AOA Congress opens with awards, Matalin/Carville keynote

DALLAS — Optometry's Meeting, the 108th Annual AOA Congress and 35th Annual AOSA Conference officially kicked off Thursday with a dynamic Opening General Session and awards presentation here. John Todd Cornett, OD, president of the Texas Optometric Association, welcomed the crowd. AOA President Wesley E. Pittman, OD, presented Donald Williamson, OD, of Coral Gables, Fla., with the Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Williamson graduated from Southern College of Optometry in 1967 and has spent the years not only as a successful optometrist, but also as an active member of his community. Tom Annunziato, OD, received the Optometrist of the Year Award for his tireless commitment to the profession. Kristine Eng, OD, a third-generation optometrist, accepted the Young Optometrist of the Year Award. Dr. Pittman recognized former President Jimmy Cater with the Apollo Award for his exceptional support and participation in ending visual problems of citizens in America and abroad the AOA's InfantSee program and efforts to research and treat River Blindness.

The award ceremony was followed with a spirited keynote address by Republican Mary Matalin and Democrat James Carville, a well-known couple with obvious political differences. They seemed, however, to agree that we are living in a time of huge political change. Ms. Matalin described it as a “paradigm shift to improve systems around the world” and Mr. Carville spoke of neo-isolationism, the idea of protecting what’s ours within the U.S. borders and a “change in political fault lines.”

Ms. Matalin highlighted the Republican idea of spreading freedom by saying, “I went to Afghanistan. There's no news, so that means there are no bad things happening. Mothers came up to me with babies, boys and girls, named George W. Bush. We have built roads, health clinics, provided neonatal care. This is the human side of this,” she continued. “I met the minister of women's affairs in Iraq. They're all about building democracy. She didn't understand our debate over Sadam in our country. In mass graves are uncovered skeletons of mothers holding children. How can this be a question?”

For Mr. Carville it was more a matter of tackling the Democrats’ issue of successfully getting their message out and also the sense that Americans aren’t “impatient and angry” but rather “worn out with the war, health care costs” and other issues directly affecting their lives. He pointed out, “Optometrists get a sense for what people are feeling and thinking because you talk to them.” He continued, “I think that what's hurt Washington and Congress is that they [Americans] see a series of events come up that they don't think is of interest to them.” Ms. Matalin summed it up by saying, “Change is certain, progress is not. History is not an accident. We make progress. What we do in our daily lives makes progress.”