Tonight I attended the annual meeting of CAPAVA: Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans of Northern Virginia. The keynote speaker was Norman Mineta, Secretary of Transportation. Mineta is the only democrat in the Bush cabinet. He was appointed by Clinton to be Secretary of Commerce, and then by Bush to his present position. Born in San Jose, Mineta was interned in a Japanese prison camp with the rest of his family during WWII. Much later, he was appointed to the City Council of San Jose, eventually became mayor, and served as a congressman for 20 years.
Did you ever "rehearse a conversation in your mind" thinking you'ld really go through with it? I did, but I overcame my anxiety.
After waiting quite some time for some young congressional interns to chat with him, my turn came. To break the ice I said "I am definitely not an intern (which is obvious if you see me), he smiled, and then I said "I used to work for you." He stepped back as if trying to remember, and I said: "Well, indirectly, I'm with the National Weather Service." He beamed and recounted how, as Secretary of Commerce, he had flown through a hurricane in a NOAA plane. I then took him aside so no one could hear, and said: "Mr. Secretary, it takes a lot of courage for you to be part of this Administration. And further, let me just say that I have studied the line of succession - you know what I mean (winking)- and you are the only one that I feel comfortable with." (would he be pissed at my impertinence to a Bush cabinet member, I wondered?). He smiled broadly, and said: "You know what, I really appreciate that, thank you very much."
Nothing profound, but a memorable moment for me, nonetheless. Now that I have his business card, I will try to "nurture" this insider.
After that, I chatted with an aide to Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA)about the upcoming democratic primary for Senator. He had earlier spoke a few non-partisan words, and was followed by my candidate, Jim Webb. Webb, as you know from other diarists, was Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, but has long been an opponent of the Iraq war, appears to have good liberal views in areas such as freedom of choice, is a forceful speaker, and is the only candidate with a chance to defeat the horrible Senator George Allen. I asked this aide to take back a message to Jim Moran: that his constituents are disappointed at his (and other VA Democratic office holders) endorsement of Harris Miller, the "party candidate," for reasons of "loyalty." I told him that the ONLY loyalty they should have is to the Democrats of Virginia who want a candidate who can defeat Allen. I also told him that Miller had contributed over $5000 of his own funds to Republican candidates, a fact which I learned here at Kos, which the aide and probably the congressman did not know. The aide told me that, in reality, Moran does support Webb but can't say anthing...I asked for him to show some courage. We'll see.