Week Two

�This place is an analogy of America� I shouted over the din. �It is busy for ten hours straight. It is an assembly line. The burgers fly off the grill and onto the plates. The wait-staff then shovels the plates to the people who come through the door in an endless line.�

The Ambassador looked over the counter at the focal point of the whole enterprise. �So, it is this man who is critical?� he asked, pointing at the close-cropped head of a guy in a maroon t-shirt that was emblazoned with the words �You Can�t Beat Our Meat�

�Yes, absolutely. He is listening to all the calls for orders, orchestrating the cooking time, frying the vegetables and melting the cheese so that each order is complete at the same time.�

�It is astonishing� said the Ambassador. �Quite American.�

�As apple pie� I answered. �The key is top-quality beef, never frozen, and a maestro of a cook that keeps it coming off the grill piping hot.� Two platters came up over the counter and plopped down in front of us. We had each ordered a “Ted Kennedy� which was a classic burger cooked medium with melted cheddar cheese and mushrooms. Extra crispy fries were on the side. It was a little slice of heaven.

After the burgers were consumed we cleared our stools at the counter and let two more eager diners in.

Week Two of the Senior Manager�s in Government class at the JFK School of Government ended with transactional analysis of negotiations. It was the anniversary of Roger�s entry into the Executive Branch. Twenty-eight years to the day he walked into the Old Executive Office Building, without credentials, and met Vice President Ford coming out of the elevator on the second floor. Mr. Ford was on his way over to talk to Richard Nixon and prepare for taking control of the most powerful nation on earth when the President resigned, effective at noon. Mr. Ford looked at the young White House Fellow and said �Well, it is about time you got here.�

Roger�s class that morning was a case study of the Clean Air Act of 1974 he managed through the Congress. It was a fantastic unit, dealing with the subtleties �issue gestation� and power centers in the Senate. If �how a bill becomes law� can be made a rollicking good time, Roger can do it. He is one of the finest instructors I have ever seen. Self deprecating, authoritative, funny.  We got a shortened break and came back to part two of a lecture with Larry Smith, who had worked for the legendary John C. Stennis on the House Armed Services Committee.

There was a time when Stennis was a man and not an aircraft carrier. Larry made his case studies into high drama, patterning the fight over the sale of AWACS airplanes to Iran after Shakespeare�s McBeth. I will never forget the way he made Chairman Stennis come alive. �What is it you want?� he questioned us, using the famous Stennis phrase. �Speeeeeeecifically?�

 The afternoon was luminous, warm but not overly. Students and homeless lay along the banks of the Charles River. Bikes whizzed and roller-bladers cruised and women jogged. A deranged man fought the air and muttered to himself. Our Islamic classmates had gone to the Mosque. The classroom was still an you could see the students that had plans to go home for the weekend were already getting antsy to be on the move. There were suitcases on wheels rolling toward the curb by the time we arrived back at the Business School Housing area at Soldier Field.

There are four days of classroom sessions to go. We have arranged a special session in which our International classmates can address us. Goodness knows they have heard enough about America in the last few weeks. We have seventeen countries represented. Marie-Christine says she will provide wine and beer as an incentive. Then a clam-bake on Tuesday and the final dinner at the Harvard Divinity School Thursday night. Then they give us the certificate Friday. In the meantime I am going to go rent a car and go to Maine. I have a day to kill and I mean to do it in earnest.