''Freedom of speech is not guaranteed to be pleasant,'' stated U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, as he greeted the overflow crowd of supporters and local officials at his annual holiday party recently. Against the dramatic waterfront backdrop at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy's Officers' Club, Rep. Ackerman spoke of a nation working together, supporting the administration, yet reserving the right to criticize constructively.

Setting the tone for the bipartisan speech to come, NYS Senator Michael Balboni, the Republican representing the seventh senatorial district, introduced Congressman Ackerman. Senator Balboni emphasized ''free, open debate ... on both sides of the aisle.''

Rep. Ackerman opened, speaking of ''the psyche of our country.'' He went on to discuss ''people of good will, well intentioned" and whether or not they have the right to ''speak out and be critical of their government.'' His answer was ''yes," as he stated, ''freedom of speech is not guaranteed to be pleasant.'' The congressman said that ''we must not become so arrogant ... that we want no criticism.''

Rep. Ackerman went on to emphasize that ''we can be self-critical'' and we would ''start to erode ... it would be a turning point'' if we could not be self-critical. And then he stated that such self-criticism does take place in our government and that even though it is ''important that we come together at this time,'' it is also quite important to allow for dissent.

However, the congressman placed even more emphasis on the idea that at ''critical and crucial times ... perhaps now'' we should not criticize just for political reasons. He said that to criticize just for sheer politics ''rather than public discourse'' is ''rather unseemly'' at this time.

Congressman Ackerman then stated that he is a ''partisan Democrat,'' but if anyone ''secretly hopes and works for the failure of the government just for political reasons, this is not the purpose of public discourse.''

As his party, and this riveting, extemporaneous speech, came the day after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Congressman Ackerman stated: ''Yesterday was a very good day.'' He added that the ''Commander-in-Chief gets the credit'' and would receive the blame if anything went wrong.

Continuing along the lines of bipartisan support, Rep. Ackerman stated: ''I'm a Democrat, but he's my president and I do not want him to fail ... I do not want him to fail on national security, or our country fails and that is not acceptable.''

Rep. Ackerman then said that in ''these tough times we must work together to support our efforts ... and then criticize if we think they (the administration) have gone astray.''

Turning back to the national security issue, the congressman did say that we must ''be careful and protect our borders,'' but he also said that ''we can't close off our shores.'' Rep. Ackerman believes that ''our country is great because we all came from different places.'' And while we must protect our borders ''against those who would do us harm,'' we ''can't cut off our life's blood, the best the world has to offer.''

As Gary Ackerman thanked the crowd of loyal supporters, he introduced local dignitaries and staff members and then he proudly introduced his family. ''We all work hard to make a better life for our children,'' he stated. ''We have to do a better job ... we should listen to our children.''

And although the crowd was large and the hour grew late, Gary Ackerman somehow found the time to greet each and every guest and offer individual words of encouragement, words of thanks to his constituents.