West Wing

Last night, some of my coworkers and I had the opportunity to have a private tour of the West Wing of the White House. The tour came courtesy of one of our former patients who is a member of the White House senior staff. We met up with our patient over at her office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. That place is locked up pretty tight. We had to go through two security checkpoints before we were even allowed into the building. Our patient had a wine and cheese spread for us in her office. It was good to see her again, as well as another former patient who is a good friend of hers. She really is one of the coolest and sweetest people I know (even if she is a Republican). We got to watch the beginning of the president’s national address from New Orleans in her office before the tour over in the White House started.

If you watch the West Wing on NBC, you will possibly be disappointed to know that the Oval Office is the only part that is accurate. One of the coolest parts was the numerous large photographs on the walls in all the corridors. These photographs are apparently rotated on a fairly regular basis. A photograph taken of the president in the morning can end up on the wall by the afternoon. When we there yesterday there were tons of pictures of the President surveying the devastation down on the Gulf Coast.

Although I am not the biggest fan of our current president, it was still pretty cool to be at a place where so many important things happen on a daily basis and have done so for over a hundred years. I guess the sense of history was what impressed me most, as opposed to just focusing on the fact that it is Dubya’s office now.