The Terrapins and the Debt Ceiling

Well I survived my first week back to work after vacation. To think that a week ago, I was still on my staycation! What a distant memory! I jumped right back into the swing of things and had no time to blink. As you probably are aware (and I'd be interested in hearing your level of care), the negotiations about the debt ceiling have taken over Washington. I pretty much didn't read too many emails about them during my week off because a) I was on vacation b) there were too many emails to actually keep up with and c) I figured I needed to really only know the latest and it seemed like nothing huge was really happening.

So same thing this week. It was like Groundhog Day. We literally did the same live shot for three days straight with only slight details different. I won't bore you with those details... you can always check out my network's website for more information than you'll ever need to know!

We saw POTUS on Monday (well I wasn't at the WH on Monday so I just watched him on TV) and then he made an appearance on Tuesday evening in the briefing room (he seems to be doing that quite a bit lately!) so I missed him again. And then for the next couple of days, he had nothing on his public schedule. By Friday, I almost forgot what he looked like! But we were travel pool on Friday and he actually had an event!!

POTUS says he likes to "get outside the bubble" and out of DC so I guess Friday's trip to University of Maryland technically counted but we were just barely out of the bubble. By only a few miles. But we boarded the motorcade in the middle of one of the hottest days of the year in DC and headed to College Park. I have only been on campus one time but at least it's an ACC school so I have to be nice! :)

It was an uneventful event- meaning there were no interruptions from protesters and it was just a bunch of people asking the POTUS questions that they deeply cared about. POTUS talked a lot about the deficit reduction/debt ceiling talks and the idea of compromising. I won't comment any further just to make sure you don't think I'm editorializing but I will say that it was such a change of pace to see him in a different scene other than either the Cabinet Room or the Briefing Room.


Of course, after I left work for the day, POTUS made another trip to the Briefing Room. I guess he missed seeing the entire press corps! :) I missed it but because of the breakdown in the negotiations, I had the honor and privilege of working on Saturday, starting at 5:30a!