Powering into presidential transition mode
Following election adventures in Pennsylvania and Georgia we're back to the Beltway
After spending considerable time in a couple of swing states — Pennsylvania and Georgia — I am powering into presidential transition mode.
A colleague, the other day, asked how many U.S. presidents I have covered. It took a minute to figure it out. I’ve been alive for 13 presidencies. Richard Nixon was the first president I saw in person. Jimmy Carter, when he was running in the 1976 Democratic primary, the first I met. And Ronald Reagan the first for which I had a Secret Service media credential (for an arrival of Air Force at Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station in California, close to Reagan’s 688-acre ranch in Santa Barbara, County.) So, it’s a half dozen in some circumstance or another, although I did not encamp at the White House until 2017.
Trump 2.0 promises to keep pundits and journalists busy. I’ve been making a number of appearances this past week on VOA programs, those of our affiliates and other broadcasters around the world helping to try to make sense of it all.
Inside the VOA building, we’re always reminded that what happens in Washington has tremendous ramifications internationally. That’s why I was invited again on the set of our Straight Talk Africa program to talk with the program’s legendary host, Vincent Makori.
I also ventured, for the first time, into VOA’s Studio 48. That is where The Inside Story, another of our English language TV shows, was taping. This week’s program features a quartet of VOA correspondents who were in the field for the presidential election to talk about the transition, including Donald Trump’s picks for his administration that are eliciting a variety of reactions and surprising even some of the president-elect’s strongest Republican supporters on Capitol Hill.
I was also asked by my editors this week to take a look at one of the more mainstream selections — Senator Marco Rubio of Florida for secretary of state. As I note in my story, the son of Cuban immigrants had been a vocal supporter of Kyiv but more recently called for negotiations to end the conflict with Russia and voted in April against a $95 billion military aid package for the Ukrainians. Rubio is a strong supporter of Israel, in line with Trump’s stance. He has talked tough about the authoritarian regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as well as the communist leadership in Beijing.
Numerous broadcasters turn to VOA correspondents to appear on news and talk programs. Hearing the questions from the show hosts and newscasters is elucidating for me as I obtain a different perspective from that in our newsroom or of the U.S. domestic news outlets. One of my recent favorites is Times Radio, a digital broadcaster in Britain. It airs on Channel 11A on the Sound Digital DAB platform. I am able to listen on this side of the Atlantic through the Times Radio livestream, which thankfully is not geo-blocked. Times Radio always turns segments into video so I dress up a bit better than I normally have to for radio but putting on a tie for what is essentially a radio chat is where I’ve drawn the line.
In the early days of broadcasting formal wear was de rigueur at the microphone.
The Time Radio presenters are intelligent and witty without the stuffiness of traditional British broadcasting (not throwing shade at the Beeb, as I always consider it an honor to appear on its hallowed airwaves).
I also took time this week to attend the centennial book market of the American Foreign Service Association, where I was one of the featured authors. I just completed eight years on the AFSA board of governors and would have stayed longer but I maxxed out on serving consecutive terms. I am now on the association’s elections committee.
The Thursday event marks the last scheduled on the tour to promote ‘Behind the White House Curtain: A Senior Journalist’s Story of Covering the President―and Why It Matters.’ I believe the hardback first edition/first printing is pretty close to being sold out. As a bibliophile, I am not sure if it’ll become a collector’s item, but if you want your copy signed I can do that in person in the D.C. region or send you an autographed, personalized bookplate. The Kindle edition is also out, but I’m not sure how signed bookplates work for that.
As a collector of historical books about the American presidency, I was thrilled to find, during my recent reporting trip to Gwinnett County in Georgia, a first edition (sans book jacket) of ‘A President is Many Men.’ The author, Merriman Smith, was a Georgia native and one of my predecessors in the White House press corps. Smith was on the beat from FDR to Nixon and originated the practice of closing presidential news conferences with "Thank you, Mr. President."
My favorite story about the legendary journalist is the one which helped Smith garner a Pulitzer Prize. He was in the front seat of the White House Pool car in the JFK motorcade in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. The vehicle was equipped with an AT&T radiotelephone. Keep in mind this was years before journalists began carrying cell phones. When the shots rang out Smith grabbed the phone to place a call to UPI. Smith would not give up the handset angering his arch-rival, Jack Bell of AP, who was in the back seat. Bell began punching Smith and yelling at him to hand over the phone! By the time Smith hung up at the hospital, UPI had the scoop of shots fired in Dallas. There’s much more to the story as Smith was at a low point in his life when he took that trip to Texas.
I find it hard to fathom how correspondents such as Smith spend decades at the White House. As I discuss in my book, while the beat is extremely consequential and you have access to a powerful world leader that our colleagues in other capitals would desire with their own presidents and prime ministers, it is an exhausting slog in a claustrophobic space. Even when traveling we’re corralled in a security bubble by the Secret Service. Over the years, there is a tendency to notice one’s dispatches can routinely resemble boilerplate text. About five years, covering the White House was enough for me.
Nothing is as refreshing as producing stories from beyond the Beltway. My most recent effort aired this week and resulted from a trip with VOA videographer Adam Greenbaum to Braddock, Pennsylvania. It is a challenge to adequately encapsulate a balanced portrait of an important issue in just three minutes, but that was my goal regarding Japan Steel’s impending takeover of U.S. Steel. Have a look and let me know if I met the challenge.
Braddock, where Senator John Fetterman was mayor, is only 0.4 square miles but it packs in a lot besides the Edgar Thompson Steel Works. A visit to the 15104 zip code would not be a top choice on the usual traveler’s itinerary, but I assure you that if you are in the Pittsburgh area a side trip to Braddock is worth it.
Want fusion food? Try a kielbasa quesadilla at Brassero Grill. Need an adult beverage? Scoot just across the borough line into Rankin and you’ll make friends at the Dante Club. Owners Todd Cioppa and his wife, Danielle Vasquez, tell great stories. After all, the bar is a side business for the couple whose livelihood is in hazardous waste abatement.
And don’t forget before leaving the area to say hello to Joe Magarac outside the steel factory gate in North Braddock. I tried to get his attention but he had his hands full.
