Reporting from the White House press pool doesn’t generally come with the dangers of covering breaking news or foreign affairs, but a group of journalists in the presidential press posse found themselves facing fluke gusts of hurricane-force winds as Marine One landed on the South Lawn of the White House this morning.
“It was a quiet, gentle rain falling on the group of us on the South Lawn–until Marine One arrived,” Huffington Post reporter Jennifer Bendery told The Politicker. “People initially just huddled closer together as the wind picked up, but then, as the chopper touched down, the breeze turned into gales and everyone was just blown apart. Most people’s umbrellas were instantly flipped inside out and some appeared
broken.”
The harrowing ordeal elicited several different reactions from the assembled journalists.
“One reporter was laughing maniacally while getting drenched (ok that was me), mostly amazed by the boldness of Bloomberg reporter Kate Andersen, who remained firm in her position by the helicopter as the wind whipped up her hair, her umbrella and her overcoat,” said Ms. Bendery. “At one point, she was reduced to being just a jacket sandwiched between one battered umbrella blowing in the air and another smashed umbrella underneath her heels.”
Apparently, despite the drenching and the destroyed umbrellas, the break in the daily drudgery was welcomed by many of the reporters.
“Several reporters joked afterward (but were serious too) that this wet mess would be the best part of the day,” Ms. Bendery said. “One even commented, ‘This is the most fun I’ve had here in three years.'”
