Tamar Jacoby was a journalist. She was the deputy opinion editor for the New York Times.
But this all changed with one story.
Ten years ago, Jacoby was writing an article over the immigration battles in Arizona. It was an area of study she was interested and called her sources for their quotes.
She said it was after she conducted the interviews that she realized these polar opposite representatives really had more in common than she realized. That’s when she decided to bring them together to find some common ground.
Finding that common ground is what she has been doing since.
Jacoby is the President of Immigration Works, a group that reaches out to small businesses and presses for immigration solutions.
She brings an interesting perspective because most assume those who are leaning Republican are anti-immigration while those who are more liberal are open to illegal immigration.
She defies that stereotype.
Jacoby said businesses want to be on the right side of the law, and while most activists are on the left, these people usually are more right-leaning politically. The message from these groups are not to build a wall and send them home but to work towards policies that do three things:
1) Allow businesses easier access to immigrant workers by instituting some sort of worker plan.
2) Protect the borders once a more workable process is in place.
3) Provide some sort of route to citizenship for the millions of people who are already here.
She said that throughout the many focus groups she has performed, it does not take long for people to realize that the extremes are not reasonable solutions. People move to extreme measures because she said they are scared or they feel laws should not be broken.
But the world is not what it used to be 50 years ago, and the laws have not adapted to the new times. In 1960, half of American men in the workforce were high school dropouts, now that number is six percent.
Who do we find to do those menial or more trade-oriented jobs that Americans seem to have educated themselves out of?
Jacoby spends her time trying to find an answer to this question that resonates with those in Congress, but so far none has stuck. People in America still have to get passed their own judgments and assumptions, and Congress is no different.
Monday, December 20, 2010
OU Student Q/A
Washington D.C. isn’t just a town of professionals.
Yes, you may see the average lobbyist heading down K Street to the taco truck at lunch, but at the time time the person standing in line behind him may very well be a student.
Washington D.C. is home to numerous colleges, Georgetown, George Washington, American and Howard to name a few.
These universities bring people from all over the country, much like the Beltway itself; and OU is no exception to this standard.
John Wood graduated from OU in May 2009 and headed off to Washington D.C. to study law in the “Lawyer Capitol of the World.” I took a quick moment to see what it was about Washington that drew him in and what might be keeping him here.
What brought you to DC?
I am a Juris Doctor candidate at Georgetown University.
When did your graduate from OU and with what degree?
I graduated from OU in May of 2010 with a Bachelors of Arts in Finance.
What about Washington D.C. lured you here?
Georgetown is home to a great law school, and Washington D.C. is one of the greatest places to practice law.
How is Washington similar to Oklahoma?
I have found that many people in Washington D.C. are refreshingly polite, like people in Oklahoma. This is not something I expected.
In what ways are Norman and D.C. almost polar opposites?
One can live comfortably in Washington D.C. without a car, which would be virtually impossible in Oklahoma.
What’s your favorite place to eat in Norman and your favorite place to eat in D.C.?
In Norman it would be Tarahumaras, in Washington D.C. it is Nando’s Peri Peri.
Where in both towns would you go to get away and just relax?
If I were in Norman, it would be Campus Corner. In Washington D.C., Adams Morgan.
Which city do you see yourself living in on a more permanent basis?
Well, I’ll be in Washington D.C. at least two and a half more years for school, and then most law jobs are on the east coast. So I guess D.C.
Where do you see yourself going after your time in D.C?
I’ll go where the jobs go, that may mean not leaving Washington D.C.
Yes, you may see the average lobbyist heading down K Street to the taco truck at lunch, but at the time time the person standing in line behind him may very well be a student.
Washington D.C. is home to numerous colleges, Georgetown, George Washington, American and Howard to name a few.
These universities bring people from all over the country, much like the Beltway itself; and OU is no exception to this standard.
John Wood graduated from OU in May 2009 and headed off to Washington D.C. to study law in the “Lawyer Capitol of the World.” I took a quick moment to see what it was about Washington that drew him in and what might be keeping him here.
What brought you to DC?
I am a Juris Doctor candidate at Georgetown University.
