by Damozel | This time the Obamas received "a warm welcome." The article doesn't mention whether Barack Obama also received a dollop of hand sanitizer, as on their first meeting. From Fox News:
Four years ago, Obama and other newly elected members of the Senate were invited to the White House for a breakfast meeting with Bush, who pulled the young Chicagoan aside.
"Obama!" Bush exclaimed, according to Obama's account of the meeting in his second memoir, "The Audacity of Hope." "Come here and meet Laura. Laura, you remember Obama. We saw him on TV during election night. Beautiful family. And that wife of yours -- that's one impressive lady."
The two men shook hands and then, according to Obama, Bush turned to an aide, "who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president's hand."
Bush then offered some to Obama, who recalled: "Not wanting to seem unhygienic, I took a squirt."
It's a good story. But if Bush is Pontius Pilate, who is Obama?
Today's was a historic meeting. The New York Times has a historic photograph. WaPo has a historic video, which starts with Bush and Laura beaming crazily and preliminarily in anticipation, complete with a few preliminary heh heh hehs from W. Hearing it made me realize that I might actually kind of miss him when he's gone in the same way you miss a toothache or any painful preoccupation when it stops.
The New York Times has the fly-on-the-wall account of their initial greeting.
When the president and Mrs. Bush greeted the Obamas at the driveway on the South Lawn, the women hugged and their husbands shook hands, with Mr. Obama using the two-handed greeting common among senators, with his left hand on Mr. Bush’s right arm during the handshake. The two men were dressed almost identically in dark blue suits, white shirts and blue ties. Ms. Bush wore a brown suit, and Ms. Obama a burnt-orange dress. (NYT)
Uh-oh, they were dressed almost identically!
A few minutes after the couples entered the White House together, Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama reemerged and strolled along the colonnade past the Rose Garden to the outer entrance to the Oval Office. Mr. Obama walked just at Mr. Bush’s shoulder and appeared to be speaking animatedly, gesturing with both hands. Each of the men waved several times to reporters and others off camera. (NYT)
I don't know what other people were expecting, but that's what I was expecting. Well, not that they'd be in matching clothing so much, but that they would behave cordially. One reason McCain's attitude toward Obama during the debates was so noticeable is that such open displays of dislike and disdain are unusual.
Mr. Obama and his aides have missed no opportunity to remind Americans that they have only one president at a time.
Even so, Mr. Obama and his team are moving expeditiously to plan the transition and a post-Inauguration agenda that aides said would probably include the quick reversal of some Bush policies, such as his restrictions on stem-cell research and on oil and gas drilling.(NYT)
W and Obama met without aides to discuss the economy.
Obama pressed his case for rapid passage of a new economic stimulus package and help for the automobile industry, aides said...
The meeting, while largely ceremonial, highlighted the rift in economic policy between the two men. Obama has pledged to make enactment of a stimulus package his first action as president if Bush balks during his last few weeks in office. Meanwhile, despite pleas from the auto industry and others, Bush aides have linked support for a broader stimulus bill to Democratic backing of free-trade agreements Bush backs.
Their discussion came after two years of sharp, if indirect, skirmishing between Bush and his Democratic successor, whose candidacy was built as a rebuke to the Republican administration. Obama condemned Bush's "failed policies" and said John McCain, the GOP nominee, would represent "another four years" of the unpopular commander in chief. Bush once suggested that Obama was naive on Iraq and said at another point: "He's got a long way to go to be president." (Wa Po)
Ooooh, harsh. But---as anyone who has ever seen either W or Obama in action would have known---the ever-hopeful media saw no sign of tension. (Wa Po) Everyone was "all smiles" (Wa Po), except during the serious bits when Obama and Bush talked policy in the Oval Office. Here is a nice photo of them with the "Resolute" desk in the background.
Will the Change in store include a change of desks? Doubtful, as Frank James says.
It was used by presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt but not in the Oval. In that office, it's been used by Kennedy, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush 43, the White House's present occupant. It's hard to imagine Obama choosing to use any of the other available presidential desks.(The Swamp)
I take it that none of the body language experts saw anything to suggest that either doesn't get that this will be a major transition when it comes or that the transition hasn't started yet.
One thing is certain: The body language between the Obamas and the Bushes was being widely scrutinized and assessed, to see whether they appear to be comfortable working together or, as was the case with some past transition meetings, are straining just to appear polite.(NYT)
I could be wrong here, but neither Obama nor W appear to me to be the sort who tend to strain themselves. At any rate, neither seems to have given the media anything to work with.
But aha! Here is a dollop of rumor for those who like mongering. Journalists accompanying Obama heard him say afterward into his cell phone to some unknown person:
"I am not going to be spending too much time in Washington over the next several weeks," he said, adding that he did not want to "go lurching so far in one direction" and wanted to come up with "some good, solid, sensible options."
The topic of the remarks was not known, and Obama turned away after a staff member intervened. (Wa Po)
Perhaps he was speaking to his decorator.
Stephen Hess, a presidential historian, said the potential for tension between Bush and Obama was great after last week's election. The economic crisis gave Obama the perfect excuse to assert his authority even before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. But Obama publicly rejected that notion Friday, declaring that the United States has "only one president at a time" and signaling that he will not attend a global economic summit on Saturday.
Bush offered his own olive branch by pledging "complete cooperation" and calling Obama's election "especially uplifting" for a generation of Americans who witnessed the struggle for civil rights.
Hess called yesterday's visit a "symbolic moment" of the change to come. "When he walks out of the White House, he really is the president-elect," he said of Obama, adding: "It's part of the movement of power, the movement of democracy."(Wa Po)
Well, stay tuned. Maybe tensions will escalate as the Bush Administration continues its last ditch efforts to throw obstacles in the path of the promised changes. But based on what we've seen of Obama and W, I doubt it. I don't think either is going to give us any public drama. Later, when the memoirs come out, we'll get the full story. Actually, I imagine the two of them will get along perfectly well.
Obama clearly doesn't bother with grudges, which is further proof that he might be the smartest politician to become president in my lifetime. As Sun-Tzu said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." He's even told Democratic leaders he wants Joe Lieberman to remain in the Democratic caucus. (HuffPost) I think anyone who has watched Obama briskly going about the business of mending his fences with Hillary (BN-Pol 6-28-08) could have predicted that.
As for Bush, this is the guy who left the G-8 with a jaunty wave and a "Good-bye from the world's biggest polluter." He doesn't give a damn whether people like his policies or not. He's used to people not liking them.
That said, I'm sad that Bush didn't give Obama a nickname or have a slip of the tongue and accidentally call him "Osama." Either would have been awesome.
In other news, and in further proof that only losers bother with the blame game or make up excuses, Sarah Palin is blaming Bush for the failure of McCain's campaign. (AP) Hey, there is plenty of blame to go around.
More commentary on the low-key but historic meeting at Memeorandum.
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