Coming all the way from the country’s capital, Pulitzer Prize-Winning columnist Eugene Robinson arrived at Iowa State with what he said was bad news. He said in his three-decade career at the The Washington Post, he had never seen things as bad as they are now in Washington.

Robinson visited Iowa State as the 2013 Chamberlin Lecturer and spoke to more than 700 people in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. In his lecture titled “Who’s up, Who’s Down and What’s Really Going On,” Robinson addressed some of the issues currently faced by Washington politics.

“In the coming weeks we will see things get considerably worse,” Robinson said. “A government shutdown is likely.”

Robinson was introduced by Jared Strong, an ISU graduate working for the Daily Times Herald in Caroll, Iowa. Strong is the 2013 Chamberlin fellow, as presented by the Iowa Newspaper Foundation.

“He wrote elegantly about what the first selection of African American president meant to the country, and to himself personally,” Strong said about Robinson.

In addition to a potential government shutdown, Robinson addressed topics such as the Navy Yard shooting, difficulties President Barack Obama is facing in office, future campaigns and journalism.

“The bad things that can happen in Syria are too scary to think about. They really are. But we can’t even focus on that, we can’t even think about it, because we can’t even get our basic business done,” Robinson said. “There is less of a spirit of common endeavor [in Washington] than I think I’ve ever seen between two parties and less goodwill.”

Robinson’s lecture was followed by a question and answer session. The questions he received included topics such as the Republican party, future potential presidential candidates and journalism.

“We have to have an operable federal government,” Robinson said. “I wish I had better optimistic views about when we might have one. My honest view, is that it may take another reelection or two or more to settle.”

The Chamberlin lectures are held annually and sponsored by ISU alumni Gene and Margy Chamberlin. Gene passed away in 2009, but Margy attended the lecture again this year.

Organizers of the event include the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and the ISU Lecture Program.

In addition to his Washington Post column, Robinson appears on MSNBC as a political analyst. He is also the author of several books, including “Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America.”