Thursday seemed to be a long day. We started off the morning seminar with Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, who spoke about the first 100 days and their challenges. Baker wasn’t the most interesting speaker we’ve had but he still made some good comments about Obama coming into office.
Dr. Genovese then spoke. I love listening to Dr. Genevese’s presentations. His thoughtfulness and passion for the topic make his speeches very worthwhile to listen to. He engages the audience and doesn’t linger when answering questions.
The best speaker of the day was the Ambassador of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Hussain Haqqani. The Ambassadors that we have heard from always amaze me. They have so much insight on the relationship between their country and the United States. The Ambassador mentioned how many politicians here haven’t traveled to many places and he was proud to say that he had travelled all over the world including over 40 states here in the US.
Steve Bell ended the morning session. He continued with his presentation on Politics and the Media. He showed a couple more news clips from the campaign and spoke about each candidates attack ads. Then ended by playing a Saturday Night Live clip with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin commenting that “nothing could follow that” and sending us on our way for the afternoon.
In the afternoon we took a tour of the Capitol Building. It was a short tour and I would have loved to see more of the inside. Despite the length, I was really enjoyed being able to be inside the Capitol building. The inside was incredible; the architecture and paintings were amazing to see.
In the evening we went to a performance Mark Russell. Russell held up the expectations that I had for him. He referenced Buffalo (in a good way) many times that followed with a loud cheer from our group. He kept me laughing throughout the entire performance.
Friday will be another great day. I am looking forward to seeing the American History Museum that was recently renovated. I continue to wait anxiously for the activities that will come over the next few days.
