Thursday the 15th

[I'm behind on this and will try to catch it up over the next week or so.]

Today was the actual birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. He would have been 80 years old.

The Seminar—By this time, we were all getting tired. The mornings were filled with such a large amount of information, and the afternoons were spent on the run trying to fit in lunch, a small-group discussion and a site visit. What might have been draining us as well was the cold. Temperatures stayed low, below freezing, and the wind added a good chill.

Our first speaker of the morning was Dr. Ross Baker from Rutgers University. He was easily, I think, the most academic of our speakers this week (except, perhaps, for Marc Pachter on Monday). Dr. Baker discussed "The First 100 Days – Challenges and Predictions." I learned what a "Blue Dog" is—a conservative Democrat in Congress. He discussed the way Congress works and why overly restrictive term limits wouldn't be good. He also referred to a "Post-Polarization Era," which is the idea of our representatives finding common ground instead of holding on to partisan strife that leads to polarization. Of course, he didn't know that we'd already been visited by the guys who wrote the Common Ground book and that this was old news to us.

When asked why a visit to the Senate chamber often reveals one speaker holding forth before a room of empty chairs, Dr. Baker explained that Senators spend most of their time in committee instead of full gatherings.

Dr. Baker's most interesting question for exploration was this: How does political polarization develop? Is it a polarized American electorate sending polarizing officials to Washington via our elections? Are our elected officials polarized by Washington, DC, and the business of governing is carried on here? Are they polarized by 3^rd parties—their "party" (apart from the people), lobbyists or special interest groups? It's a good question.

We then had more on presidential power from Dr. Michael Genovese, who spoke in detail about different kinds of presidents and presidencies—weak and strong, imperiled or imperial, heroic or plebiscitary (common, I think).

In the midst of these, I read this little sidebar in one of the morning train papers (short, headline news ideal for reading during the train commute): "A Pennsylvania couple are in jail after police say they failed to call the band when a glitch put an extra $175,000 in their account. Authorities say the couple instead withdrew the money, quit their jobs and moved to Florida."

Genovese was followed by the man who became my favorite speaker of the week: His Excellency Hussain Haqqani, Ambassador of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The man was brilliant. Briefly, he talked about what he called the Greater Middle East, which stretches from Morocco to the Islamic states bordering Russia. He said that Pakistan is a place in the midst of transformation: from dictatorship to democracy, at the crossroads between conflict and opportunity, between militancy and entrepreneurship. These contribute to its perceived instability. To curb the rise of terrorism in the world, especially among the young and disenfranchised, we must realize that people with no future are more likely to become terrorists. To be provided with hope of a future is a fine thing, but "hope is not a method." As for America, he said, "the world is not the subject of American foreign policy"—we might think of "subject" here as "one that is placed under authority or control" (as the subject of the Queen). The phrase might also mean that the world exists in itself, not just as it relates to the United States of America. One other powerful quote from Ambassador Haqqani regarding America's often clumsy foreign policies: "The world is not a problem to be solved but a partner to be engaged."

Our afternoon site visit was a scheduled tour of the Capitol. They've spent millions and millions of dollars on a new Visitor's Center, and it looks great. They've created a short historical film, which is now the best part of the tour. As for the tour itself, it's mostly as lame as it was the last time I took it—time in the Rotunda, time in Statuary Hall and a visit down to the old Senate/Supreme Court chamber. That's it. Really.

Thursday evening we attended a performance by the elderly political satirist Mark Russell. His piano playing is still fairly good. The song parodies have lost much of their impact, but the stand-up portion of his act is still sharp. I was concerned that his "old" delivery might not grab the students attending the seminar, but I was surprised.

Personal Time—After the Russell show, it was a cold night in the city. I ate at a mock '50s burger joint called Johnny Rocket's, in the area near George Washington University and then made my way home via the Metro.