Intern see change needed in D.C. as presidential candidates define word

My sister just left yesterday. Two days last week I worked half day: on Wednesday to pick her up at the metro station and Friday to go site-seeing. On Thursday we did a tour of the monuments at night. We took the Tourmobile bus, which was full of excited eighth graders from Kentucky and high school students from Canada. Washington D.C. is currently overrun by students on spring break trips. As our Tourmobile guide told us as we unloaded to see the Franklin Roosevelt memorial, what Roosevelt really should have said is "the only thing we have to fear are eighth graders."

On Friday my sister and I toured the State Department. The State Department seemed to take security measures to a new high. As we toured the diplomatic reception rooms where receptions and parties for foreign dignitaries are held, the group was tailed by two police officers. In some rooms we were only allowed to walk in half-way for security reasons. However, despite the security, it was a interesting tour. The State Department was built in the 60s and is probably the ugliest, most nondescript building, but the reception rooms are supposed to represent a piece of Americana.

Later that night we caught a movie and dinner in Chinatown. As we walked to the restaurant we passed a group of Black Panthers, the radical and sometimes militant African American civil rights group, giving a speech on the sidewalk and flanked by body guards. While this was surprising to me, being from Indiana where things seem relatively quiet, my sister reminded me there still are racial tensions in other cities as close as Cleveland and Cincinnati, where race riots and tensions occur from time to time.

I am getting to know the city fairly well; at least parts of it. I can tell you where you will find the Black Panthers on the weekend, where the homeless flock and what metro lines to avoid on Saturday afternoons. It occurred to me this weekend how callus I am and everyone else is to the homeless. I have never seen anyone give money to the homeless although they seem to have some money in their cups.

It gets very cold here at nights and I am astonished how many beat up blankets there are in parks or make shift shelters where you can find someone sleeping at all hours of day. How do these people survive? And how do they get there? How does a person get that desperate? I hear sometimes when it is very cold out the homeless will get on the metro and ride the trains all day and through the night.

Today, Barack Obama gave a speech on racism, poverty and mostly his association with his minister who has made controversial comments, which a simple Google search would uncover. Everyone talks in the presidential race about desperate people- Obama talked about a girl named Amy whose mother had a disease and no insurance. Obama, Clinton and McCain talk about change- in Iraq, the economy, and healthcare, but what is change and what will it look like?

I will be interested to see how the candidates define change. People on the Hill are undoubtedly excited. It occurred to me, as I sat in my cubicle and organized the news clips that this might be the most fascinating and historic presidential race my generation will see. How the election will end and how it will shape future elections is something no one can know yet.