Junior is not a person of the people.

So Junior was on campus yesterday. He was meeting with people from the Hoover Institute, a pretty influential conservative think thank located about a block from my office. Lots of famous political people cycle through this think tank. I think George Schulz is running it right now. Junior's last visit to this place was the first time he was running for office. Maybe this is where the whole Iraq disaster was originated.

Presidential visits are pretty imperial these days. For the last few days they have been practicing helicopter landings near Sand Hill and routes to and from Moffet. They have put up metal fencing around Hoover and the surrounding buildings. The Santa Clara Sherrif's office had a busload of officers in full riot gear. There were snipers posted in the tower, and possibly on the top my building.

Junior was scheduled to make an appearance around four. At that time a few hundred people were gathered around. They held signs, chanted, peacefully demonstrated their displeasure with their leadership. News trucks abounded. The School band was being contrarian and calling for "Four More Yars." I don't know if they thought they were being funny or if they're really just a consersative group. Two or three people managed to get themselves arrested.

Anyway the protesters were lined up along the most likely routes to Hoover. But no presidential motorcade ever came by. Junior snuck him in the backway through an area of campus that are usually walkways and no one actually saw him.

It was nice to see a rally and people expressing their views, but the President never saw it. He truly lives in his own bubble. He travels from place to place and except for the occassional Chinese heckler, will never hear these voices. And even if he there is a heckler, it's just a momentary distraction before the Secret Service squelch the voice in the name of national security.

When I got home, I watched a couple minutes of the Giants game. They were playing in Colorado and Bonds was getting booed every time any Rocky hit a ball to left or when he appeared at the plate. And I thought to myself, here are two guys that the people really hate right now. One of them gets booed on a daily basis and the other one never hears it except through abstract polling data. I'm not sure that's the way it should be.