Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

I was watching the Presidential Press conference this morning, learning the subtle differences between benchmarks and timetables when I realized that not only was I extremely frustrated with political semantics, but I was also really, really…bored.

Yes, press conferences bore me. Especially now. Sure, every once in a while someone will stand up and ask the President a “hard” question (“hard” meaning that the President can’t answer it without looking like a complete boob). But the President doesn’t answer the hard questions. He dances around them. He changes the subject. He argues semantics, thus my education began on benchmarks and timetables.

(Okay, I do know that there’s a difference between timetables and benchmarks. I know what those differences are. I understand what the President is saying when he makes the distinction, but really, who cares. Doesn’t it seem a little late in the game to finally come up with goals? Shouldn’t we have had benchmarks in place from the beginning? Am I alone in this?)

Sorry, I’m getting off topic.

As I was watching the conference on ABC, rolling my eyes and hoping that things would get interesting and informative, Jessica Yellin stood up to ask a question. I don’t remember what the question was exactly, but it wasn’t the point. Jessica Yellin is a correspondent for the ABC network.

I don’t know why, but I always get a little excited when I’m watching a press conference and a correspondent from the network that I’m watching the conference on gets up to ask a question. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like one of the “home” guys is making a score. The networks don’t have any control over who the President calls on for questions. Theoretically, the entire press conference could be broadcast on ABC without the local kids getting to ask anything. So, when it happens, it must be a big deal.

I imagine the newsroom getting very excited when one of their own gets the mic and stands up in front of the Pres. And for some reason, that makes me happy. “Roll Jessica’s Graphic! Roll Graphic!” they shout. There’s a buzz. And then, after the impressive screen-bottom graphic (better than the ones they use for “the other guys”) a satisfied silence at a job well done.

I spent the rest of the press conference hoping that another correspondent from ABC would be called on. I don’t know if they’re allowed more than one. But I had high hopes. It made the press conference much more interesting to me. It was like a sporting event.

Does this make me super-lame?

Probably. But try it some time. It could be a fun early-morning reason to have a celebratory beer.

Drink responsibly.


Fun Fact: The workers left their radio on next door when they went home. It was blasting out Mexican Easy Listening all evening. Someone was forced to break in and turn it off so that they could get a decent night’s sleep. Someone had to trespass, Indiana Jones style, to find that damned radio, hidden on the second floor of one of the unfinished condos, and try turn the freaking thing off without stting loose a giant boulder. Someone ended up just unplugging it because they couldn’t find the power button. Someone took the opportunity to explore a little. Someone thinks that the condos will be pretty cool, but not as large as they had envisioned.

Someone also thinks that the construction site’s scaffolding that surrounds the building is pretty damned rickety. The construction company is lucky that someone didn’t fall.

Someone would have been pissed.