A Personal Diplomacy
[guest post by Dana]
On Friday, former president George W. Bush was interviewed by his daughter Jenna Bush Hager on the Today Show about his new art exhibit, “The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy” — which goes on display this weekend at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas. The exhibit includes portraits of 24 current and former world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, the Dalai Lama, and his father, George H.W. Bush. The interview reflects Bush’s commitment to growing as an artist and the joy he derives from this new-found passion. It is heartening to see how wonderfully relaxed and happy he and Mrs. Bush are. The interview is well worth watching.
Bush also shared a story about their family dog Barney…and Putin.
“As you know, our dear dog Barney, who had a special place in my heart — Putin dissed him and said, ‘You call it a dog?’” Bush recalled.
“A year later, your mom and I go to visit and Vladimir says, ‘Would you like to meet my dog?’ Out bounds this huge hound, obviously much bigger than a Scottish terrier, and Putin looks at me and says, ‘Bigger, stronger and faster than Barney.’
“I just took it in. I didn’t react,” Bush continued. “I just said, ‘Wow. Anybody who thinks ‘my dog is bigger than your dog’ is an interesting character.’ And that painting kind of reflects that.”
–Dana
Yeah, Dana, they all seem so normal and down to earth don’t they? Refreshing. Charming. And quite a contrast to those currently living in the WH.
elissa (b364f8) — 4/5/2014 @ 8:45 pmI think W shows some real talent with his paintings.
I’m with Putin on the dog issue. Dogs are descendants of wolves, and the further away they get from a wolf, the less I like them. Especially the small, fluffy, high-strung, yippy creatures who couldn’t fend for themselves if they had to spend the night in the back yard.
Now here’s a real dog:
http://www.today.com/id/30088069/ns/today-today_pets/t/dog-eats-baby-goats-survives-remote-island/
norcal (d4c4e4) — 4/5/2014 @ 9:07 pmBarney was not yippy. Barney was a biter. (but I, too, prefer big dogs, norcal.)
elissa (b364f8) — 4/5/2014 @ 9:12 pmI wonder how many people Putin personally executed with a shot to the back of the head in his career with the KGB. And his father before him in the NKVD.
nk (dbc370) — 4/5/2014 @ 9:13 pmReset!
nk (dbc370) — 4/5/2014 @ 9:13 pmnorcal @2, do you think Putin’s big ol’ hound could have pulled off what that Australian Cattle Dog did?
Cattle Dogs aren’t that big.
Also, you should see what a wolf will do to a duck. They’re not great retrievers. When you need a Lab, you’d be very dissatisfied with a wolf.
Steve57 (181b49) — 4/5/2014 @ 9:32 pmPound for pound, our Cairn Terrier is as vicious a little bitch as you’ll find. She’ll make mince meat of your ankles in nothing flat.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/5/2014 @ 9:55 pmPound for pound, I’d bet your Cairn Terrier has nothing on President Mean Girl when it comes to being a vicious little b***h.
Nothing personal. Speaking of nothing personal, I was being tongue in cheek when I addressed norcal earlier.
But I still couldn’t help think, the reason why dogs have gotten further away from wolves is that, well, wolves aren’t actually good for anything. I couldn’t help think of the contrast between Sophie and a wolf. If you were going to have a dog guard/herd your cattle would you A) want an Australian Cattle Dog or B) a wolf?
I think the conversation would go like this:
Rancher: “I don’t know why I’m losing all these cattle.”
Steve57: “Because you’re using wolves as herding dogs.”
Rancher: “Oohh!”
Steve57 (181b49) — 4/5/2014 @ 10:29 pmWinston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower also painted as a hobby, so GW is in very solid company.
Do you think that Obama will take up painting or learn a foreign language or become an avid gardner when he leaves the White House? For someone who is allegedly so brilliant he sure seems to be intellectually incurious and unstimulated.
JVW (9946b6) — 4/5/2014 @ 10:54 pmYeah, Dana, they all seem so normal and down to earth don’t they?
In that vein, the high level of antipathy I have for various leading Democrats over the past 60 years — particularly Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, of course, and John Kennedy — is based not so much on their ideology or party affiliation alone, as much as it’s based on their character and private life. If such figures were truly honorable and decent men behind closed doors, my impressions of them would be very different. JFK in particular would seem deserving of his warm-and-fuzzy reputation.
Perhaps that’s why lowly Jimmy Carter, no less of the left than the rest, strikes me as at least not fraught with a ton of dis-reputability (ie, a less negative gut reaction when his name is evoked), compared with most of his liberal successors (or predecessors) in the White House.
Mark (7ef0e1) — 4/6/2014 @ 12:44 amhe’s going to give lectures on how to win friends and influence people.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 4/6/2014 @ 1:13 amIf I had been Bush and Putin did that, I would have also said nothing and gone home and doubled the defense budget.
Texas Bob (40e8b1) — 4/6/2014 @ 7:51 amNah–Little Jimmuh is just a pious putz. But he’s not personally dislikeable.
And if Putin needs a “big dog” to make him feel good about himself, it says something about him. You get all these drug dealing ‘homies” in low rent neighborhoods who want and need vicious pit bull type dogs. Yo Putin, you my homie!
