Hearing notes

For those of you who don’t know the path through which the previous months have led me, let me summarize: I was a campaign staffer in Oregon from July through November, at which point I came back to Virginia and worked on the Inaugural Committee through January. So let me translate, today is my 17th day of unemployment. That’s sort of a scary number now that I’m seeing it in black and white (urr… aquamarine and teal?). I’ve had a few interviews for real positions. The two major jobs I was interested in still haven’t gotten back to me, which is very disappointing, but I’m trying to let it not become a source of anxiety (key word: trying). I have another interview on Tuesday with an organization I would truly enjoy working with, even though it wouldn’t be anything directly relating to policy. We’ll see what happens; I know I’ll end up… somewhere… and that’s comforting. (Starbucks? Free coffee? I could live with that… as could Allis and Sarah, I'm sure...)
In the meantime, I’ve been interning full-time with a House subcommittee. I’m approaching the end of week #2, and it’s been a phenomenally enjoyable experience. It’d be even better if I was getting paid, but you know. I’m getting writing experience, which I can’t knock, and it’s been totally fun to get to know the people on the committee. Most are believers, which is wonderful, and two are from San Diego, which is very cool!
Well, yesterday I went to a hearing I’d done quite a bit of work for. I jotted down some notes during the droning and thought I would pass them on for anyone interested in reading what’s really going through the minds of the people sitting behind the congressmen in those hearings…

2:50 So, this is my first full-on committee hearing. Some of the sentences I wrote made it into the chairman’s opening statement unchanged. That’s a rare opportunity for a writer, and in a way that makes me feel a whole lot more accomplished than all eight weeks at PIC combined. Something I wrote is, as of now, a part of Congressional record, and ergo, in some small way, a part of the history of the United States of America. It’s not a lot, but it’s a pretty cool thing in my mind.
3:12 It’s funny. This is at once much less civil but much more dead than a debate round or student senate. The stakes are actually real, and I mean, there are about 150 people in this hearing room. They care enough about the issue to be here. And there are seven congressmen sitting right in front of me, and in their opening statements, they are saying controversial and inflammatory things – and their voices are unimpassioned and monotone. It’s because they’ve never seen what they’re reading before. But how these guys can turn from the absolutely riveting congressional candidates to this escapes me. Again, it’s because this isn’t from them. They’re mouthpieces of their staff. What is the Hill but an entire subculture of kingmakers keeping their kings in line? But when did this place become dead?
3:30 Why don’t we all just get up and yell “Distortion!” at the same time and get it over with? It would certainly reduce the length of the hearings and not much impact the outcome thereof.
3:36 The staffer that was sitting next to me till a moment ago asked me earlier who George Soros was. I told him and he later provided me with his card and the obligatory, “if the subcommittee ever needs anything, let me know.” I told him I was just an intern but I’d pass that on. He got this grin on his face and said that probably meant I was more qualified than he was. I liked that guy.
4:42 Are these people serious? I would never get away with this stuff in a NEDA debate round. It's called logic. Give it a try sometime. At least the chairman has a brain.