Newsbusters found this vignette shared by MSNBC talker, Ed Schultz to be telling:
Here’s Schultz on his radio show Friday talking about meeting with Obama advisor David Axelrod at the White House the day before, along with fellow liberal radio host Bill Press and several other left-wing media types Schultz did not identify (click here for audio) —
SCHULTZ: First of all you walk into the White House, in the West Wing, and there are picture all over, I mean everywhere! Of President Obama! I mean, of his life in the first year as president of the United States. Now I don’t know if that’s the way it is with every president, but it was almost a shrine. I mean, well, here’s a picture of Obama the president with his kids over here. There he is getting on Air Force One. Here he is with some military people. Here he is on the line working the line at one of his campaign stops. I mean, just, it was just one picture after another! (laughs)
And so I got the message right away that there’s nothing but Obama fans in the White House which I think is a good thing. ‘Cause it’s always good to have the team together, right? (laughs)
The ground floor entry area is pretty interesting, the walls lined with photographs of recent visitors, such as the Pope. (The White House Photo Office is down there too, so no wonder. The official photographers are the only ones allowed to take photos inside.) We could look into the Mess Hall, which is run by the U.S. Navy (and is separate from the president’s dining room on the first floor).
Upon entering the building, we went into a small reception area where there were several large (approx. 18″ x 24″) and very recent photographs of President Bush on each wall. Lonnie told us that the pictures are rotated on a weekly basis. Most of the pictures were from the President’s visit to Florida the prior weekend. All of them were quite good. I asked what was happens to them once they are taken down and was told that some are saved for use in the Presidential Library, and some are given away to the individuals appearing in the photographs with the President.
Past and current Bush staffers attended a final gathering of 600 or so on Sunday night at the Spanish Ballroom, a 1930s dance hall maintained by the National Park Service in Washington’s Maryland suburbs. Mr. Bush, an early riser, stayed for all of five minutes, long enough to thank the attendees and tell them how proud he was of them. He left around 8:50 p.m. so he could be back at the White House before 9:30 p.m.
When aides returned to work at the White House on Monday morning, the big action photos of the president and First Lady that covered the walls were largely gone.
Sooooo, although no one had described the WH as a “shrine” to Bush, it seems that photos of the President and first family are pretty much the standard thing in the West Wing reception area. I’ve never been, so I didn’t know. I wonder if the Obama WH rotates the photos on a weekly basis like the Bush WH did?
I do find it interesting that noted “genius envy” sufferer, Ed Schultz was invited to the White House for a meeting with David Axelrod. He must get his talking points directly from the WH spin machine.
That should work out well since both Axelrod and Schultz are so well known for their class and charm.
Nice Deb 