In the Edmund Morris biographical trilogy about the life of Theodore Roosevelt, his description of the Washington years detailed a virtual ghost town when the summer months rolled around.
If you’ve spent any time at all in D.C. during June, July or August, you’d understand why. In the pre-air conditioning days, the heat and humidity in Washington sent everyone scurrying for cooler climates. The Roosevelts went to their Long Island home, Sagamore Hill, for example. They stayed in New York for weeks to beat the heat.
With a dearth of politicians in our nation’s capitol, there was also a corresponding shortage of news. In fact, the President often encountered national journalists coming to his home in search of news.
Fast forward to modern times. There is certainly no scarcity of political figures in Washington this summer. Even so, it seems the calendar has shifted into the summer news phase.
With no major stories for the reporters to report, it seems that every day has become a slow news day. On this day, of course, we have reflections on the anniversary of D-Day. What will tomorrow bring?
Today, he political world treats us to stories about the latest political scandal and speculation about which actress would play Hillary Rodham Clinton in a movie as well as Mitt Romney’s assessment of last fall’s election. Monday Morning Quarterbacking…on a Thursday…in June.
Speaking of sports, you can turn to ESPN and get a preview of the NBA finals. Of you can change the channel and dial in the celebrity scene. You can even read about who wore what outfit at last night’s CMT awards.
Even nature has let us down. This year’s Cicada arrival seems to have been rated as somewhat of a bust.
I remember past summers like this. In a news vaccuum, it seems stories create themselves. In 2011, we focused on record drought. Ten years earlier, shark attacks called a nation-wide frenzy. The summer of 2001 was dubbed ’the summer of sharks.’ The lack of regular news, that summer, focused our attention on the safety of our beaches.
Maybe this will be dubbed the summer of Chris Christie. Seems like the animated New Jersey Governor is in the news almost every day.
Failing more interesting stories from the Governor, we’ll just have to sit back and wait. Tropical storms will come. The Heat will win the NBA Championship…unless the Spurs do. There will be more award shows and more red carpet arrivals to critique.
And in the meantime, the Summer of 2013 is off to a slow news start…like many of its predecessors.
JG
Originally posted 6/6/2013
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