Windows into the tumultuous world we hope to enter

As part of the DC Semester Program, every Friday we have two guest speakers who are in some way connected to politics. And every week, the caliber of our guests amazes me.

The first week, we had Brent Colburn, a William & Mary grad who was the National Communications Director for Obama’s reelection campaign and Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and author of It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, a book on congressional dysfunction that many of us, including me, had read for a previous class. Both were uniquely engaging. Colburn was low-key and down-to-earth, providing insight into the relationship of the communications department to a campaign. Ornstein, who we visited at AEI, took fewer questions but spoke with great detail about the recent budget agreement, the media’s role in perpetuating polarization through false equivalence, and his ideas for increasing participation in the political process. He believes that the United States is just going through a rough patch and that eventually the system will normalize. I found that to be the least compelling part of his talk.

The second week we had Jeff Berman, a veteran of the Democratic nomination process, who knows more about winning delegates than literally anyone in America, and Dave Sackett, a pollster and founding member of The Tarrance Group, a major Republican strategic research and polling firm.

Having read Berman’s book, The Magic Number, which details his role as national delegate director for Obama in his come from behind victory against Hillary Clinton, I jumped on the opportunity to introduce him, which each of us is required to do at least once. He spoke about his role on the Obama campaign and his current role as advisor to the Clinton campaign. At the behest of my TA, John, I asked him why the Democratic Party still uses superdelegates given their seemingly undemocratic nature; he said that he and others have tried to get rid of them, but the system is simply too entrenched. They did, however, help get rid of unpledged add-ons, a small but significant number of superdelegates who aren’t selected until their state has voted, and are especially vulnerable to shady political maneuvering. This is obviously very inside-the-beltway, but all of this affects who gets nominated, and thus, who becomes president.

Dave Sackett, deep-voiced and unapologetic, gave a talk entitled “Why has political polling turned into a hot, steaming pile of #$%&?” He spoke about the struggles pollsters face in the transition to cellphones and how candidates succeed by keeping their favorables at 50% or higher. He was nothing if not engaging.

Our guests last Friday were Francine Kiefer, the congressional correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, and Paul Begala, a political consultant and strategist, pivotal to Bill Clinton’s 1992 victory and an advisor to Hillary Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA. Kiefer shared with us her experience covering Congress; her ability to see members as individuals with unique stories has allowed her to remain more objective. She explained how covering Congress changed her perceptions of it, and at least in the last year, it has been far more productive than people realize.

I found Begala to be the most interesting guest we’ve had so far. Having seen him on TV for years as a pundit (including Jon Stewart’s epic take-down of his show, Crossfire) I never thought much of him. As our guest, he talked about what he believed was causing the rise of outsider candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders: income stagnation and demographic upheaval. He made us consider the implications of a median individual income of $31,000 and of a man seeing his salary increase by only 8% in 30 years — that it would rightfully piss him off. Further, he put the demographic changes into perspective — that for most of American history, the percentage of the American population that was considered white remained stable, and now our generation will live to see whites become the minority. For many whites, especially men, their past looks better than their future. Trump and Sanders simply respond to these concerns very differently.

I was deeply impressed with Begala’s thoughtfulness and even empathy for those he disagreed with, despite his obvious partisanship. Nevertheless, the substance of his talk made me deeply concerned for our country’s future.

I eagerly await the next round of guests, who will come during Parents’ Weekend. 

If you’d like to know more about the DC Semester Program’s guest speakers, visit election2016wmdc.wordpress.com.

-Matt Camarda ’16