At The End of the Day

At the end of the day, have you ever thought, 'what exactly did I do today?' Or exactly what did I do today? Or Geez, did I waste another day? Or, what exactly did I accomplish today. Sometimes it’s so busy that I can remember what I did, but not what I accomplished. For many years I wrongly assumed they were the same. And then came my work in Presidential politics.

The technology has changed, but the fear factor remains the same. When you work in a Presidential campaign you would do anything to be included. Not only in senior level decision making meetings, but in meetings that involve things like, how much pizza do we need to get through the day. The technology has made it easier to order pizza, to figure out the number of flyers you need for a rally, to decide how many volunteers you need to do Get Out the Vote (GOTV), but there is nothing that eases a mind when you are not there to “weigh in”.

The first Presidential campaign in which I worked (yes I fell off my dinosaur getting to HQ), was when it occurred to me that everyone stayed at HQ longer than I did. True, I had a full time job at Boston University, but there were other people who had jobs, and they eventually quit in order to hang out at the campaign offices. In my mind, once you finished the tasks you were assigned, you could leave and have a life. Actually, that has always been my modus operandi. There is no need just to hang out in case anything happens. But you have to be fairly secure about your job (and who you are as a person), in order to feel that way.

Lately, I am reminded of how important it is not to waste time, but to get something accomplished. You may know that the Congress went on vacation leaving the FAA without a budget. The powers that be have asked all the federal airline employees to be professional and work for nothing. (And the airlines, blessem', ballplayers that they are, are mostly -- save Alaska Air -- refusing to refund the money they collect for taxes, even though they don't seem to be passing it on to the FAA. How do you spell Windfall?)) The Congess isn’t working for nothing. How do these committed public servants pay for groceries, a mortgage, and maybe a movie. Do they tell their bankers and their children that they can’t make a payment or buy a treat because they are committed public servants. If this isn’t an example of government incompetence and arrogance, I don’t know what is. Shame on the entire U.S. Congress. Shame on all of you for your lack of concern and just for wasting all our time. Come back to DC and fulfill your responsibilities to those people and the public. My kid is supposed to be flying next week and I am not real comfortable about that! We’re just sayin’….Iris