Last night, after President Obama spoke at a tightly controlled DNC event at George Washington University, I strolled over to Foggy Bottom, to get a sense of what students thought about the president’s message. After an hour of hanging outside the Gelman Library, pen and recorder in hand, I left with a blank notebook. I spoke to over 50 students, and I could not find one — one – who was at the event, or one who watched it online.
The chief reason: It’s midterms week at GW, and no one seemed to have the time to sit around and watch the president on their computer. Many were also a bit miffed that the event was not open to the entire student body. Anecdotal evidence, to be sure, but after the crowd waiting for the president’s motorcade disappeared in the early evening, so did the buzz about a presidential visit.