University of Notre Dame Symposium in D.C.
After leaving NYC, the Tribeca Film Festival and our first grandchild, five-month-old Ian, Ed and I headed to Washington DC and to Ed's Alma Mata the University Notre Dame's bi-annual Perspectives on National & Global Issues. As part of the University's President's Circle, Ed and I really look forward to this incredibly interesting event held in the nation's capitol. This year we were lucky to hear from, among others:
- Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors
- Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida
- Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana
- Denis McDonough, current White House Chief of Staff
- Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
- Senator Chuck Schumer of New York
- Media panalists Mark Shields, PBS News Hour and Inside Washington; Jerry Seib, Washington bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal; Daniel J. Balz, American jounalist Washington Post; Pete Wehner, Commentary magazine and National Review online; and Jeanne Cummings, Government Team Deputy Editor at Bloomberg News.
Whew, what a line-up of impressive and divergent views; however, one thing everyone seemed to agree on was that demographics was the key to the next election.
The dinner where the guest speaker was Jeb Bush was held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, part of the Donald W. Reynolds Center, a gloriously renovated National Historic Landmark building, where President Abraham Lincoln held his inaugural ball. We were where history was made!