Weiner for President
College Democrat hits the campaign trail with
Al Gore and serves as a Clinton intern.
By Jordan Kogler ’02
Courtney Weiner ’01 is a History major in the Tower Club and president of the Princeton College Democrats. She recently organized a week-long experience for her group over Intersession, volunteering for the New Hampshire primary.
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Describe what it means to be president of the Princeton College Democrats. How long will you hold that post?
Basically, it means doing everything that no one else will do. It’s just what presidents usually do: setting an agenda for the year; making sure that people are following through on their jobs; picking up the slack when necessary. I’m actually coming to the end of my term —we’re having elections this coming Monday. I’m running again as Co-President with our current Vice President. It’s something that I really enjoy doing.
Were you the mind behind those “Who wants ass?” posters for the College Democrats that were all over campus recently?
Those were a group decision. Apparently there were some people who weren’t too happy with those. I thought that they were pretty clever, and I would definitely do it again. We just wanted to get our name out there and show that Princeton is not a purely conservative campus.
What exactly is the function and purpose of the College Democrats?
Our mission statement says that we want to advance Democratic ideals, goals, and candidates at all levels. We focus on local candidates as well as national [ones]. At the beginning of this school year, a lot of the New Jersey State assembly elections, as well as the county executive elections, took place. We did some work for the county executive candidate. Unfortunately, the Democrat lost for county executive, but that office plays a key role in the upcoming congressional election. Rush Holt (the incumbent) is the most targeted Democrat in Congress; the Republicans are pouring ridiculous amounts of money into this race. It’s a Republican district, and the Republicans want it back.
What are your thoughts on this upcoming presidential election?
I support Gore. There are some of us here, believe it or not. I keep running into more and more. Everyone sort of assumes that by default, all Democrats here at Princeton are pro-Bradley, but that’s not necessarily the case. I can understand why a lot of people are. Princeton loyalties are pretty strong. I happen to think that Al Gore is a better candidate because I think that he has more experience, and I think that experience translates into better ideas. I think that he knows what’s possible and what can be done given all sorts of factors. He has spearheaded a lot of different programs for the Clinton administration, and he is responsible for a lot of what’s been done over the past seven years.
Tell me a little bit about working for Hillary Clinton.
I worked in her office in the White House for the past two summers, doing basic intern stuff. I think that she is incredible, one of the smartest, nicest people that I have ever met. She is an incredible speaker. The woman is brilliant, and I would love to see her in the Senate. She is my role model in politics.
Do you think that the Princeton College Democrats has any influence on the national level?
I think that every little thing that we do makes a difference. Obviously, I’m fairly idealistic or I wouldn’t be doing this. I was up in New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago, campaigning for Gore, and New Hampshire sort of encapsulates grass roots politics. The voters there expect to meet the candidates. Tipper Gore was sitting in people’s living rooms. When it comes down to that level, you really feel like each phone call you make, every voter that you convince, is going to make a difference.
What have you tried to accomplish in your time as President?
I have always wanted to make it a very activist organization. When I was Vice-President, we had an anti-impeachment rally that I sort of spearheaded. I want to do more things like that, because I think we have a lot of potential and I don’t think that Princeton is as conservative a campus as people say it is. I want to make sure that our side of it got out.
Do you get angry when you hear about low voter turnouts?
Every study shows that times of prosperity lead to lower levels of activism because if you don’t have any problems, you’re not going to feel the need to make any changes. I actually got to have dinner with Michael Dukakis when he came here to speak, and I asked him what he suggested to help get students more interested in politics, and he said that everyone faces that same problem on the national level when running for office. Our job is to make people interested.
What do you think of the lack of political activity here at Princeton relative to other schools around the country?
I think that activism is on the rise. At times we get too involved in our own lives, everybody does and at times we live in a bubble. The best thing that I can say for Bill Bradley is that he has definitely sparked people’s interest in politics here at Princeton. As far as I’m concerned, that’s great. I love seeing people who care about politics and who want to get involved. The turnout for the New Hampshire trip was amazing. And besides, during a presidential election year, it gets harder and harder to avoid politics, even if you are living in a bubble. It gets harder and harder to be neutral. In general, people are starting to take positions on all sorts of things. We saw it with the impeachment, with the sweatshop stuff. I think that people are gradually becoming more and more active.
Do you ever wish that you lived in an era like the 1960s when political activism was much more widespread?
Oh certainly. Reading about the 60s, I always wonder where I would have been, what I would have been doing, probably getting dragged around by the police or something. The 60s were a convergence of a lot of different things, and there were so many things that were so clearly wrong that you couldn’t help but take a stand. We don’t have that now, and of course, in many ways that’s good. I’m not saying that they’re aren’t gross injustices in our society right now that certainly need to be fixed, but there aren’t the same sorts of clear cut inequalities that there were in the 1960s.
Have you always been interested in politics?
I was raised political, grew up inside the Beltway in D.C. One of my family’s favorite pastimes is sitting around Sunday mornings and yelling at the political talk shows, screaming at people we disagree with. I remember when I was five years old telling people to vote for Mondale. I was raised political and raised as a Democrat.
Are you involved in any other political organizations on campus?
I am the legislative director for Princeton Pro-Choice. I am also on various lists, because I like to know what’s going on. I’m all about building coalitions, because we have a lot in common with the issue-based groups here on campus. With the upcoming elections looming, I’d like to work with some of those groups to further candidates.
Do you want to go into politics after you graduate from Princeton?
I’m not sure that I want to go into politics as a career. I’ll definitely stay involved in politics for the rest of my life, but it’s not the trajectory my life is heading in right now. But that may change. However, if I were to go into politics, I would definitely follow the lead of Hillary Clinton. Her model of activism, of working on behalf of women and children and everybody who is disadvantaged in society, I would try to follow that.
Does your involvement in politics here on campus mean that you don’t make it out to the Street?
I’m out almost every weekend.
