The Executive Picnic Table

This photo speaks to the feeling that I’ve had that Obama can project a sense of ease and control in all situations. Whether it is sitting with congressmen, foreign leaders or former rivals, whether he is facing financial, diplomatic or public health crisis, he projects a sense of calm, intelligence and leadership. I can’t remember a time when I felt that my national family was in better hands.

The image of the picnic table echoes the caption’s allusion to a balance. People at picnic tables sit on the same level. Neither side has a comfy back to lean on. They’re forced to lean forward and face each other. It implies a measured approach to weighty issues. The horizontal composition is calming and being surrounded by greenery lets oxygen into the process, as opposed to closed-in meeting rooms.

What makes a White House picnic table special? No tipping over moments on that one–it’s a super-steady design.
I don’t remember ever seeing a picnic table honoring a Rear Admiral before (Stephen W. Rochon). No matter where you turn there’s a reminder the President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

what an amazing year this has been!
it’s easy to imagine this photo having been taken at many points along the timeline:
* a year or so ago, when the two were battling each other for the democratic primary… is this detente? negotiation?
* last summer, discussing the vice presidency?
* another “dimension,” in which clinton became president in obama’s place… what would obama’s role have been? back in the senate? in clinton’s cabinet? vice president? supreme court nominee?
what’s so striking to me is the tremendous personal and professional qualities each brings to the table… and how they, seemingly together, have upended hundreds of years of white male political dominance.
after all the apparent nastiness of the campaign, the two look to revel in each other’s skill and personal strength and unite in the common purpose of leading the country.

Dang, I’ve been building much finer Picnic Tables than that one for 20 years. I wish I’d known the Prez was in the market for one! I would have come up with something better for honoring the Past Presidents too. That arrangement looks tacky, like someone just spread them on the table to figure out how to do something creative with them . . .then spilled the glue accidentally.