Blogging the White House
: Here’s blogger and publisher Rex Hammock’s blog report on his meeting with George Bush (see yesterday’s post for background). Great stuff:
The President sat with us at a conference table between me and a young stay-at-home mother of two whose husband is a police officer (and, like me, a expat Alabamian). Across from the three of us sat two other young women and an older man, an apple farmer from Gettysburg, Penn. One of the women was a single mother of two who works full time and takes graduate school classes online. The other was a mom who works fulltime.
There were a few staffers around the edges of the room, including the logistics and policy people who had planned the event and a White House photographer. Andrew Card sat at the end of the table as a quiet observer,
Each participant had a name card in front of us and the Prersident was quick to use our first names in chatting with us about our work and families, especially asking us about how we had used any tax refunds or incentives. Only a few people knew I was going to do this, but more than one asked jokingly if I thought the President would give me a nickname. I’m happy not to disappoint them. He did. He turned to me once to ask a question and said,