When did your graduate from OU and with what degree?
I graduated from OU in May of 2010 with a Bachelors of Arts in Finance.
What about Washington D.C. lured you here?
Georgetown is home to a great law school, and Washington D.C. is one of the greatest places to practice law.
How is Washington similar to Oklahoma?
I have found that many people in Washington D.C. are refreshingly polite, like people in Oklahoma. This is not something I expected.
In what ways are Norman and D.C. almost polar opposites?
One can live comfortably in Washington D.C. without a car, which would be virtually impossible in Oklahoma.
What’s your favorite place to eat in Norman and your favorite place to eat in D.C.?
In Norman it would be Tarahumaras, in Washington D.C. it is Nando’s Peri Peri.
Where in both towns would you go to get away and just relax?
If I were in Norman, it would be Campus Corner. In Washington D.C., Adams Morgan.
Which city do you see yourself living in on a more permanent basis?
Well, I’ll be in Washington D.C. at least two and a half more years for school, and then most law jobs are on the east coast. So I guess D.C.
Where do you see yourself going after your time in D.C?
I’ll go where the jobs go, that may mean not leaving Washington D.C.
The Cult of the Presidency
The Cult of the Presidency
We rely on the President to do so much for us.
He is a father figure.
A caregiver.
A warlord.
A motivator.
How can a President be expected to do all of this and run an executive branch that has expanded beyond all capacity?
This is the question Gene Healy asks in his book “Cult of the Presidency.”
Healy notes that when he wrote it, President George W. Bush was in office and he was observing how despite Bush’s claims to reduce the size of government, no such action occurred.
Healy, a leader at the CATO institute, noticed even in the Barack Obama campaign that the president had to represent himself as many things and could no longer be so narrowly defined.
What does a country want most? As might say, we want options, but at the same time we want the free lunch.
We want it all, and that is what Healy said the president has become. A catch-all for ideals and the guiding force behind the people.
When the founding fathers envisioned this country, Healy notes that the Presidency was not supposed to be this huge figure. The founders were afraid of such government power in the hands of one man.
They established a strong legislative branch. They established a strong executive branch.
But now, where does that leave us?
And it begs us to ask the question, can we even reverse this monster that we have created. Healy admits to offering no answers to this problem of the growing presidency.
Do we cut him off at the knees and take back the admiration and awe that surrounds the office? Do we make a sharp turn and shun the executive office, from which monumental changes occurred like the Emancipation Proclamation and a Civil Rights agenda?
There seems to be no obvious answer as how to tackle this beast, but as Healy notes it is a cult following that has grown up around the office of the president and it has created this unhealthy need for the president to act as an answer for all the questions in our lives.
We rely on the President to do so much for us.
He is a father figure.
A caregiver.
A warlord.
A motivator.
How can a President be expected to do all of this and run an executive branch that has expanded beyond all capacity?
This is the question Gene Healy asks in his book “Cult of the Presidency.”
Healy notes that when he wrote it, President George W. Bush was in office and he was observing how despite Bush’s claims to reduce the size of government, no such action occurred.
Healy, a leader at the CATO institute, noticed even in the Barack Obama campaign that the president had to represent himself as many things and could no longer be so narrowly defined.
What does a country want most? As might say, we want options, but at the same time we want the free lunch.
We want it all, and that is what Healy said the president has become. A catch-all for ideals and the guiding force behind the people.
When the founding fathers envisioned this country, Healy notes that the Presidency was not supposed to be this huge figure. The founders were afraid of such government power in the hands of one man.
They established a strong legislative branch. They established a strong executive branch.
But now, where does that leave us?
And it begs us to ask the question, can we even reverse this monster that we have created. Healy admits to offering no answers to this problem of the growing presidency.
Do we cut him off at the knees and take back the admiration and awe that surrounds the office? Do we make a sharp turn and shun the executive office, from which monumental changes occurred like the Emancipation Proclamation and a Civil Rights agenda?
