RHetoric

When I worked for the Senate Appropriations Committee, the chairman led a delegation of Senators to Kennedy Space Center to watch John Glenn’s return to space aboard the Discovery.  I was privileged to accompany the delegation as the press secretary for the group.

Ted Kennedy was with us - interestingly it was his first visit to the center named after his brother, John.  Joining the Senator were Caroline and her two kids.  We all flew down on an Air Force plane, landed on the mile-long runway at Cape Canaveral, and spent two days being treated to exclusive tours of the facility, including an exhilarating ride up the tower at the launch pad and a walk across the catwalk to peer into the window of the Discovery; and an opportunity to sit in the cockpit of the Atlantis while it was in the hanger.  Of course the high point was watching Glenn blast off into space.

The most memorable part of this trip for me, however, was spending time with Kennedy and his family.  In fact, I spent more time with him than the other Senators, including my own boss, because Kennedy was the real celebrity of the group.  The place was inundated with media (about 3,000 accredited journalists), and my two cell phones rang constantly as reporters and producers begged to have access to Kennedy.  I apologized to each one, conveying the Senator would not be doing media interviews.

Then a Boston TV station called.  Kennedy said yes.  Only problem was that NASA would not allow the TV crew to come to the VIP section, where Kennedy and dozens of celebrities (Steve Tyler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ted Williams, Jimmy Buffett) were milling about.  So we had to secretly bus him to a trailer in the midst of the press pool, where he gave the interview.  Somehow, during the course of the interview, word got out that Kennedy was "on the island" and the media swamped the trailer, hoping to get a sound bite.  I enjoyed the traditional blocking and tackling that press secretaries sometimes get to do - not often, but sometimes.

Much of my time with Kennedy was like this.  Everyone wanted to be with him, hug him, shake his hand, or be photographed with him.  On one tour of a NASA hanger, I saw workers standing well behind Kennedy as a co-worker took a photo from a distance.  They must have been warned in advance not to ask for photos, so they made an unobtrusive attempt to capture the memory.  At one point at a Cocoa Beach restaurant, a group of women in their 60's screamed like girls at a Beatles concert as he 'worked' the crowd.

Kennedy treated me well, like I had been on his staff for years.  He was warm, trusting, funny.  Recently I was with another long-time Republican Senator as he gave an interview to the New York Times.  This Senator was remarking on the U.S. Senate of 20 and 30 years ago, when party mattered less than it did today, and Senators looked out for one another in a way that would be derided in the current era.  My guess was the New York Times reporter was preparing a story about Kennedy’s service, anticipating his passing.

That was certainly the Kennedy I encountered during that special trip.  Today I have a letter from the Senator and a gift - a pen from the JFK White House - that he sent in gratitude.  It’s a moving reminder of a trip of a lifetime, and the kind of person Kennedy was.

An NPR photographer snapped some photos of the attendees at a Senate hearing on health reform, then posted them online with an invitation to viewers to identify the lobbyists in the audience.  The result is here.  Brilliant!

As one who suffered through many a Senate hearing in DC (without a Blackberry), I can attest that the audience is mostly made up of congressional interns (in the summer) and junior lobbyists who have not quite made a name for themselves.  That's evident on the faces in this set of photos. Nonetheless, readers have identified a couple of whales.

My favorite though, is the ID of "Tom Gilligan, Self Employed Consultant" - his mug is completely blocked by people sitting in front of him, which means only he knows that's him sitting there.  So he ID'd himself on the NPR site.  And why not?  When you're a self employed consultant you need all the free PR you can get.

On my first day as communications director for a U.S. Senate committee, a clerk called me in a total panic. A reporter was sitting in the back of the hearing room, taking notes on everything that was said!

I was bewildered. Was I missing something? “So what’s the problem?” I asked. “He’s writing down the Senators’ words, VERBATIM!” she replied.

Now given that it was my first day, I’ll admit I hesitated. I racked my brains for some logic as to why a reporter could not sit in a congressional hearing and take notes with any level of detail he or she desired. But not only did I come up empty, I learned that day that my real job was to be the public’s advocate for access.

It was not easy. There was a culture of secrecy and fear of the press. Some of it was understandable - for every decision made, there is a critic with a barrel of ink.

This is why the Obama “Your Seat at the Table” initiative is so extraordinary - and risky. If the incoming administration can sustain the level of transparency it is promising during the transition, the critics will have a seat at the table at the earliest stages of idea development.

How does the dynamic of a meeting change when the participants know their ideas or strategy memos will be instantly available to the press, and to political opponents? Or that a video of the meeting will appear on YouTube for millions to view? Could there be a chilling effect?

How does the public react to an early stage idea, versus a decisive policy direction? Will the press apply the proper context to each?

We are entering new territory. One that is very exciting and game changing, but one that will force everyone to consider the flood of information in an entirely new context. In other words, we may have to lighten up a little.

You can read John Podesta’s directive to the transition team here.