Lunch With Karl (Rove)

In May 2006, I was asked by an editor at HuffingtonPost.com to write some articles for the popular online news and opinion site.One of my first pieces was a political piece entitled “Why I Left The Left”. It got a tremendous response and was picked up and featured on many other sites, including RealClearPolitics.com and Yahoo.

I continued writing political pieces. A few weeks later, I received an email from the Undersecretary of Commerce, Frank Lavin, who complimented my work. He was the former Ambassador to Singapore, now at Commerce, and he said if I was ever in Washington D.C., maybe we could have lunch. I told him that I was scheduled to go to Washington a few weeks later. Soon after, I got an email from him asking if I’d like to have lunch in the West Wing of the White House, to include himself, me and “Karl.”

Karl? Did he mean Karl Rove, the near-mythic architect of so many political victories? I was intrigued.

A few days later, I received another email invitation asking me to lunch at the White House with Undersecretary Lavin and Karl Rove, on July 20th at 12 noon. The ambassador asked me to come by his office first so we could walk to the White House together.

Of course, I called all my friends, where the news mostly didn’t compute. “What do you mean you’re having lunch at the White House with Karl Rove?” they asked. Some people imagined that he liked my writings and was possibly looking for someone to replace the president’s main speechwriter, Michael Gerson (who has the same last name as my wife, but is not a relative). I speculated as well, but had no clue.

A little nervous in my new suit right before my impromptu lunch with Undersecretary Lavin and Karl Rove at The White House.

I flew to D.C. with my 11-year-old son Julian. On the morning of my lunch date, I worked out early in the hotel’s gym, as I wanted to be totally sharp for this unique event in my life. Then I put on my new suit and went to the Department of Commerce to meet Secretary Lavin, who greeted me warmly and gave me these special coins made by the Commerce Department. He told me how much he enjoyed my articles and promptly cleared up the wild speculation about my visit once and for all. He said that he noticed in my bio that I was a songwriter and explained that every once in a while, he liked to invite interesting people from outside “the beltway” to the White House. Cool.

Frank – he insisted I call him “Frank” – and I walked (seemingly for me, on air) the one block to the White House and entered one of the guard booths where the ambassador showed his credentials and joked with guards, who he obviously knew. Then we walked in the front entrance of the West Wing. It was incredibly exciting. As we waited for Karl, Frank introduced me to Budget Director David Portman, who was there with his wife. I had seen him on Fox News the night before and congratulated him on his informative appearance. He was very appreciative and I thought to myself, maybe these guys are used to be interviewed so much that no one bothers to tell them how good they were, or weren’t.

A couple of minutes passed when Karl Rove walked into the mess hall waiting area. He had on a black suit and thin blue tie and I remembering thinking how much thinner he looked in person. We were introduced and headed down the 10 stairs into the very small but elegant White House mess where we sat – Frank, Karl, and me – at a table against the wall. Almost immediately, the new Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, and National Security Advisor, Steven Hadley, came over to our table to say hello to Karl and Frank. I was introduced to them and remember feeling the surreal, almost Forrest Gump, nature of the moment: “What am I doing here, having lunch and meeting the movers and shakers of the free world?”

Frank mentioned to Karl that I was a songwriter and that I had had a number of books published. Karl mentioned that he had read many of my political pieces and enjoyed them very much. Again, I thought to myself, ‘I’m having lunch in the White House with Karl Rove who is telling me he reads my articles?’ Okay…

The menu from lunch that day

Karl is a very nice, warm, and funny guy. He was genuinely interested in the new documentary project I’m working on called “A Year In The Life.” He got a kick out of the fact that I had interviewed former First Daughter Luci Baines Johnson for the project. He insisted I order the special of the day – a Mexican dish. Then he jokingly picked up a plate and told me, “You can’t leave the White House without taking something.” He asked the waiter if there was a souvenir or two he could give me. The man brought back a menu from that afternoon and an official White House box of M&M’s with the presidential seal on it.

After about an hour and 10 minutes, Karl’s attractive assistant, Taylor, came to tell him he was needed back in his office. When I read the newspaper the next day, I learned that Karl went from our lunch to President Bush’s meeting with the NAACP. Taylor joined us for dessert. I asked her if she was affected when she went home at night and turned on CNN, only to see them consistently bashing the people she works for and with. She said she wasn’t particularly fazed by it.

That’s the sense I got from the people I met in the West Wing. There was great camaraderie, and the vibe was of both a dynamic a very pleasant place to work. You could tell, the people who worked there liked each other.

Taylor took Frank and I back to Karl’s office. I saw an autograph on Karl’s wall of his idol, the 25th president, William McKinley. I could see the Oval office. The door was closed but the president was in there. I also saw Vice President Cheney’s corner office. Black-and-white photographs of the president and vice president, individually and with others, adorned the walls.

Frank showed me the reception area where heads of state wait before their meetings with the president. We exited out of the front of the West Wing where I noticed a microphone set-up. Frank told me that was where TV viewers saw the reports of network correspondents from outside the White House.

Frank and I said goodbye and I thanked him for the incredible thrill I had just experienced.

As an aside, Karl had mentioned that he and his wife Darby enjoyed baseball. I promised to send him my latest book and I received this nice note back from him.

All in all my impromptu lunch at the White House was among the most memorable experiences of my life.