There seems to be no obvious answer as how to tackle this beast, but as Healy notes it is a cult following that has grown up around the office of the president and it has created this unhealthy need for the president to act as an answer for all the questions in our lives.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Almost final week at National Journal:
Monday: Today, I was working on a slide show that I had known I wanted to do for quite some time. It was a slideshow about the BCS picks based upon which Congress member is from that school. It was interesting because although Auburn is the favorite to win the national championship this year, they are not too strong in Congress. An Alabama graduate actually beat their candidate for the election this year. How is that for ironic, although Auburn will likely get the last laugh this year.
Tuesday: Today’s slideshow was about the 8 suggestions newcomers should take from their peers. It was a piece in the magazine but we took it a few days later and reconfigured it so that it would be able to be shorter and more concise. We also put some great photos with the piece. These slideshows generally take up the entire day, which is why my boss asked me about asking future interns to come in earlier in the morning to start them because then they would not be produced so late in the day. Oh, and it was a Terry Michael day…. He just lectured.
Wednesday: Today was the day that Elizabeth Edwards passed away so my time in the afternoon was taken up by working with others to package stories for the news. I was in charge of putting together a slide show of photos through the years, while others like Major Garrett did a video segment about his memories of Elizabeth Edwards. Things like this are nice because then we were able to use this packaging even later in the week when her funeral came around.
Thursday: Terry Michael Day! Today we spoke with Gene Healy from the CATO Institute. It was a pretty typical session and he signed our books afterwards. I think everyone is realizing that we are in the home stretch and people are just ready to be done. Today, Wikileaks was my job and I put together a slideshow about the hackers who are fighting certain websites. It was a chore because this required a bit of creativity when it came to photos but I learned how to do a drop shadow in photoshop.
Friday: Today is the National Journal Christmas party and I don’t think anyone was real excited to be at work knowing that we would be getting off early for the party. I worked on some photo galleries for the Nobel Laureate Ceremony, but that was pretty much it as well as working on some expert blogs for education and transportation.
Tuesday: Today’s slideshow was about the 8 suggestions newcomers should take from their peers. It was a piece in the magazine but we took it a few days later and reconfigured it so that it would be able to be shorter and more concise. We also put some great photos with the piece. These slideshows generally take up the entire day, which is why my boss asked me about asking future interns to come in earlier in the morning to start them because then they would not be produced so late in the day. Oh, and it was a Terry Michael day…. He just lectured.
Wednesday: Today was the day that Elizabeth Edwards passed away so my time in the afternoon was taken up by working with others to package stories for the news. I was in charge of putting together a slide show of photos through the years, while others like Major Garrett did a video segment about his memories of Elizabeth Edwards. Things like this are nice because then we were able to use this packaging even later in the week when her funeral came around.
Thursday: Terry Michael Day! Today we spoke with Gene Healy from the CATO Institute. It was a pretty typical session and he signed our books afterwards. I think everyone is realizing that we are in the home stretch and people are just ready to be done. Today, Wikileaks was my job and I put together a slideshow about the hackers who are fighting certain websites. It was a chore because this required a bit of creativity when it came to photos but I learned how to do a drop shadow in photoshop.
Friday: Today is the National Journal Christmas party and I don’t think anyone was real excited to be at work knowing that we would be getting off early for the party. I worked on some photo galleries for the Nobel Laureate Ceremony, but that was pretty much it as well as working on some expert blogs for education and transportation.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Deception is a funny business.
It always seems to bite you when you least expect it, then again maybe you should have seen it coming.
The WikiLeaks saga continues to drone on and people are left with tid-bits of the U.S. government behind the scenes. Cables from around the world reveal a global situation that is anything but neat and orderly.
This scenario reminds me of the book I recently finished, The War Within, by Bob Woodward. The book reveals what it was like in the executive branch during the final years of President Bush’s tenure in office.
More specifically the text hones in on the trials and tribulations of the Iraq war and the decisions that went into producing this very unpopular war.
It reveals a team of characters who were clearly not on the same page and who did not seem to trust one another with the information they exchanged. They were distant figures who worked in the same offices.
Personalities clashed and pettiness was allowed to disrupt the flow of information.
In front of the media, the people could see that the war was a mess, but behind the scenes things seemed to be just as messy.
