As I previously announced, I spent a good part of Tuesday morning visiting with the President of the United States. I shouldn't say "visiting." More like "watching him speak." The event was hosted by the good folks at The Manhattan Institute and was concerned primarily with the line item veto (which I am passionately and almost violently against, but I won't bore you with the reasons why). President Bush is for it, especially for the Rep. Ryan's adjusted line item veto bill passed by the House and moving on to the Senate. The speech itself wasn't very good (you can read it and watch it here). It was choppy, jumped around a lot, and really didn't get to the point until the last third. But we don't really demand rhetorical flourishes from President Bush, nor do we expect rhetorical brilliance when talking about something as bland as the line item veto. It was great to be able to see the President in what turned out to be a semi-intimate gathering and also numerous Senators and Representatives, including John McCain. Of course, since he follows me to almost every event I go to, Bill Kristol was there as well.
Anyway, I got to bring a colleague of mine and he appreciated it. It was also nice to briefly say hello to a few MI people from my brief and unheralded summer with them up in New York City six years ago. Unfortunately, my friend was a bit late so we did not get prime seating. That couldn't be helped much since the Metro was running horribly slow. It took me 45 minutes to go three stops so I jumped off at Foggy Bottom and ran to the JW Marriott instead of taking twice as long to get to Metro Center. My friend came from even further away and it took him almost an hour and a half. Because we were in the back the lighting wasn't condusive to taking pictures, especially with my aging, second rate camera. I noticed some people only a dozen or so feet closer were able to get better pictures (i.e., better lit and sharper). I don't know if that is because of the lighting, distance, or quality of the camera. But here is one shot. I apologize for the framing, but there were tons of heads in the way (which also made focus and lighting difficult, btw).
All in all, it was an honor and a pleasure to see the President in the flesh.