Lawrence's "if you never have been in the room" refrain was on point . . .

. . .as someone who has "been in the room" at the state level he told the truth.

He's not very optimistic lately.

:kick:

Is on the same level as the Federal Gov? Really.

I never said that.

was in the room, he was an assistant, not a principal. He is very impressed with his own experiences.

you know, that makes a big difference.

and i'm not saying that's what's happening --but it sure is what is being described.

Edit - His occasional writing for The West Wing was more impressive. Guess he is still doing it.

:kick:

Unlike in many quarters, the Hill staff members - especially those operating at the level O'Donnell was - are extremely powerful and nearly indispensable. They aren't potted plants in the room - they are instrumental in everything that happens. Often, they do most of the negotiating and then their bosses step in toward the end of the process.

I know of a senior member of a senator's staff who always sat in with the senator when he met with constituents and when the senator wasn't available, she took the meeting herself. One day, a rather powerful constituent complained to the senator that he was "palmed off" on the staff member when he really needed to meet with the senator himself. The senator told him, "Trust me - you'd much rather meet with her than with me since SHE's going to make sure your matter gets taken care of. I just get the credit when she's done."

Senators and Representatives live and die by their staffs -there's no such thing as JUST a staff member.

Lots of them (especially on the house side) are just a few years out of college. Granted, many of them gain a lot more power a lot faster than 20-somethings do in other fields, but most of them are not "in the room" when major negotiations are happening. Only the most senior-level people are in on those negotiations.

Your anecdote about meeting with the Senator's staffer vs the Senator is definitely very true from my experience. Congresscritters who try to deal with anything on a micro-level fail miserably. There's simply too much for them to do. They have to rely on their staff and some of them have a hard time learning to do that.

he has been so in the room he thought the left never criticized Bill Clinton.

He has been in the room and it rankles people that he is not going along with the hair on fire they're gonna cut SS and Medicare crap.

Thanks for bringing this up. I really wonder if people don't want to hear the truth, or they just don't want the President to look good.

Great stuff. :rofl:

.

There are a lot of places he hasn't been and sometimes it shows.