Dinner with the President

This entry was written on:

Wednesday, June 18. 2008

I don’t think I will be able to process tonight and the significant role it will have to play in my life until I am much older. I still cannot comprehend what has happened in my last week and a half and the last forty-eight hours have both humbled me and floored me completely.

I don’t know whether this blog should include my feelings as much as this entry already has, but I don’t think I could write about this night without underlining the emotional impact it has had on me.

Simply put, I have just dined with some of the most influential members of the Republican Party, sat beside Congressman James T. Walsh (with whom I am interning) for dinner and I have been within a few feet of one of the most influential leaders in the world, President George W. Bush.

I have never really explicitly affiliated myself with ‘Democrat’ or ‘Republican’ in American politics and to all of a sudden find myself deep in the heart of the Republican Party was an amazing insight. I was shocked at how it actually lived up to the ‘Republican’ stereotype that I had acquired through the media. There were men with Stetson hats, a country singer who sang a Christian song, a country band as entertainment and an Irish singer who sang ‘God bless America’.

The whole atmosphere was fiercely patriotic with stars dashed across the ceilings and walls in the form of lights, large pieces of wood and posters. The colour scheme, of course, red, white and blue. (There also was a touch of gold to reiterate the fact that they still have the Presidency.) It seems odd to mention the butter, but it was in the shape of eagles!

I kept having deep reflective moods where I couldn’t quite believe that I was sitting at the Presidential Dinner when less than a year ago I was just finishing my A-levels, writing about and quoting the people I was now in the same room as.

One of my biggest shocks was that Congressman Walsh sat beside me for the meal. I thought this was bizarre, not many Congressmen would go out of their way to talk to an intern never mind have dinner beside them. Congressman Walsh was genuinely interested in me, my background and my views on, not only the politics of Northern Ireland, but on the Republican Party and the Presidential elections. It is still hard to believe that someone with so much power and authority would actually be interested in talking to some nineteen-year-old from Belfast.

I suppose I should mention the big man himself then….

President George W. Bush came on stage for, what was to be, his last ever President’s Dinner Speech. I will be honest- I expected to see the bloopers that plague Youtube and not to be too impressed with his public speaking but I was very, very wrong. He spoke perfectly, he didn’t use many notes or Teleprompters and he was absolutely captivating. Beforehand, one of the girls who worked in my office told me I could go up in front of him and take pictures. I was adamant that I wouldn’t as I thought it would be extremely unprofessional and a bit rude to be honest, as I don't think the President would appreciate some kid with her pink camera in his face during his speech. When he came on stage Andrea grabbed my arm and told me that it would probably be the only and closest opportunity that I would get to see George Bush as President. Within ten seconds (these few seconds constituted me ‘professionally’ making my way to the front as if I was just walking over to deliver something to another table) I found myself at the side of the stage. Another fifteen seconds and I had lost all sense of not acting like a tourist and I found myself within a few feet of the Leader of the Free World. I did try and take pictures and listen but I was just in awe. There was one point where I pulled down the camera and just watched, just watched. I wanted to absorb every single moment, every word and every pause.

His actual speech? Two words: John McCain. Every paragraph ended in those two words:
‘…and the man to do that is John McCain’
‘…the only way to achieve that is to elect John McCain’
‘…the next President, John McCain’
He hardly spoke about himself although it was clearly pointed out by others and himself during the speeches that since 9/11 Bush had kept his promise to make sure that no terrorist attacks would take place on American Soil on his watch. (Obviously, a bit of legacy building.) And the only other reference to his Presidency was to Laura, the First Lady who he claimed was ‘the best First Lady this nation has ever seen’. At this point there was applause and then laughter as he concluded with ‘…just don’t tell mother’.

Following this there was a John McCain promotional video. They were obviously trying to market him as the next Ronald Reagan as it started with a speech from Reagan and every other picture or video clip had him in it. An interesting point: number of appearances from George W. Bush totalled zero.

This was an amazing experience, one that I never thought I would ever be able to have. It exposed me to a life which I was never privy to before this and opened my eyes to life in American political parties. And I also have to mention something else: we got free, inscribed wine glasses, which was clearly a highlight for me. Not to mention the food!

On a serious note this night made me realise how blessed all twenty-six of us are. Whether it is meeting a Congressman, director of a company, or even just getting to know each other, we have all been incredibly blessed with an opportunity that is not afforded to many. Walking home past the homeless American citizens, the busy business professionals, through the run down areas, past the Capitol buildings, between monuments to famous Americans who founded this nation, these monuments where tourists gaze and beggars sit, I realized, yes, I am blessed with this opportunity, but I also have a responsibility to use my experiences to bless others and enrich their lives.

So hopefully, a year from now, ten years from now or when I reach the end of my career, whatever it may be, hopefully, I will look back on tonight and realise why it had such an emotional affect on me and that it will have inspired me to use what I have learnt so far and am yet to learn from these eight weeks to bless others.

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”

~ W. T. Purkiser