The Day to Day

so the boss, senator baucus (democrat of montana), is taking lead on health care reform this year. luckily for me, as an eager and idealistic product of the obama generation and policy-ilk, i have been fortunate enough to be on the health team of the senate finance committee working on putting together the bill. the hard work and insane hours, piled upon school work, has definitely had its drain on me these days. but the end game is key...if we pass this, i will have been a part of the largest health reform legislation in 40+ years. that would be a milestone and huge career achievement.

but the real reason why i put up with it isn't for the inspiration to lead or to participate in the process or to give back for the public good...no, it was a vanity exercise to see how many times i can get caught picking my nose during hearings or how many magazine articles i can make it into.

if you're bored enough to catch some of the finance committee hearings on cspan, you probably haven't had a chance to see me beyond this brief moment in a press conference, since i don't usually sit behind the senator during the hearings. and if you're REALLY bored, you can catch me behind senator rockefeller during one of the health subcommittee hearings (its the 3-18-09 one).

but beyond that, you probably won't notice me too much...until last week's edition of the national journal where they did a nice big profile on the boss and his plan for health reform. in the lead intro photo to the piece, you get to see yours truly splashed across the fold.

so there it is folks...i've made it to national journal fame, with a circulation of over 12,000 and who knows how many online readers (though no images of me will be seen there). they say decisions are made by those at the table...and look where i'm sitting...

...though of course i'm not really making any of the decisions, but no one really needs to know that.

*and yes, i do realize my hand position looks odd...but i was flipping through my briefing book!