One of the hot new blogs on the interblag--especially in my hometown--is Spotted: D.C. Summer Interns. Basically, every summer brings a new batch of college interns to Washington to work on and around Capitol Hill. And every summer, the interns screw up the city for D.C. residents with their arrogant behavior, clueless actions, and passion for getting smashed. The D.C. Interns blog is for the locals to strike back by chronicling the infuriating behavior of these interns, many of whom only got their menial labor positions through family connections rather than merit. Obviously, some of these interns are Ivy Leaguers.

We know that Ivy League students can utter idiotic statements. And the posted incidents (or interncidents) are quite ridiculous, such as thinking the U.S. Capitol is the White House and expecting Starbucks to make his coffee orders gratis. But as of today, only one anecdote lists the offending intern as an Ivy League student.

Last summer in an East-Coast Senate office, we had an intern from a prestigious Ivy League school, who definitely fit the bill as a "smart dumb kid." Proving the phrase "you never know who you're going to see, so watch your behavior," he was spotted after work at a Nationals game. It was apparent that he had a bit too much to drink, but what happened at the game is not the point, it's how he got home. Said intern was living in Rockville for the summer. The next morning when I told him I saw him at the game the night before, he chuckled in an embarrassed fashion and went on to explain that he took a cab home after the game...not the Metro which was still running after the game ended. Apparently his friends paid the cab driver before they left, but he went on to pay again at the end of the trip. He did not discuss or even dispute the fare, and paid the cab driver not $25 (which is still a bit much), but $135!

In his defense, the best way to get through a Nationals game is to be completely wasted.

As most of the posts relate spontaneous occurrences and overheard idiotic statements, the alma maters of the offending interns are not often stated. Fortunately for us, one Ivy Leaguer has outed himself in order to defend his lack of manners in the House cafeteria. Unfortunately for Harvard sophomore Matthew Young, his explanation does little to improve his image. 

No, actually, I understand swine flu is not transmitted through pork or pigs thanks to my Harvard education. :P

Nope, I didn't ask for my money back.

No, the "Lade Serving at the Counter" did not apologize and did not ask "what can I do to fix this." She asked in a very belligerent tone, "whaddya want me to do about it SIR?" 

And I replied accordingly, "I hope you don't serve this to Members of Congress!"

It's nice of Harvard to offer a class titled "Things That Can't Give You Swine Flu". If only Lena Chen had taken it.

From a mystery source within the Obama campaign come some updates/accusations targeted at proactive Obama-lovers in the ivy league. According to the political blog Open Left, Obama’s campaign has “had it up to their ears” with ivy interns getting in the way of business, even adding fuel to the Republican’s fire. Contributer “KosherDutchAfro” writes:

My source within the Obama campaign in Chicago has told me campaign employees have had it up to their ears with overly ambitious Ivy League volunteers who have been causing problems for the campaign by putting their individual ambitions over the larger goals of the campaign as a movement. This employee and fellow South Side native has shared with me that the campaign is getting a sense that the attitudes of dedicated Ivy League volunteers had, over the course of the primary, given Republicans enough stories to run with the ‘elitist’ trope in the general election.”

What are these kids doing: arguing over who gets to plug those numbers into an excel sheet? Or… maybe it would be more relevant to ask: who is this KosherDutchAfro, and why all the crazy haterade for us innocent ivy leaguers with big political dreams? Because later on in the post he writes about how Obama’s loss to Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary can be blamed on “pushy” Penn students:

In Pennsylvania, where the campaign lost big time to Hillary due to pushy Penn students stoking conflict with long-time city activists, the Obama campaign has instituted a training that teaches volunteers how to be senstive to existing communities.”

OK. Fine. We know that this sort of insensitivity can be a problem not only amongst ivy league students, but also within the ivy league administration. So maybe this kind of training isn’t such a bad idea after all. But isn't blaming Obama's loss on a few Penn students taking it a bit far? And wait…didn’t Obama attend ivy league universities himself? According to the mystery source, “Senator Obama himself feels Ivy League graduates have held sway over Washington too long and even though he attended Harvard and Columbia, if elected, he intends to do very little hiring from the Ivies.”

Now this is truly scary. Because if this is potentially true, it’s grim news for us rising seniors. Hell, if nepotism is going out of fashion in politics, I’m never getting a job next year.

UPDATE: Information has emerged which casts doubt upon the motives and claims of the tipster "AfroDutch." It appears that nothing he told us can be taken as reliable -- to the extent that this post should be considered wholly compromised. There is absolutely no evidence of bad blood between the Obama campaign and Ivy Leaguers. -HP