From now on, each and every perky volunteer intern running around the West Wing will get a paycheck. In an attempt at regaining another point or two in his rock bottom polls, Joe Biden decided to channel former Republican President Abraham Lincoln and free the slaves. At least the ones working for him.
Intern now a paid position
If Monica Lewinsky worked there now, she would get paid for the Kama Sutra of Oval Office positions she got into. The former intern totally volunteered to let Bill Clinton stain her dress while they played with his cigar. On Thursday, June 2, Jen Psaki’s replacement announced that “for the first time interns there will be paid.”
It’s not going to start until after the election work is out of the way, though. “Interns will be paid for the first time starting in the fall.”
The Press Ministry is calling intern pay a “significant milestone.” According to the official statement, “this significant milestone of paying White House interns will help remove barriers to equal opportunity for low-income students and first-generation professionals at the beginnings of their careers.”
It used to be something which anyone could put on their resume and use to get ahead on their own later.
Everybody knows that the words “White House Intern” open a lot of typically locked doors inside the beltway. Each and every one becomes “a significant part of the leadership pipeline across the entire federal government.”
Volunteer work was once a way to level the playing field but Democrats don’t want just level. They always want an advantage.
Three criteria to qualify
The upcoming fall 2022 intern session, the press corps notes, will run for 22 weeks and applicants have to be official U.S. citizens and 18 or older. They also have to meet “one of three criteria.”
Either enrolled in a college or university, already graduated from at least a two-year institution, or be a military veteran with a high school diploma or equivalent.
Any applicant for the intern job can expect a fast pace environment and long hours. Getting out at 8-9 at night is a regular occurrence and the other nights end around midnight. Along with that you get to rub elbows with all the movers and shakers inside the beltway.
Rubbing other parts could lead to even better opportunities, which is why every applicant must be of legal age. It’s not a quid pro quo kind of thing, just a willingness to be exceptionally “friendly.”
While an intern might feel privileged to carry a title like 3rd Assistant to the Deputy Assistant for the Undersecretary of State, your job might be turning on all the TV sets every morning.
Of course, for those willing to go the extra mile under the right circumstances, like Monica Lewinsky did, you might end up with a career on TV.