illusive description. In the public eye it comes and goes but when you sit down with those who’s lives help define it you realize as greatness ages it just looks different and it never needs to look back.