Democrats vs. Republicans

For this week's programming, we were invited to watch Close-Up on C-SPAN at the Newseum. Clarence Page, syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune and David Brooks, reporter for The New York Times, discussed the media’s role in the presidential election. They asked us before the show started who wanted to ask questions, so those that raised their hands were selected for questions in specific topic areas. A few of our peers were able to introduce the show and the speakers, which aired on C-Span already. I don’t do so well in front of a camera, (I was worried I’d faint or something stupid) so I just sat back and enjoyed the show. Page and Brooks were from different sides of the aisle ideologically, so it was interesting to get to listen to their opinions. As syndicated columnists, they are full of them! Brooks, the Conservative, said he cannot watch Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly because they play for a different team?! Haha, no hard feelings, I would actually agree on that with Ann Coulter, but whether you love or hate Bill O’Reilly he is still a brilliant man. Of course this was Page's opportunity to attack Governor Palin. I’ll be the first to say she has been less than impressive in her interviews, but not everyone can be “the Messiah.” Anyway, it was a great experience to get to watch a live taping of a show and it was a nice change of pace from the other speakers.

Megan and Naveed Introducing Close-Up

As for my internship, it’s been pretty slow since Congress is out of session. If we aren’t attending hearings, we are researching for our clients. Even though Congress is out of session, they are starting meetings important to our clients next week involving the economic situation. Should be interesting! I actually meant that in a non-sarcastic tone, I love going to these meetings.

Have I mentioned that I am taking a class? I didn’t find out that the Washington Center involves a class before I got here. It was a pleasant surprise (supposed to sound sarcastic) one day a week for three hours. I’m sure it said it in the literature, but let’s be honest, who can read everything? My class, "Presidential Leadership and Transition," has about six people in it, so it definitely encourages class participation and discussion. We just finished up analyzing the Constitution, especially focusing on the Executive branch in Article II. Since election day is so close, we have been getting into several discussions about the race. I don’t know how this happened, but before the class started the class naturally divided itself--3 on one side of the aisle and 3 on the other. It only takes one political discussion to figure out where people factor in ideologically-speaking and we found that we'd already divided ourselves by liberals and conservatives. It was really funny when we figured it out. I don’t know what physics law that is, but there has to be something that draws you to similar like-minded people? Who knows, that’s why I study History.