So with the recent uproar over the WikiLeaks scandal the question remains whether we really learned anything.
These cables reveal that our diplomats are engaged in very frank talk, talk that does not always portray them as saints.
They are shown to be imperfect characters who have true feelings about how things are run by governments despite what the public may have been told.
We have seen what deception looks like, especially if you have read any of Woodward’s books, but yet again we revere it as so unfamiliar. We are blown away by our government’s ability to keep secrets.
And our government is yet again surprised by its own inability to keep its secrets.
That’s that funny thing about deception, we are amazed when we realize what is going on, but then again we never learn from the mistakes of those who came before us.
History repeats itself, and our government is no exception to that rule apparently.
It always seems to bite you when you least expect it, then again maybe you should have seen it coming.
The WikiLeaks saga continues to drone on and people are left with tid-bits of the U.S. government behind the scenes. Cables from around the world reveal a global situation that is anything but neat and orderly.
This scenario reminds me of the book I recently finished, The War Within, by Bob Woodward. The book reveals what it was like in the executive branch during the final years of President Bush’s tenure in office.
More specifically the text hones in on the trials and tribulations of the Iraq war and the decisions that went into producing this very unpopular war.
It reveals a team of characters who were clearly not on the same page and who did not seem to trust one another with the information they exchanged. They were distant figures who worked in the same offices.
Personalities clashed and pettiness was allowed to disrupt the flow of information.
In front of the media, the people could see that the war was a mess, but behind the scenes things seemed to be just as messy.
So with the recent uproar over the WikiLeaks scandal the question remains whether we really learned anything.
These cables reveal that our diplomats are engaged in very frank talk, talk that does not always portray them as saints.
They are shown to be imperfect characters who have true feelings about how things are run by governments despite what the public may have been told.
We have seen what deception looks like, especially if you have read any of Woodward’s books, but yet again we revere it as so unfamiliar. We are blown away by our government’s ability to keep secrets.
And our government is yet again surprised by its own inability to keep its secrets.
That’s that funny thing about deception, we are amazed when we realize what is going on, but then again we never learn from the mistakes of those who came before us.
History repeats itself, and our government is no exception to that rule apparently.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Book Review: Our Patchwork Nation
Are we a red nation or a blue nation?
That is a question that journalist and author Dante Chinni asks us to move beyond. We are more diverse than those two colors suggest.
Is the man in Wisconsin who votes Republican the same as the soccer mom in Alabama who votes Republican? The answer is certainly no.
The book, Our Patchwork Nation, analyzes different parts of the United States and breaks the nations counties into 12 specific types.
The University of Oklahoma is located in Cleveland County and would thus be labeled by Chinni’s system as a campus and careers county. We are an area defined by the education that is provided in that country and the jobs that appear as a result.
We are similar to Ann Arbor Michigan in many ways, which is used in the book as a sort of example by which to follow.
Chinni said that about 5 percent of the country did not neatly fit into the 12 sections, but most places when looking at the data were associable with other communities by the amount of service industry or manufacturing.
In the book, it is clear that you cannot even go so far as to say that one region is simply defined by certain characteristics because the map is much too complex and the people that live in those districts share that complexity.
This book highlights why we cannot seem to understand the electorate.
We do not realize that the motivations behind our citizenry are much more complicated than red or blue.
As the title of the book suggests, me are a patchwork of many different beliefs and ideals. Taking those into consideration, it is a wonder we ever get anything done.
That is a question that journalist and author Dante Chinni asks us to move beyond. We are more diverse than those two colors suggest.
Is the man in Wisconsin who votes Republican the same as the soccer mom in Alabama who votes Republican? The answer is certainly no.
The book, Our Patchwork Nation, analyzes different parts of the United States and breaks the nations counties into 12 specific types.
The University of Oklahoma is located in Cleveland County and would thus be labeled by Chinni’s system as a campus and careers county. We are an area defined by the education that is provided in that country and the jobs that appear as a result.
We are similar to Ann Arbor Michigan in many ways, which is used in the book as a sort of example by which to follow.
Chinni said that about 5 percent of the country did not neatly fit into the 12 sections, but most places when looking at the data were associable with other communities by the amount of service industry or manufacturing.
