Labeling Obama
[Guest post by DRJ]
President Obama seems to have an affinity for personalized status symbols and labels, both during his campaign:
“Barack Obama’s presidential campaign raised eyebrows and elicited snickers Friday when it unveiled the Obamamania version of the presidential seal.”
“[Obama’s campaign] chair has his name and campaign logo embroidered on the back top — “Obama ‘08” on one line and “President” underneath.”
And now that he’s President:
President Obama meets with members of his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House. The President’s chair is marked with a plaque engraved with [“The President” and] the date of his inauguration.” NOTE: In the comments, Dave in Reno points out that previous Presidents including George W. Bush had nameplates on the Cabinet Room chairs.
Even Obama’s basketball goal is labeled “The White House.”
Maybe he can get GM to make an Obama-mobile.
— DRJ
“Barack Obama’s presidential campaign raised eyebrows and elicited snickers Friday when it unveiled the Obamamania version of the presidential seal.”
That was my first inkling that Barack bow-like-a-servant Obama would come off as sort of a counterfeit, poseur-like president. And cheesy and schlocky too—eg, lousy gifts to Britain’s prime minister, ham-handed treatment of America’s allies, etc.
Mark (411533) — 2/6/2010 @ 6:46 pmTOTUS has a nice seal, too.
Official Internet Data Office (dc2fe1) — 2/6/2010 @ 6:56 pmSweet, OIDO!
Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R. (a18ddc) — 2/6/2010 @ 7:10 pmWhat, is he afraid he’s going to forget where he is?
Jesus man…
Scott Jacobs (d027b8) — 2/6/2010 @ 7:16 pmI’m no fan of Barry, but brass plaques with position and date of service have been on the back of cabinet room chairs since at least 1911 (the earliest photo in the following link where a plaque is visible.
The President’s chair is also two inches taller than the others, and traditionally, when cabinet members end their service, their staff will purchase the chair from the govt. as a gift to their boss:
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/west-wing/cabinet-room.htm
There are plenty of things to go after BHO on, but this isn’t one of them.
Dave in Reno (5b342e) — 2/6/2010 @ 7:46 pmThe office of the president-elect, with their own seal, was precious.
JD (25248e) — 2/6/2010 @ 7:51 pm> I’m no fan of Barry, but brass plaques with position and date of service…
Point taken, Dave. I think it’s pretty absurd, but I’ll accept that it’s not yet another indicator of his overweening narcissism.
HOWEVER, I will point out one thing, largely unrelated to the current resident of the White House:
Alannis (79d71d) — 2/6/2010 @ 8:04 pmStart at the bottom of your linked page and go “up”.
Note the ever-increasing number of chairs around this table with time.
Yet another sign of the endless expansion of governmental offices.
According to an elderly lady that my wife talked to in the grocery story parking lot today (how’s that for an authoritative source?) Michael Savage is saying that Obama has taken down pictures of other presidents in the White House and replaced them with pictures of himself.
Surely not. Not even him. Anybody else heard this?
BTW, this lady said she’s a Democrat (not a rare thing in Ann Arbor) who did not vote for Obama. I confess, that makes this sound like a hoax.
Gesundheit (6acc51) — 2/6/2010 @ 8:16 pmObama himself will be buried in his own branded T-Shirt.
That’s just how he rolls. His sink has one of those TIME MAN OF THE YEAR joke mirrors above it. Thank God he’s got his libido in control, because his narcissism is certainly John Edwards level (Obama is 100X the man Edwards is, regardless).
But bashing Obama’s self referential absurdity is not a positive argument for the right to get back in power, I guess. He just makes it so damn easy. Partly just because the media leaves so much good material on the table. Every Bush joke got tired pretty fast, but Obama stuff gets no play.
It’s not just Obama, of course. For all I know, it’s his cadre of youthful devotees who keep doing this. But he would have told them to lay off by now if he didn’t mind.
Someone will try to add his face to Mt Rushmore at some point. Someone will name a carrier after him (no doubt about that). His statue is going to be a fixture in most cities. It’s not really Obama so much as his fanboys who put personality over policy, and they will be doing it long after I’m dead and buried in my Nixon shirt.
And to be fair, some people are probably ready to carve Palin’s face into the Oregon landscape too.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 2/6/2010 @ 8:24 pmOn the other hand, while there are still lots of Obama bumper stickers to be seen here in Ann Arbor, my oldest daughter tells me she no longer sees them in her town up north. She still sees some Kerry/Edwards stickers, but the Obama stickers have gone away.
Perhaps there’s hope.
Gesundheit (6acc51) — 2/6/2010 @ 8:33 pmSupposedly when Harry and Bess Truman eventually moved into the White House after FDR’s death, Bess was absolutely shocked and appalled at the threadbare condition of most of the carpets, furnishings, and appointments in the family quarters. The Roosevelts — despite being American wealthy and prominent members of America’s quasi-aristocracy — just hadn’t maintained standards very well.
