Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has few regrets, but one is his injury-forced retirement from the Senate.
“I love this institution,” he said. “I wish I could be here forever.”
In a profile for GW, the George Washington University magazine, the school alum said an exercise accident that blinded his right eye two years ago has forced him to leave.
Longtime congressional reporter Charles Babington wrote in his story, “If a serious workout accident involving elastic bands had not blinded his right eye two years ago, Mr. Reid says, he would have sought a sixth term this year. But the loss of depth perception seriously impairs his stability, especially when descending stairs or inclines. So he felt forced to retire.”
In the exit interview, Reid also took a shot at the Republican-controlled House, and worried that one-party control would spread to the Senate.
“I would hope the Senate would not become another House of Representatives. But unless the Republicans change, that’s where we’re all headed,” he said.
Babington reported that Reid will spend most of his time in retirement in Washington, but not as a lobbyist.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