In the book, it is clear that you cannot even go so far as to say that one region is simply defined by certain characteristics because the map is much too complex and the people that live in those districts share that complexity.
This book highlights why we cannot seem to understand the electorate.
We do not realize that the motivations behind our citizenry are much more complicated than red or blue.
As the title of the book suggests, me are a patchwork of many different beliefs and ideals. Taking those into consideration, it is a wonder we ever get anything done.
3rd to last week in DC
This week at National Journal…
Well, I was off a week for Thanksgiving, and I can say it was a much needed and very much appreciated time away from the office… but it was back to the grind that next Monday.
Monday: This Monday was all about getting back into the swing of things here at National Journal. After being gone a week, it took a bit to get back up to speed on what we had been working on. Monday I did quite a lot of research trying to figure out what my next gallery or slideshow would be about. I tend to spend the mornings researching and then in the afternoons I work on them. This afternoon I worked more with our blog system trying to get some experts added to our list of contributors.
Tuesday: Usually I have class on days like this, but this week there was no class until Wednesday so I was in the office early on Tuesday. Today I worked on a more long-term project that dealt with the 12 days of Christmas… with a little bit of flare thrown in from Congress. I don’t want to give too much away, but a Washington take on this classic is sure to be interesting.
Wednesday: Terry Michael Day! This class was with Kevin Madden who had previously worked with Mitt Romney. It was also with George Condon… who happens to work for National Journal. It was mostly about presidential politics and the campaigns. Madden talked more about the communications aspect of a campaign where Condon talked about covering the White House and how it has changed over time. Today I produced my gallery for the 10 richest congressional districts who would have money to spend this congressional season.
Thursday: It was a busy day because while I was not producing my own galleries, I was working with other people to get theirs done. I was working today with my boss on a gallery based upon a book by David Plouffe. He was an advisor for the Obama campaign. It was simple, but these things tend to be time consuming.
Friday: Today we had our second meeting of the week with Terry Michael and our guest was Dante Chinni, the author of Our Patchwork Nation. It is a book about the different types of regions in our country… and I will be reviewing it for my independent study soon, so look for that review. At work, I found out that the story I had done earlier in the week had been linked off of Yahoo News and was trending pretty well. I was one of the top five stories one day that week.
Well, I was off a week for Thanksgiving, and I can say it was a much needed and very much appreciated time away from the office… but it was back to the grind that next Monday.
Monday: This Monday was all about getting back into the swing of things here at National Journal. After being gone a week, it took a bit to get back up to speed on what we had been working on. Monday I did quite a lot of research trying to figure out what my next gallery or slideshow would be about. I tend to spend the mornings researching and then in the afternoons I work on them. This afternoon I worked more with our blog system trying to get some experts added to our list of contributors.
Tuesday: Usually I have class on days like this, but this week there was no class until Wednesday so I was in the office early on Tuesday. Today I worked on a more long-term project that dealt with the 12 days of Christmas… with a little bit of flare thrown in from Congress. I don’t want to give too much away, but a Washington take on this classic is sure to be interesting.
Wednesday: Terry Michael Day! This class was with Kevin Madden who had previously worked with Mitt Romney. It was also with George Condon… who happens to work for National Journal. It was mostly about presidential politics and the campaigns. Madden talked more about the communications aspect of a campaign where Condon talked about covering the White House and how it has changed over time. Today I produced my gallery for the 10 richest congressional districts who would have money to spend this congressional season.
Thursday: It was a busy day because while I was not producing my own galleries, I was working with other people to get theirs done. I was working today with my boss on a gallery based upon a book by David Plouffe. He was an advisor for the Obama campaign. It was simple, but these things tend to be time consuming.
Friday: Today we had our second meeting of the week with Terry Michael and our guest was Dante Chinni, the author of Our Patchwork Nation. It is a book about the different types of regions in our country… and I will be reviewing it for my independent study soon, so look for that review. At work, I found out that the story I had done earlier in the week had been linked off of Yahoo News and was trending pretty well. I was one of the top five stories one day that week.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)