A Trip to the Dirksen Senate Office Building

It was an early morning, morning metro rush up the yellow line to Metro station. I hadn’t actually been above ground at Metro and it was as if I was in New York, only spotless. It was unusually cold, the last cold day of the season. As one woman on the street said, “every minute counts” before finding warmth. A security check delayed our entrance to the building, but eventually I passed after removing my belt. The Senate Finance Committee room had a continental breakfast, lots of men in suits, a few interns scattered about. It was definitely formal and I was under dressed without a tie and I missed the casualness of Hawaii where you could meet the governor in sandals (i.e. flip flops, Mainlanders). There were two panels and I stayed for the first, with Michael Schiffer and Scott Miller, moderated by Michael Green. The focus was on Obama’s upcoming trip to Japan. Predictably, in the Q&A someone brought up the thorny issue of history which was dealt with appropriately by the panel: moving forward. Due to the speaking styles and my own slowness, I had difficulty making out anyone’s words (one speaker mumbled, the other spoke in ejaculations, slowing down only on the unimportant words). But in all of these events, the speakers are masters of the weave, conveying exactly what they wish.

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