The gang of juvenile delinquents now managing the nation’s business from the White House has come up with yet another offense to the sensibilities of the American people. Another photograph has appeared depicting President Obama reclining in his chair with his feet up on the “Resolute” desk in the Oval Office, attended by his senior advisors.
Mr. Obama has already been criticized by reporters (from Israel, certainly not from any American reporter) for a photograph of him in a similar posture while speaking on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli press took great offense at the gesture, as showing the soles of the feet is considered offensive in much of the world, but especially in the Middle East.
But the recent picture indicates that this posture is the way Mr Obama conducts business in the Oval Office. Everyone knows the stories about Mr Clinton’s frolics with interns while conducting business in the Oval Office. While this level of informality appears to be fairly normal for recent democrat presidents, it is hard to imagine George W. Bush conducting any business in the Oval Office in such a manner. It has been said that Mr Bush never did any business in that office without a suit jacket. (Of course, as soon as that was reported, the Huffington Post found a picture of Mr. Bush chatting with an aide in shirt sleeves, calling for his immediate impeachment).
There is something decidedly un-presidential about Mr Obama conducting business in that office in that posture. The least he could do might be to shun photographers when posed in such an un-presidential posture. Then again, that might be the supreme sacrifice for an un-abashed narcissist like Mr. Obama.
Most of us have had the benefit of parents who spent a great deal of time and energy in instructing us not to place our feet upon the furniture of our homes. If I had assumed such a pose with my feet on the dining room table in my father’s house, I would have found myself escorted to the door with the admonition to remain away until I learned some manners. Perhaps Mr Obama did not have the benefit of parental guidance.
But what is the big deal about the president having his feet on a desk? Is it just a desk, or is it something more. The “Resolute” desk is a piece of furniture made from the best wood taken from the English warship HMS Resolute and presented to the President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1880. The HMS Resolute had been on an expedition in the arctic when it became ice-bound in 1854. The crew was removed in another vessel and the HMS Resolute abandoned.
In September, 1855, the HMS Resolute was found by an American whaler, the George Henry, and returned to the United States. The US government purchased the derelict ship and refitted it prior to returning it to the United Kingdom as a gift and gesture of friendship between the two nations. After serving the Royal Navy for several additional decades, the HMS Resolute left service and was broken up in 1879. But, remembering the gesture of the United States, Queen Victoria ordered an ornate desk be constructed from the best beams taken from the warship and sent to the President of the United States as a gift from the people of the United Kingdom.
The desk has been part of the White House furniture ever since. It is the desk in the famous picture of John F. Kennedy with his son, John Jr, peeking out of the cutout beneath the desk.
Mr Obama’s regard for the office of the presidency of the United States seems to be similar to his regard for the furniture in the Oval Office. He has trampled all over the Constitution he has sworn to defend and protect. He has disregarded that document’s legitimate limitations on his powers. He has begun acquiring ownership of previously private corporations that have been subject of his bailouts. He has castigated “special interests,” “Wall Street,” as well as insurance companies and banks, while rewarding his favored special interests of labor unions and trial lawyers. He has continued to push his favored Obama-care version of government health care, despite the overwhelming dissatisfaction of the American people.
Perhaps we were better off when democrat presidents were dishonoring the Oval Office simply by having sex with interns there.
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