To Each Their Own Opinion

Hey folks,

This post is going to cover days 3 and 4 of my TWC RNC experience so prepare for a long read ;). Though, this will give you a lot of info and also something to make up for the days I am not able to post next week. So here it goes!

The TWC general session on the third day was a relatively short one since we had a tour of the Xcel center scheduled early that afternoon. But to say it was short is not to say there will be a short description of the event, this actually proved to be one of the most interesting general sessions yet.

Because of a storm earlier that morning the power had been knocked out to the auditorium where we usually hold our sessions so we moved the entire group to a lecture hall in another building. While we were mostly there yet still waiting for the rest to make their way over to the new room we had some interesting conversation. Our faculty leader, former Congressman Mickey Edwards, was discussing party-candidate relations in his state of Oklahoma. He told us that as a candidate your job is to get you elected, not necessarily the rest of the party ticket. The analogy was given “Say you’re going to vote for me but vote all Democrat for everything else, I’ll break my back to get you to the polls BUT if you’re going to vote for my Republican candidate for Governor but not me, I’ll want you to stay home.” He was essentially expressing his frustration with the process.

As a Congressman he functioned according to his conscience which many times conflicted with the wishes of his party and even his constituents. He brought up the point: I do not work for the party, I work for the people. And pointed out that when he had voted against the public wishes but in good conscience, the public was angry at the time but as time went on they became more educated and complimented him later on for making the better decision. He gave us an example of a time when he did vote with his constituents instead of his conscience. Later on his constituents realized he made the wrong decision and he actually ended up taking the House floor to apologize for that vote.

He made the point that he was elected to office to shape national issues and represent his community to the nation while doing so. He was their voice. He often, when speaking to groups of constituents, would pull out his Congressional voter card and say: “look, I have the card, you don’t”. He knew the people kept electing him for a reason and became acquainted with the fact he really did always act in their best interest and this served to remind them of that. When asked if he felt he was a “trustee or delegate” he said (most Congressman have never heard those words, jokingly) he and the rest of Congress actually served as both. He also informed us in this short pre-session conversation that most Congressmen have a dilemma when it comes to how they identify themselves. Is he the U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma or the Oklahoma Congressman? A colleague of his met this dilemma head on when he was introduced as the U.S. Congressman from…. and the next day he heard about it from his constituents.

Once everyone made it into the room and regular programming was under way the discussion switched to “War Time Presidents – The Power of The President in These Situations”. To summarize for my fellow students of Dr. A this was basically a review of his Presidency class, with a twist. The lecture was being given to us by a former member of Congress who wears an “Article 1” lapel pin. ;) Yup, our own Mickey Edwards! I definitely enjoyed hearing things from his point of view. He reminded us that Article 1, which was written for the Congress, says all legislative power is in the Congress, Including Foreign Policy! The President merely has power through the ability to veto. He also pointed out that the Constitution does not spell out what our rights are, it spells out what the Government’s rights are. Mickey holds that the point of the Constitution was/is to protect the people from the Government, not to protect the Government from the people and also, the Constitution is not a matter of power, it is a matter of process.

A part of this analysis was looking into a few recently contested powers of the President, Executive Privilege and the ability to make signing statements. Mickey said that Executive Privilege is ok when it is used to apply to the President and his advisors. Any other use should be unacceptable. As for the signing statements, he says it is a semi common occurrence but should not be used as freely as the Bush administration has decided to use them.  

Typically the ideal leader would have the ability to inspire, persuade and unite the country while also having the ability to lead without ordering. We realize that the current powers of the President actually go way beyond.

This is where things really got interesting…..