Skeptical Voter (12e67d) — 4/6/2014 @ 8:10 amTexas Bob #12 … or said nothing, returned home, assisted Poland with missile defences … CodeNamed ‘CounterPediChihuahua’ …
Alastor (2e7f9f) — 4/6/2014 @ 8:43 amJimmah Carter… lover of dictators… hater of Jews… pious, lying douchnozzle… no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/6/2014 @ 8:58 amCol.- Agreed. Carter presided over a horrible and dispiriting and grey time in American history and in pushing his slanted pet causes has been a terrible ex-president, too . The fact that he “lusted in his heart” but stayed true to Rosalyn is hardly reason not to gag at the mention of his name.
elissa (b364f8) — 4/6/2014 @ 9:05 amI’m with the colonel and elissa on this. Carter is an awful human being whose alleged piety and crusade for world peace masks a horrible fondness for repressive left-wing regimes and a huge antipathy for Jews and for anyone who believes in American exceptionalism. Through the dangerous combination of his naivety and his self-righteousness he has done incalculable damage to the causes that he pretends to hold dear, so he is one of the few people of whom it can be said that we will all be better off when he at last goes to his eternal reward.
JVW (9946b6) — 4/6/2014 @ 9:31 amno redeeming qualities whatsoever.
But imagine what his standing would be like if his bankrupt leftism were paired with the excess baggage of a Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy and a variety of other politicians with overtly sleazy personal histories.
Mark (7ef0e1) — 4/6/2014 @ 9:39 amI don’t believe that Barack Obama has a sleazy personal history. (aside from some questions about a patronage job given by a hospital to his wife, and help in buying a house from a crook, and I suppose you could wonder if he had uncompensated help in writing his autobiography.)
And of course he is placing under a veil the racial background (white) of ALL of his girlfriends before he selected Michelle as his wife.
All of his sleaziness involves politics.
Sammy Finkelman (ebf45c) — 4/6/2014 @ 10:10 amI miss my Carin Terrier terribly. He was very particular who he would let pet him. As soon as I put a pillow on my lap, he would jump up on it expecting to get his butt scratched.
Amalgamated Cliff Divers, Local 157 (f7d5ba) — 4/6/2014 @ 10:29 amThe story about Putin explains a lot. Inferiority complex masked by belligerence and arrogance. Now he’s finally found a yap dog president he can beat up on.
Kevin M (b11279) — 4/6/2014 @ 10:43 amthe racial background (white) of ALL of his girlfriends before he selected Michelle as his wife
Michelle may have been the first black woman he ever dated, or for that matter met socially. He was raised by whites and surrounded by whites his entire life. His blackness is skin deep.
Kevin M (b11279) — 4/6/2014 @ 10:46 amWell, since much of his “personal” history is basically off-limits, I’m a little curious as to how you came to this conclusion. Even in his “supposed” autobiograpies he had to admit his “girlfriends” were written as composites or “compressions”, whatever that means.
Amalgamated Cliff Divers, Local 157 (f7d5ba) — 4/6/2014 @ 11:29 am“I miss my Carin Terrier terribly. He was very particular who he would let pet him. As soon as I put a pillow on my lap, he would jump up on it expecting to get his butt scratched.”
Comment by Amalgamated Cliff Divers, Local 157 (f7d5ba)
Ours loves teh butt scratch, as well,lol.
Every day, we have the same scenario played out in our back yard. Our auto pool sweeper starts at approx 10AM and our Cairn starts to prowl the deck, anticipating the next surfacing up high on the side of the pool, where she goes into vicious attack mode and usually gets a mouth full of pool water jetted out by the sweeper’s tail for her troubles… it’s hilarious to watch.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/6/2014 @ 11:51 amAs soon as I put a pillow on my lap, he would jump up on it expecting to get his butt scratched.
Comment by Amalgamated Cliff Divers, Local 157 (f7d5ba) — 4/6/2014 @ 10:29 am
Teeheee, hahahahahahhahahaha! Yoda ROFLMAO! Amalgamated Cliff Divers the butt scratcher! Scratch my own butt, Yoda might, but never anything else’s. Scratch pet’s back OK! Rephrase this, you might, or forever known as butt scratcher you will be! Hmmmmmmm?
😆
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beats by dre neon pink (3d6384) — 4/6/2014 @ 6:25 pmDoes anyone have a link to the Crayon portion of the exhibit? Crayon is such a lovely medium.
Leviticus (907b44) — 4/7/2014 @ 6:57 amSo be it! I miss my dog. BTW, it was above the tail, not below.
Amalgamated Cliff Divers, Local 157 (f7d5ba) — 4/7/2014 @ 7:11 amHere’s one, Leviticus. http://www.masterworksfineart.com/inventory/4015
nk (dbc370) — 4/7/2014 @ 7:12 amI don’t believe that Barack Obama has a sleazy personal history.
Yep, Sammy, and I don’t believe he’s an intrinsic leftwinger either. Oh, and by the way, commentator Pat Buchanan loves blood and violence.
The extremists and oddballs who’ve surrounded Obama since his youth, not to mention descriptions of his “choom gang” teenage years, or talk about his involvement with bath houses in Chicago, or all the strange aspects surrounding his college transcripts, give Obama a heroic Horatio-Alger quality. Yes, uh-huh.
Mark (7ef0e1) — 4/7/2014 @ 7:15 am