Back from CPAC
March 2nd, 2009
Actually, I would have returned this afternoon, but my morning flight was cancelled due to the six inches of snow that blanketed Washington D.C. overnight.
My first impressions of the nation’s capital:
1. It’s a commercial shrine to President Obama. From Walgreens to the airport to street vendors, the capital is drowning in Obama merchandise. One restaurant had a full-size cardboard cutout of the President standing behind its front window. I wouldn’t be surprised if police printed tickets on Obama-themed paper.
2. No one smiles. It could be because they have to live in D.C., where people worship fallible men in lieu of God. It could be because they’re all into politics; political junkies are generally insufferable. The ones that don’t talk way too much have more defense mechanisms that the White House. And it could be because most of them are liberal. Liberals are threatened by too many things (ex: talk radio, deregulation, being associated with uncouth rednecks) to be anything but neurotic.
3. It’s prettier than I thought it would be, and far less dangerous. Perhaps because I spent all of my time in northwestern D.C., the city looked nice. The streets are wide, the buildings are up kept, and the touristy stuff, such as the Supreme Court, truly inspires a sense of majesty. I expected the city to be a real-life version of Grand Theft Auto, but the architecture and the uptight yet civil populace pleasantly surprised me.
More on CPAC in a bit…