My Visit With Charlie

Today I spent several hours with Charlie Madigan. He's a veteran Chicago Tribune editor and correspondent who has been with the newspaper since 1979.

One thing I didn't catch talking with him is the fact that Madigan performs Celtic and Irish music on the guitar and bouzouki in the Chicago area and has written a series of songs in the Celtic tradition. Had I known, I would have had him sing a few bars. I dabble a bit in Celtic and Irish music.

Anyway, he is attempting to test out a feature concept. Basically, he just goes around to different locations and paints a picture about the people he meets there. He has a couple of questions that he asks and then he lets those people have at it. He says that he wants to get out of the way and just let folks have their say.

He started the concept at the two larger parties' conventions. The editors liked it so that told him to keep going. That is what led him to Bob Jones University. He had a couple of questions to ask and he figured that was just the place to go to get the answers - and a bit of color to make the story interesting.

I haven't seen the article, but I'm not holding my breath. I hope I am surprised, but based on the track record of national reporters, I can't help but wonder if he will get the story right. Enough about that, what are the questions?

1. Do you believe that politicians use religion to get the vote and in so doing are they using religious people?

2. If that is true, what is your reaction to seeing politicians tell you they are going to do such and such and then when they get elected they conveniently forget their promises?

The first several students he interviewed were all freshmen and sophomores. It was obvious that they had not yet formulated their thoughts on the matter. Most of them were going to be voting for the first time in November.

They pretty much all agreed that politicians are using them and that it tended to make them cynical of the politicians and the political system. I felt sort of sorry for them because you sensed that they were so busy just trying to make it through school that the courting habits of politicians wasn't the first thing on their minds.

Later Charlie had an opportunity to visit with six students who had served the BJU delegation of the South Carolina Student Legislature (a quite successful delegation, I might add) and he got a different view. Most of these students were juniors and seniors. They also were more politically involved (some of them are working in current campaigns). Their answers were not quite so simple.

I almost got the impression that Charlie was disappointed in this last group. It seemed he was looking for some stark answers. He expected to get some very black and white answers. Instead he met some students who were principled, but who understood that a level of pragmatism is necessary if you are to engage in the political realm.

I'll be interested to see how he paints the colors surrounding these various students. More than that I will be interested in seeing how he paints the picture of BJU. One thing I have learned through the years is that reporters love you as long as you are giving them information, but once you have been sucked dry you can find they morph into something quite different.

Charlie, I really hope you prove to be different. I enjoyed your visit and while I'm sure we wouldn't agree on a whole lot of things, I was surprised about how many things we did agree. Even where didn't agree, you made things interesting and civil. I'll look forward to reading the rest of your reports.