Hillary Express
Several weeks ago, my son called me from the road. He was going to be in Sarasota for 45 minutes and wanted to know if we could meet for lunch. I said ‘of course’. He works for Fox News and is embedded with Hillary Clinton’s campaign. She was in town for a fundraiser, and since the political parties in their infinite wisdom, banned Florida campaigning ( and cancelled out all the votes), the traveling press was not allowed to attend the event. So, they all met for lunch.
Linda and I drove about fifteen minutes to a Cuban restaurant on St. Armand’s Key and waited. The press flies on Clinton’s private jet,(they pay for the privilage) and from the private SRQ terminal they took a ten minute bus ride to the Columbia Restaurant. And as I stood outside the eating establishment waiting to see him, a huge tour bus pulled up.
The reporters walked out, one after another…all thirty or younger. There were probably 22 young journalists, producers and reporters in all, and they were dressed casually. In their right hand was their laptop, in their left hands were the Blackberry’s. Some balanced an open laptop on one hand. As they trouped into the restaurant, they immediately went to the back tables that had been set up for them. One by one they plugged into the power strips that had been provided, plugged in their AT&T wirless cards and immediately started sending their stories.
“Did you get the information on the Chelsea story?”
“Who’s got the name of that guy that Bill Clinton mentioned in yesterday’s speech?”
“Can somebody get me the name of that lady at the last stop? The one who asked the question…”
They talked to each other, texted from their Blackberry’s and worked their laptops at the same time, ordering stone crab claws, mojitas and whatever else struck their fancy. And in forty five minutes they filed their stories, digested the information and were back on the bus. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CBS, ABC, and the rest of them…back on a plane to attend one of two more events for the day. They would reach their final destination for that day at 3a.m. the next morning.
Four years ago, when George Bush ran for his second term, Blackberry’s were in their infancy and wireless cards for laptops were not yet in vogue.
Eight years ago when Bush ran for president, no one had Blackberry’s and very few people had laptops. Wireless? Forget it.
I can’t help but wonder what unbelievable technical marvel will be around in four more years to help us communicate all the things that we’ll never understand. Like why anyone in their right mind would run for President in the first place.
