You’ve just won the award for greatest ____ in your field of all time. As you approach the stage to accept your trophy, what’s your “walk up song?”…As you may know, a walk up song is the anthem played in a baseball stadium as the player walks from the on-deck circle to home plate, getting ready to bat, or from the bullpen to the pitching mound. The idea is to create swagger, an identity for the player, and to personally connect players to fans.
Last week, we looked into generative AI and its potential to impact the lobbying industry. While I was supremely impressed by the speed and accuracy with which OpenAI’s ChatGPT could regurgitate information in the form of what one might expect from a university student answering an essay question, if you remember, the chatbot’s responses lacked imagination, did not include persuasive arguments, and provided no story-telling elements to place issues in context.
To me, the mention of “artificial intelligence” (AI) still conjures up images of Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator or Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Yet, generative AI is already a presence on social media and in the news.
Yeah, dad jokes are how eye-roll [sic]. And we can only hope that the meetings of the newly established Congressional Dad Caucus are full of these same cheesy, corny puns that have come to be known as “dad jokes.”
This week I attended the Public Affairs Council’s (PAC) annual Advocacy Conference. The conference brings together nearly 500 public affairs professionals in one place to focus on such things as sharing best practices in crafting a grassroots advocacy program, offering tips for post-pandemic lobbying, and outlining strategies for managing a crisis from the public affairs perspective.
Last December, I appeared on the SCOA Americas Week ‘Enriching Lives through Volunteerism’ panel. It was a great opportunity for me to not only showcase the volunteer work that has become a passion of mine, but also express my gratitude to SCOA for encouraging my community service. In a nutshell, I co-founded a non-profit that incorporates the game of golf into the mental and physical rehabilitation programs of post-9/11 veterans.
Revelations that President Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, kept unauthorized documents upon leaving office have rocked Washington and dominated the news cycle this week. Regardless of whether the two cases rise to the same level of seriousness, the revelation has been a political gift to Republicans—most voters are not paying close attention to the nuances of the two cases, and it now looks like “all politicians do it.”
Revelations that President Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, kept unauthorized documents upon leaving office have rocked Washington and dominated the news cycle this week. Regardless of whether the two cases rise to the same level of seriousness, the revelation has been a political gift to Republicans—most voters are not paying close attention to the nuances of the two cases, and it now looks like “all politicians do it.”
We all make New Year’s resolutions. From eating better and drinking less to staying fit or crossing that exotic excursion off one’s bucket list, resolutions are something we all make but find difficult to keep.
Holiday get-togethers in Washington often include an eclectic mix of people from all across the political spectrum. Last weekend, my wife and I hosted a dinner with friends that included a high-ranking official from the Bush and Trump administrations, an immigration attorney, a Montgomery County Maryland elementary school principal, and the commanding police officer of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. As you might suspect, political opinions were all over the map…