January 22, 2009
Social Positions
by Karen Hull
If it wasn’t obvious already, yesterday’s photo op from the White House Blue Room made an opening day statement. Taking time to greet members of the public, the Obama’s seem determined to create a warm, open and egalitarian atmosphere in the White House.
Perhaps that attitude is that much more noticeable, however, because of George and Laura Bush. You can understand what I’m talking about looking at photo ops of George and Laura, as compared to past first families, in one particular room, the West Sitting Hall.
This photo above, taken at the White House during the Obamas’ first post-election visit, shows Laura Bush settled into an armchair and Michelle Obama propped with a pillow and perched at the end of stiffly-stuffed couch. Laura looks comfy enough, Michelle not so much. Perhaps it’s a lack of grace or an immunity to resonance and nuance, but I consistently find George and Laura had only a small ability to personally extend themselves.
The photo of Laura Bush and Michelle Obama reminds me of this photo:
Obviously, that’s just-nominated Chief Justice Roberts looking uncomfortable (and the president looking clueless) at a White House photo op. The power is certainly on the Bushes in both photos and the guest is at a disadvantage.
Contrast that with Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush in the same room during Clinton’s post-election first visit:
Babs put Hillary on equal and comfortable footing.
Here’s Babs again, in the same room, placing her guests at ease and in the focal point of attention:
And the Reagans hosting the Prince and Princess of Wales in the same room:
Although Diana looks a tad uncomfortable, Nancy places her on equal footing (though that might be a problem itself if you’re dealing with royalty). The emphasis is off the “power armchair” and Ronald takes a dominant, though more benign position.
Here’s an even older photo of Ladybird Johnson playing hostess but giving emphasis to her guest:
The West Sitting Hall functions as a living/receiving room on the main residence floor of the White House. It separates the president’s master bedroom and living room on the south and family kitchen and dining room on the north, so there is some locational intimacy. It may, in fact, judging from the just unveiled portrait in The National Portrait Gallery, be Laura Bush’s favorite room:
It will be interesting to see exactly how the Obamas use the room (there are several sitting rooms and parlors on this floor) and how they set the tone and dynamic with their guests.
(image 1: Pete Souza/White House; 2: Joyce N. Boghosian/White House; 3: Eric Draper/White House; 4: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library; 5: whitehousemuseum.org; 6: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, image 7: Whitehousemuseum.org, 8. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
13 Comments Leave a comment
Gideon Ross said:
I’ve never been a Barbara Bush fan, but I have to give her props for including her dog in the social circle.
JLeong said:
I love this! It is very interesting to note the changes in furniture and decor between the occupants of the house as well. Especially the amount of “clutter” to be found on the tables, etc. I can’t wait to see what Michelle does with the place!
D Chapman said:
I’d like to see a list of the coffee table books each occupant has had on the table in that room. I imagine the last few years there’s been a copy of “Planes, Cars, and things that go Vrooom!” gracing the table. Or “My Pet Goat.”
Ellie said:
This is a very interesting set of photos and reflections.
I have an old-fashioned “polite society” Southern upbringing and I can remember it being DRILLED into me as a child that the first rule of hospitality is to do everything possible to put one’s guest at ease.
Barbara Bush undoubtedly had a similar upbringing (although it was not Southern. It was, however, according to the standards and expectations of “polite society”.) But she didn’t seem know know how to pass it on to her children – or, maybe, to care. (And I’m not so sure Laura was particularly well brought up. Just sayin’.)
Ursula L said:
I find it interesting that Laura Bush is seated/posed in almost the exact same way in both the picture with Michelle Obama and in the official portrait. While the other pictures are more clearly taken while the First Lady is entertaining, with the subjects looking at each other, gesturing, drinking coffee and seemingly unaware of the camera, Laura Bush seems to be there because she must be – she’s got to have a picture showing she entertained Michelle Obama, and there the picture is.
The others are entertaining guests, Laura Bush is having a picture taken. It is the social equivalent of the comparison of the pictures of W and Obama “working” in the Oval office. Obama is working, Shrub is having a picture taken as a symbol of his work.
g said:
I think it might be reading too much into the Laura meets Michelle photo to say that Michelle looks uncomfortable. Laura is definitely posing for the camera, but Michelle seems pretty poised and at ease.
I think Laura Bush is a profoundly private person, she was probably quite uncomfortable in the role of hostess.
One of George H. W.’s finest qualities has always been his manners. The son – not so much.
Jackmormon said:
Laura Bush’s armchair is gigantic. I almost wonder whether it’s entirely appropriate for a receiving area—it’s essentially a fancily upholstered Laz-E Boy.
yg said:
poor charles, heir to the throne and yet he couldn’t compete against diana.
re laura bush, from a piece examining the role of first ladies:
The same day Obama was elected, news broke that Laura Bush had gone public with her conflict with Vice President Cheney on a pending landmark ocean preservation act — though understandably the main story was Obama’s election. Still, after the post-election glow the holidays, there was a January 7 announcement that the President sided with her and enacted it. The enactment made the green news but as for the First Lady’s role in it? Barely a blink in the blogs. It didn’t fit the conventional narrative.
Karen H. said:
ursula, it occurred to me while writing a longer piece that the poses were very similar. Good eyes. My thought was that Laura has a very limited personal vocabulary.
yg said:
i’ll admit to a hatred and contempt for bush, but i think it’s mistake to conflate bush with laura. they’re two separate people, not an interchangable unit.
i don’t get what the objection is here. laura is to be sneered at because she sat in a big chair and posed for the camera? really??
in the same way i hope critics don’t make meritless attacks against michelle because they disagree with barack’s policies, i think laura should be afforded the same courtesy. but i can understand the temptation. i say this as a reformed sneer-er who used to fault laura for petty things.
it’s fun to make assumptions from a photo, but is it backed up by evidence? one photo doesn’t tell the entire story. what other proof is there that laura is an unegalitarian and inhospitable host who made michelle feel uncomfortable?
Molly said:
On another website, PunditKitchen.com, I saw a “re-captioned” photo of Laura and Michelle. Laura’s thought bubble was: “I hope she takes this ugly chair” and Michelle’s thought bubble was: “I hope she takes this ugly chair.”
That is one ugly chair.
I agree with above comments that Laura seems to be ultra-private. I imagine if she has let you into her circle or allows you to see something beyond the “company face”, she would be an interesting person to know. Unfortunately, she has had the misfortune to be wedded to the worst President in history. Maybe his retirement will give us some extra space and time to re-assess her.
Theothertexan said:
To me, Laura looks part of the furniture. Whereas Michelle looks like the occupant of the room.
Laura has been a passenger on this ride. The official portrait reminds us that she started as a librarian. Her delight in the book feels authentic.
I’ll bet she’s sat in that chair often seeking refuge in a book while things happened around her that she couldn’t condone, but which her own concept of her role rendered her powerless to challenge.
These two are so ill at ease with one another because Laura can’t imagine a world in which she could have behaved the way Michelle undoubtedly will.
I feel for Laura because I think there’s more to her than meets the eye. But I love Michelle because she embodies the qualities that have been hidden from the public eye for the past 8 years.
Like the furniture that so needs a change, Michelle is long overdue.
cenoxo said:
Compared to Frontier Andy Jackson’s inaugural welcome of the Great Unwashed in 1829, Barack the New and (c’mon) even George the Ex’s polite drawing rooms look positively genteel.
Margaret Bayard Smith, a Washington Whig socialite, reported on the invasion of the White House:
Depending on how Obama’s Stimulus goes, perhaps we’ll see such royal scenes again…