On the recordDecember 13, 2018
I am proud to stand before you today to honor my dear friend and colleague, Senator Flake of Arizona, and to pay tribute to his remarkable work here in the Senate as this optimistic evangelist of democracy. I have been asked a fair amount in recent weeks about my friendship with Jeff--with Senator Flake--whose political beliefs differ very widely from my own. Yes, Senator Flake is a staunch conservative, and if you took a score card of the things on which we have voted the same or believe the same, there would not be a ton of overlap. But he is also a patriot. He is a patriot who deeply loves our country and is willing to work across the aisle to stand up for the values and principles that have made our Nation the greatest on this Earth. Our friendship stems from a foundation in similar experiences and similar worldviews formed at the same time. We are almost exactly the same age. As you heard in his remarkable farewell address, time spent in Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa as a young man truly shaped him and his view of the United States and our place in the world. At just about the same time, I was spending time in Kenya and South Africa having very similar experiences. This period in our young lives shaped our sense that this democracy is special, is important, is worth fighting for, and requires greater sacrifice of us than might be obvious here in the comforts of the United States.…
