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| Copyright - McConnell Center |
As a McConnell Scholar, I recently had the opportunity to attend a speech by Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta. Although the speech itself proved engaging and informative, the question and answer session that followed eclipsed it. When called upon to ask his question, the last selected audience member thanked the Secretary and his staff for coming to speak to him, before reminding the audience about the perilous progress of climate change in Cameroon. He then berated Senator McConnell for his failure to believe in climate change, and exhorted Secretary Panetta to join him in asserting that the Senator's views were wrong.
I was shocked, not only at the wild impropriety of the man's comments, but at the reaction of the audience, many of whom met the remarks with enthusiastic applause. While I do not agree with the Senator's assessment of the nature and causes of climate change, I would never confront him at an event which I attended by his invitation, much less demand a sitting cabinet secretary - also the Senator's guest - to join in my tirade. People should observe a certain decorum when attending political events; the question and answer session after a politically neutral speech should not serve as a forum for partisan dissent - especially on a subject unrelated to the content of the speech.
- Adam Dahmer, Class of 2013
- Adam Dahmer, Class of 2013