Tuesday, August 05, 2008 - So McCain won last week. If I’m Camp Obama, I’d rather loose a week in the summer than in early November (think 2007 New England Patriots). The key for Obama will be how he bounces back, does he get back on message and use McCain’s “playbook” to illustrate how there’s nothing designed to address the real issues (economy, energy, Iraq, etc.).
For that matter, if Obama wants to give the Republicans a run for their money, wants to try to put this thing away early, the real challenge is for him to throw REAL substance at the issues, make McCain speak to the issues.
If he doesn’t - or can’t, then THAT'S a problem, and McCain SHOULD be nipping at his heels.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Sunday, August 03, 2008
My Son: Congressional Intern
Spence spent this summer as an intern for Congressman Gary Ackerman of eastern Queens (our former district). Carol and I took a trip to our nation's capital to have our son give us a tour of The Capitol (how cool is that)! Tour highlights were:
- Seeing him walk towards us down a long corridor of the Rayburn Building, one of three buildings where congressmen have their offices (think the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark) in intern uniform, black slacks, shirt and tie, like he's worked there for a lot longer than six weeks
- Taking us on the route that all House members take to get to the House of Representatives. I remember seeing a President taking that route, (via handheld camera) to deliver a The State of the Union one year, walking where we were now walking, under the bowels of The Capitol, and on the way back taking the tram to the Rayburn Building
- Viewing the original hall where the Supreme Court met, where cases in the early/late 1800s were heard, most notably the Dred Scott decision that Slavery was constitutional which caused Lincoln (among others) to speak out and brought the nation closer to Civil War
- Walking through the National Statuary Hall, where Congress used to meet, before it grew to 435 members. There’s a legend that the acoustics enabled John Adams to feign sleep and hear the other side of the House plot against his party, or enable him and his son John Quincy to communicate across the room via whispers, and you see interns bend down at opposite ends of the Hall, cup their hands and whisper at the tiles. Speaking of tile, there are gold tiles that denote the spot where desks of future presidents Millard Fillmore and James Buchanan were positioned
- The Rotunda. It felt like our version of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome, only truly American. From the image of Washington in the dome, a la Tiepolo, to the eight huge paintings on the walls describing freedom. Four before and four during/after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. My favorite was of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with the painter (a Jeffersonian) taking the poetic license of having Jefferson standing on the foot of John Adams.
- Going back to the Rayburn, passing Barney Frank's and Dennis Kucinich’s offices, viewing great memorabilia in Congressman Ackerman’s office including a used base from Shea in Lucite frame hanging on the wall, an illustrated map of all the great jazz musicians who've resided in Queens (including Louie Armstrong in Corona), and a sign from Fort Totten park (where the kids used to play baseball and football with DAC, overlooking the Throgs Neck bridge
- Meeting the staff, watching their interplay with Spence, and their fielding calls from constituents and others (most of them are not calling to congratulate the Congrssman) who get to Ackerman's name because it’s the second on the list of congressmen alphabetically.
- Seeing him walk towards us down a long corridor of the Rayburn Building, one of three buildings where congressmen have their offices (think the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark) in intern uniform, black slacks, shirt and tie, like he's worked there for a lot longer than six weeks
- Taking us on the route that all House members take to get to the House of Representatives. I remember seeing a President taking that route, (via handheld camera) to deliver a The State of the Union one year, walking where we were now walking, under the bowels of The Capitol, and on the way back taking the tram to the Rayburn Building
- Viewing the original hall where the Supreme Court met, where cases in the early/late 1800s were heard, most notably the Dred Scott decision that Slavery was constitutional which caused Lincoln (among others) to speak out and brought the nation closer to Civil War
- Walking through the National Statuary Hall, where Congress used to meet, before it grew to 435 members. There’s a legend that the acoustics enabled John Adams to feign sleep and hear the other side of the House plot against his party, or enable him and his son John Quincy to communicate across the room via whispers, and you see interns bend down at opposite ends of the Hall, cup their hands and whisper at the tiles. Speaking of tile, there are gold tiles that denote the spot where desks of future presidents Millard Fillmore and James Buchanan were positioned
- The Rotunda. It felt like our version of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome, only truly American. From the image of Washington in the dome, a la Tiepolo, to the eight huge paintings on the walls describing freedom. Four before and four during/after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. My favorite was of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with the painter (a Jeffersonian) taking the poetic license of having Jefferson standing on the foot of John Adams.
- Going back to the Rayburn, passing Barney Frank's and Dennis Kucinich’s offices, viewing great memorabilia in Congressman Ackerman’s office including a used base from Shea in Lucite frame hanging on the wall, an illustrated map of all the great jazz musicians who've resided in Queens (including Louie Armstrong in Corona), and a sign from Fort Totten park (where the kids used to play baseball and football with DAC, overlooking the Throgs Neck bridge
- Meeting the staff, watching their interplay with Spence, and their fielding calls from constituents and others (most of them are not calling to congratulate the Congrssman) who get to Ackerman's name because it’s the second on the list of congressmen alphabetically.
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