Final Reflection Blog

What the blog assignments forced me to do was not just keep up with the news on the Hill, which I did before. Instead, I had to continually process what was going on and constantly analyze news coming from Congress. I spent a lot of time researching stories, getting multiple angles, and looking at background information that was important. I think it really helped me understand a bit how Members of Congress think and how they go about their business.

I think I got the most out of studying and analyzing the news about the Speaker of the House, especially concerning the uncertainty that would happen next. Four of my last five blog posts were about the outgoing Speaker Boehner, his presumed successor McCarthy, and the actual new Speaker Paul Ryan. I really spent a lot of time trying to get inside get inside Boehner and McCarthy's surprise decisions and Ryan's reversal because the Speaker of the House is an incredibly important position in Congress, and how the Speaker decides to go about running the House is going to have a huge effect on the next year and the 2016 presidential and congressional elections. I felt like I learned a lot about the GOP's strategy and what they wanted to accomplish over the coming months in order to give themselves the best shot at the White House. I definitely had a better understanding of what it really takes to become Speaker and how strong of a candidate and leader one must be. McCarthy was absolutely going to have the support to be elected, and his fall from shoo-in to announcing he would not be seeking the position was rapid and caused seemingly by nothing in particular. But the criticisms of how he handled the Benghazi hearings and his remarks undercut his ability to lead effectively, and thus he stepped back without a definite plan b for the party.

I preferred following one thread of news throughout the semester instead of picking random bits to talk about. I thought I could dive a bit deeper into the hows and the whys and the what's next, instead of doing a lot of research every time just to find who and what. However, I liked the flexibility I had to jump around if I needed to. I didn't want to start the semester stuck writing about one specific topic that might not have a lot going on throughout the fifteen weeks or so. I wanted to be able to find something that I felt interested in and passionate about, and that was going to be topical and important in the time period I would be writing blog posts in. It worked out that Boehner announced his resignation and then McCarthy made it interesting. I definitely learned a lot about Boehner, what made him tick, his struggles, his successes, and his House. I also learned how important the position of the Speaker is, especially to a party that doesn't have the White House. Picking the right candidate became a crucial decision, and one that almost became a disaster considering their options and the time-crunch of Boehner's resignation date.