Getting IntoThe White House

Since my visit to Washington DC and the White House many people have compared our visit to that of the couple who were able to so easily get into a major party and get very close to the top leaders of our country. When we went on the tour of the White House it was necessary to make arrangements two months in advance. We contacted the office of Senator Barber Boxer and thank her staff for the nice job that they did to help us go on the tour and it did make the trip worthwhile. We needed to have valid ID and to follow the rules to get into the building. Just think no purse, no backpack, and worst of all no cameras. You could take your cell phone. The complete list will come to you when you arrange the tour. When you get to the gate to enter the area you are checked against the list for that tour. You can’t even be chewing gum when you enter. That is before you are screened at a level that is beyond what you expect at an airport. You are checked by several people and the several secret service agents that are casually in the area just talking to people. I do not know and actually do not want to know what other things they were checking. Sometimes it is best not to know. So that couple half hardily tries to get on the list and then they decide just decided to fake it all. It seems that the White House was not able to handle the large crowd that was anticipated, and a couple that took advantage of the situation. Our tour was lead by a member of the secret service.

We saw many staff people who obviously we’re not doing anything except watch us. That is besides the uniformed officers that are all around and especially on the perimeter of the grounds. The security may have been intense BUT it was all designed to make it safe while at the same time allow us to enjoy our short time at the center of democracy. Even Barbara Walters must go through tough security to enter an event at the White House. She commented on a recent event while on her show the View. I suspect that some people in the current administration just wanted a more open picture of the event that was a first for the new administration. I think it will be considered just the first time that the public will see that the people in government are just like the rest of us. They do try to do so many things that at times do not come out as well as they think that they will. That is why we have the form of government that allows for such things and still keeps going.