Get political - part a

Back in October, I had the opportunity to attend a talk lead by Tim Roemer, a former Indiana House Representative. That wasn't really why he was on Goshen College's campus though - he was here to campaign for Barack Obama. The whole experience was rather interesting, beginning with a disclaimer that the Church-Chapel was simply being used for the facility and it did not indicate in any shape or form that Goshen College was backing Barack Obama. I suppose that it makes sense that the college shouldn't back any particular candidate; however, given the overwhelming consensus on campus this semester, I guess I wasn't really thinking about what the official position of the college should be.

I would sum up my overall experience as rather disappointing. His discussion of Obama's policies was not very specific. He repeated that he did not want to represent Obama's opinions or positions on any given topic, which I suppose is fair, but I did not feel like I learned very much from the experience because of the vagueness of his answers. Additionally, when some college students and community members attempted to make him firm up his answers and take a side, he was quite evasive. I found the afternoon to be typical of what I would stereotypically associate with politicians - evasive and smooth talking. Of course it was interesting, though I was disappointed with how little I felt that I learned about Obama.