Part of the romance we associate with JFK and the “Camelot” White House derived from the First Couple’s style and panache — youthful and modern, vibrant with the energy of young children, yet still elegant and refined, and all totally in keeping with the dignity and grandeur of the office. But I would wager a large amount of money that the football JFK tossed on the White House lawn had the presidential seal embossed on it in gold leaf: That would have been the sort of ostentatious ornamentation for which the Kennedy crowd later mocked (with some considerable justification) Lyndon Johnson.
Reagan, of course, had the seemingly effortless ability to project the perfect presidential aura. George H.W. Bush lacked Reagan’s star touch, but he had a patrician grace that, when leavened with Barbara’s practicality, bore the mantle lightly and with dignity.
Of the unspeakable indignities of the Clintons, the less said the better.
George W. & Laura Bush still don’t get adequate credit, in my view, for restoring basic dignity and decency to the White House. The authentic Texas twang that grated on some regional bigots was certainly no more a detraction than JFK’s Massachusetts brogue; and what did it matter in the end if JFK said “Cuber” instead of “Cuba” or Dubya said “nukular” instead of “nuclear”?
But Barack Obama is a poseur. He’s all ego, and he’s quite obviously obsessed with the trappings of power, but he’s a shallow and narcissistic man. He’s the temporary steward of the most powerful position in the world — and yet is still juvenile enough to publicly (and, it seems he thinks, slyly and therefore hillariously) shoot the finger at enemies during his speeches while he pretends to scratch his nose or earlobe. Emotionally, he seems to me a spoiled child.
And then there’s the bowing.
Obama’s not yet the international disgrace that Bubba became. And Obama’s inability to gracefully bear the dignity and majesty of the office amounts, in the greater scheme of things, to only small potatoes, at least as compared to an Iranian bomb and multi-trillion dollar deficits and the potential wreck of the world’s best health-care system.
But I do not like the man, nor respect the man, and I am having to work very hard not to let my disrespect and dislike overwhelm my rational ability to distinguish between those of his actions that are genuinely disastrous and those which are acceptable or even appropriate. He is helping me, though, because he’s such a clown — “the Great Seal of Obama,” indeed! — that what might become reflexive hatred on my part usually dissolves into simpler and less bilious ridicule.
Beldar (8dd2a3) — 2/6/2010 @ 9:05 pmBah. Bad self-editing, Beldar. I meant to say that I would wager that JFK’s football did not have the presidential seal on it.
Beldar (8dd2a3) — 2/6/2010 @ 9:09 pmSomeone has a serious self-esteem problem.
AD - RtR/OS! (a61dac) — 2/6/2010 @ 9:16 pmBut, that wouldn’t be unusual in someone who has basically never accomplished anything beyond voting “Present”.
Dave in Reno,
Thank you for the information. I’ve added a Note and agree you make a good point, although I believe the general point still stands that President Obama likes personalized status/labels.
DRJ (84a0c3) — 2/6/2010 @ 9:26 pmDave in Reno is right about the chairs. In fact, the General Services Administration offers them to outgoing cabinet members at the end of their tours. I think Dick Cheney has three of them, and Rummy has two, although I might have that inverted.
I believe that, unlike the fictional price that Pelosi plays to have the Air Force run a private-jet taxi service for her grown kids, the GSA even collects the actual dollar cost of the Cabinet chairs. I mean, it’s not like these grifters can’t afford to pay full freight after months, years or decades of leeching off the public.
Kevin R.C. O'Brien (7762cd) — 2/6/2010 @ 11:03 pmThe candidate seal, the sign over the b-ball hoop are just Obama’s version of 20″ spinners and big gold chains.
the friendly grizzly (cf0393) — 2/7/2010 @ 4:47 amHey, if the arrogance fits . . .’
Icy Texan (e7b04a) — 2/7/2010 @ 6:28 amBig Zero put the “I” in “I”.
GeneralMalaise (55c598) — 2/7/2010 @ 8:10 amMoby on aisle 16.
Phil Smith (4e586c) — 2/7/2010 @ 8:47 amAlannis, I agree that there are too many chairs around the table, and that the early 20th century cabinets were of a more reasonable size.
DRJ, I thought that the “The Office of the President-Elect” signs that were displayed on the lecterns were pretty amusing. Sure, there actually is an OOTPE, but placing a sign on the lectern was ridiculous.
I don’t know if any other president-elect has ever done this.
Davi in Reno (14fa67) — 2/7/2010 @ 11:16 amAnother non-issue. Next?…
The Emperor (84eedd) — 2/7/2010 @ 11:35 am