A few weeks ago, the longest serving Senator in American history, Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia, passed away at the age 92. He was the Senate President pro-tempore. In his place, Senator Dan Inouye (D) of Hawaii took his place. The Senate President pro-tempore is elected by the Senate and is customarily the most senior senator in the majority party – and is the third inline in presidential succession behind the Vice President and the Speaker of the House. Because of that, Senator Inouye has a security detail that he is getting used to:
“When Inouye conducted a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee at the Hawaii State Capitol Wednesday, a contingent of eight Capitol Police from Washington, D.C., lined the hall and the hearing room. They were backed up by three state sheriffs. The security officers surrounded Inouye as he left the Hawaii capitol escorting him to a convoy of four vehicles. Inouye said he was unprepared for the increased security when he took on his new position… Inouye said, “If you must know, 16 people are assigned to me. They go in shifts around the clock seven days a week.””
I guess that kind of security does get some getting used to! Maybe Inouye should ask for a demotion. And, if he were to ascend the position of President of the United States, we’d certainly be in very troubled times. However, I wonder if I’ll ever see an Asian American president, or even one played on TV?
About John
I'm a Taiwanese-American and was born & raised in Western Massachusetts, went to college in upstate New York, worked in Connecticut, went to grad school in North Carolina and then moved out to the Bay Area in 1999 and have been living here ever since - love the weather and almost everything about the area (except the high cost of housing...)
