Elizabeth Colbert-Busch on Fear, Courage and the Campaign Trail

“We did not invite Elizabeth Colbert-Busch here because of who her brother is,” said Dart Schmalz with Clemson University. “We invited her here because of who she is, because she's a woman of action.”

Elizabeth Colbert-Busch spoke to a full house Wednesday about her life, her family and her decision to run for the District 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and her loss to Mark Sanford.

She spoke at Clemson's Strom Thurmond Institute as part of the “Step Up to Leadership” series.

Colbert-Busch spoke at Clemson on Wednesday, September 11 – a date that has special significance to her family. She has eight brothers, including comedian Stephen Colbert, and two sisters.

On September 11, 1974, a plane carrying her father and two of her brothers went down just short of the runaway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. James William Colbert, Jr., Peter Colbert and Paul Colbert were among the 72 people killed in the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 212.

Colbert-Busch said her mother held the family together afterward and led by example.

“My mother, a woman, the leader in our family, showed us the way,” Colbert-Busch said. “She had lost the love of her life and two children prematurely. You know she said. 'Life is good – it's difficult, it's hard but it's good, and live with it joy.'”

She said her mother's courage as been a touchstone of her own life.

“I watched this magnificent woman move through this,” Colbert-Busch said. “Courage. Courage. Stand up. Speak out.”

After her divorce, Colbert-Busch realized she could not get a job.

“I don't have an education,” she said. She'd left the University of South Carolina to help her mother after the plane crash.

Her mother had the answer.

“What did my mother say? 'You're going to college. You're going to get that degree, you're going to finish school and you're not ever going to depend on anybody financially ever again.'” Colbert-Busch said. “Your mentor – the person who drives you, right? Who drives you? Who is that person? My mother.”

Colbert-Busch graduated on the National Dean's List and began working at Oriental Overseas Container.

“This is the waterfront, this is a male-dominated industry,” Colbert-Busch said. “I had to work like nobody's business to prove that a woman could do it. But I did it. I became the first female Director of Sales and Marketing for one of the top ocean carriers in the world. I traveled the world. I had an unbelievable, unbelievable work experience in international trade and business.”

“Change takes courage and you just have to be willing to try, just try,” she said. “All somebody could do is tell you no.”

She talked about fear.

“How long have we heard it's the worst economy since the Great Depression? And that's the truth,” Colbert-Busch said. “That's the truth and everybody's afraid. We're afraid, we're afraid, we're afraid. And we're being told we should be afraid. You know what? No. No. Courage. Is it scary out there? Yes it is. Is it tough? You bet it is. Does that mean you just be quiet and sit in a corner? No! You stand up. You have courage.”

The atmosphere of fear caused the great things happening at Clemson, in South Carolina, in the First District, to be downplayed or ignored.

“The sky is not falling, Henny Penny,” Colbert-Busch said. “Our best days are ahead of us.”

A poll of the district revealed constituents' biggest concerns were employment, education and healthcare.

Colbert-Busch said she felt her business and academic experience and her connections to the medical field would make her a strong candidate. So she entered the race.

“What a ride,” she said. “It was like riding the nose of a rocket. It was enlightening, it was intriguing, it was eye-opening, it was shocking, it was sad, it was joyful, it was a roller coaster of emotions.”

She said the best part of the race was going out and meeting everyone in the district.

“I'm so glad I did it,” Colbert-Busch said. “I wouldn't trade it for anything.”

She said everyone she talked to was concerned about jobs, education and healthcare.

She said that in today's political world, “nobody talks to each other.”

“It's become a position of power rather than public service,” Colbert-Busch said. “This has got to stop. We are their boss. We can vote them in and we can vote them out. And they don't need to forget that.”

Several people in the audience urged Colbert-Busch to run for office again.

She was also asked what could be done to take the negativity out of politics today.

She said people have to lead by example.

Colbert-Busch said she had promised herself and her family that “I would never say anything negative about who my opponent was going to be.”

“I would talk about my platform, I would talk about her platform, I would talk about the issues only,” she said. “I wasn't going to get into the fray. I wasn't going to get down in the mud. I refused to do it. I made that promise and I feel very proud that's what we did.

“I wanted to stay focused on what District 1 wanted to stay focused on – jobs, workforce and healthcare,” Colbert-Busch said. “So we stuck with that.”

She also pledged to never bring her opponent's family “into the mud.”

“Let's just talk about the issues, let's talk about the policies, let's talk about your performance, let's talk about your record,” Colbert-Busch said. “Your personal life should not come into play – and especially if it's going to hurt any of the children.”

She was stunned about the negativity from Sanford and his campaign.

“I thought, 'Oh, this campaign will be all about policy,' and it wasn't,” Colbert-Busch said. “On my side it was. On my campaign's side it was.”

She said the younger generation would have to “make a change.”

“I hate to put the ball in your court, but we are leaving you a very difficult situation that has to be fixed,” Colbert-Busch said. “You're going to make the decisions who the leaders are for the next fifty to a hundred years. Decide what you want, because I remember a day when you voted for a candidate. You didn't vote for a party.”

After her father's death, both Sen. Strom Thurmond and Sen. Fritz Hollings invited her to Washington to work for the summer.

“That was a day when they talked to each other,” Colbert-Busch said. “That was a day when they did constituent service. That was a day when a vote counted. It wasn't about the party; it wasn't about signing pledges. It was about pledging your commitment to the people of your district. Strom Thurmond and Fritz Hollings knew how to do that. They were statesmen. They were diplomats. That was a big influence on my life.”