The Presidential Power conversation involved Mickey, a Regan Conservative (in the most literal sense) often critiquing the Bush Administration. Some members of our audience, who obviously only paid attention to just part of what he was saying, chose to translate the things Mickey had said into seriously Anti-Bush rhetoric. This is how it went: Someone asked for clarification “Ok so according to you, you are basically saying that Bush has gone against the Congress?” Mickey: “Sure, he has done some things that are unconstitutional when you interpret it as I just did.” Someone else asked “So why not impeach him?” Mickey replied “Well you might think we should have impeached him for going into Iraq, but Congress actually approved that so you can’t say he could have been impeached for that. But, when he went around the law and placed wiretaps on suspected terrorists without consent, which was an impeachable offense.” Another Q “So why didn’t we impeach him?” “Because by then he had less than 2 years left and to impeach him would have done more harm than good for the country.” Then, some guy trying to be a hero said “I’m kinda nervous to ask you this so pardon me if my voice is changing but, it seems as if you’re forcing your views on us and pushing your book on us. I do not think you should be saying those things to us without having someone from the Bush Administration represented.” That was when all you know what broke loose. I believe everyone has the right to their own opinion. All I ask is that you take others into consideration and are well enough acquainted with the opposite argument/view that you are adequately armed to oppose it. And PLEASE do it respectfully. There is a right way and a wrong way to deal with conflict and that person approached it the perfectly wrong way.

After the oh so fun morning session we were all given our fieldwork placement info (I’m working with Senator DeWine) and loaded onto busses to depart for the Xcel Center. I am now going to look into my crystal ball and tell you my prediction for what McCain will wear during him acceptance speech. A blue oxford cloth shirt with the sleeves rolled up and khaki pants. While we were there the visual technicians were testing lighting/background etc. Apparently when they do this they set it for each speaker specifically. There was a man, roughly McCain’s height, skin tone, hair and build who was just standing at the podium for a good 20minutes while they played with the lighting and background. Once they were done with him, a man who looked an awful lot like Bush in his nice suit, came out to stand there for 20minutes himself. Once again they cycled through all lighting and background combinations. I wonder how much they pay those guys.

Both before the tour, for lunch, and after the tour, for the small group sessions, we ate at the pub CNN has rented for next week. Those people are in for some great food and in a very handy location. After our small group session we wondered around the park in downtown St. Paul. There are lots of random statues of the Peanuts characters since their creator was from there. Around 6 we made our way into the Landmark Center for the TWC reception and afterward we headed back to the hotel.

This begins my post for day 4, today!

Today Mickey and Meena discussed Presidential Leadership and the qualities we desire in our President. This again was review for me from Dr. A’s Presidency class. I am sure you all know what you look for in a leader so I won’t waste time telling you what you should look for ;)

Today we had some special guest speakers from the Minnesota Legislature: Rep. Steve Simon (DFL – Democratic Farm-Labor) and Rep. Pat Garofalo. These 2 proved to be very entertaining and informative. They are best friends, in the legislature, on opposite sides of the aisle. They discussed with us the divisive issue of transportation and the views of the citizens of Greater MN as well as those of Metro MN and how they conflict. Greater MN is rural and they are not focused on building mass transit but having the money to put gas in their tank to drive wherever they need to get to that may be a few towns over. Metro MN wants more mass transit in order to decrease congestion. The state needs money to help everyone. It is complicated and these 2 men are doing an excellent job of working together to sift through it all.

They also explained to us the historic trend for MN to switch parties every so often. The analogy was made, Minnesotans don’t like to keep all their eggs in one basket and Rep. Garofalo predicted he would not be re-elected due to this. It was also very important for Rep. Simon to clarify his distaste for people who like to complain about the bickering in Congress. He said “Distrust is far more toxic than disagreement.” WOW he was dead on! I’ll never think of that the same way again.

After the morning session we were dismissed for our small group sessions and we ended up in the lobby back at our hotel for the group discussion. This group session served as a self review for each of us as well as our thoughts on how and when McCain will (leak) announce his VP and how the timing would relate to Obama’s speech. Then we went our separate ways and later on Andy, Michael and I met up to scout out the Hotels the Ohio delegation would be staying at. Then Andy and I and a few other people from NY and TX went to the Mall Of America and did some exploring there. Now I’m back at the hotel making sure I get this out to you! These have been a busy and fun few days and it will only get better! You’ll be with me here, every step of the way!

Get ready! ~ Miranda

Look, proof we got in :) they even gave us temporary "pre-convention" credentials.

On the outside of the Xcel Center

Schroder(?) and Lucy in the Park

The Landmark Center where the reception was held

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