2010 Complete Election Coverage: In W.H., are pictures telling a story?
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- A composite image shows President Barack Obama dining with world leaders with two different pictures hanging on the wall.
POLITICO 44
When President Barack Obama met with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu over coffee and sweets in his private presidential dining room off the Oval Office last week, a solemn Civil War-era painting featuring Abraham Lincoln deliberating with his generals hung above their evening tete-a-tete, as seen in an official photograph of the meeting the White House later released.
The late 1860s painting, “The Peacemakers,” by George P.A. Healy, shows Lincoln, his chin resting thoughtfully on his fist, conferring with his Generals William Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral David Porter aboard the River Queen, the steamer that took the president from Washington up the Potomac to the Union base at City Point, Virginia. In the two weeks that followed the March 27th 1865 meeting recounted in the painting, the South’s General Lee agreed to terms of surrender, and Lincoln, after thanking God that he had lived to see the end of the four-year civil war, was assassinated.
Acquired by the Truman White House, “The Peacemakers” was displayed in the White House Treaty Room from the Kennedy through the George W. Bush presidencies. At some time during the Obama administration it moved to the private presidential dining room. The question for Mideast watchers is, when?
A photo taken in the early days of the new administration of Obama’s weekly lunch there with Vice President Joseph Biden shows hanging where Lincoln and his war panel is now the same portrait of George Washington seen in a photo of a 2007 lunch between George W. Bush and his vice president Dick Cheney.
At an April 21 meeting over tea between Obama and Jordan’s King Abdullah, just as the new administration was launching its optimistic Middle East peace push, Washington had been replaced by a wholly more pastoral landscape. And by the meeting with Netanyahu earlier this month, that in turn had been replaced by "the Peacemakers.'
Could the White House be trying to send a subliminal message to Netanyahu – or perhaps to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, whose threat to quit last week was the major subject of discussion at the Obama-Netanyahu meeting?
The White House didn’t respond to a query about the painting switch. But an official White House photo of Obama meeting with House speaker Nancy Pelosi on October 22 also shows the Peacemakers hanging there.
“Obama wants a two-state solution, and he knows if it doesn't happen in four to eight years, he'll be the president – the Nobel-winner no less – on whose watch it will expire,” said veteran U.S. Middle East peace negotiator Aaron David Miller. “Fighting with Israel makes no sense now; there'll be plenty of time for that later; and who knows, maybe Bibi – who holds many cards – will want to join the peacemakers.”
Above, Obama and Jordan’s King Abdullah in the private presidential dining room on April 21, beneath a pastoral landscape.
Below, Obama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the same seats earlier this month, beneath "the Peacemakers."
Readers' Comments (69)
starshine Party: NA
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Nov. 15, 2009 - 10:43 PM EST
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Read all 69 comments in our forumMy word is this what you have been reduced to Ms. Rozen? This pointless drivel about some inane portrait? Do you honestly think that the pictures change depending on the guest list? There are times when I think Politico can't get any lower...and then bam...First Lady Poll numbers plummeting (not mentioning the fact it is natural after honeymoon period) KaPow (After spending binge, Admin to cut deficit-not mentioning there was something called a recession)...or how can I forget G.O.P has abortion in plan-although we don't know if anyone hase used it..... can't say I am amazed because this is what this society has become...profit over facts...eyeballs over thought..I am sure there will be at least 10 Palin stories (w/ 4000 comments) or perhaps SistaGirl Nia Malika Henderson will do a story on Sasha and malia's poll numbers (OMGS it dropping) or perhaps a Where is Bo edition?
Politico seems to be heading the way of TMZ, EXTRA, and INSIDE EDITION.
aaron david miller is antisemitic or something if you read between the lines
aaron david miller is antisemitic or something if you read between the lines
Fear of the NYC Terror Trial
November 15, 2009
http://www.dundeesblog.blog...
The Israel Lobby is terrified of the upcoming NYC trial of 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM). They fear their stranglehold on the US media could be loosened as the trial may give the terrorists a media platform.
Indeed, KSM has said that the purpose of the 9/11 attacks was to "wake the American people up." As part of his original 9/11 plan, KSM was going to land one of the planes here and then "deliver a speech condemning American policy on Israel." (The New York Times 9/15/09)
The Israel Lobby certainly does not want their persecutions and war crimes against the Palestinians publicized. Worse, they do not want Americans to realize that because of our support for Israel's unjust policies, we are now a power in decline.
Before 9/11, we had a budget surplus and were poised to pay down the national debt. Now, after these unnecessary wars, we are deeply in debt to foreigners, owing more to China than to any other other country, and the Israel Lobby is about to drag us into another unnecessary war as Israel plans to hit Iran. At that point the price of oil will go through the ozone layer, and our economy will plummet, this time irretrievably if no one will buy our bonds.
Of course the Israel Lobby cares not, since their loyalty lies elsewhere. Their only fear is that the truth will out.
This non-story is soooo totally and completely absurd, that words fail me............Anyone know what is the average age of the writers of this site???
The Israel Lobby is terrified of the upcoming NYC trial of 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM). They fear their stranglehold on the US media could be loosened as the trial may give the terrorists a media platform. >>>>>
Oh my my my. Is'nt THAT interesting???
These are ghosts doing this. Or poltergeists. If you can spell that, you may be one.
No news is THIS news!
Here's a picture for you, Ms. Rozen: A president who isn't incapacitated without a verbal IV. Obama is temporary. Let him play games. We will be rid of him in 2012 or before, if he's impeached.
What happened to the dogs playing poker?
Jeez... What about Palestinian crimes against Israeli civilians? What about hundreds of people killed by palestinian suicide bombers and rockets and other crappp?
Your obsessive anti-Semitism is so evident that it is no longer even funny. Get professional help ASAP!
This reminds me of one of those grade school assignments: What's different in this picture?
Well, it's not just the painting.....how about the chairs, plant, and unless the colors are really altered, the room has been painted...lots more, it's funny once you start looking.
Just like Obama, a few days difference and a lot of changes....seldom for the best. Nice painting tho.
Keep on being observant.....they could just sneak something onto the American People!
This reminds me of one of those grade school assignments: What's different in this picture?
Well, it's not just the painting.....how about the chairs, plant, and unless the colors are really altered, the room has been painted...lots more, it's funny once you start looking.
Just like Obama, a few days difference and a lot of changes....seldom for the best. Nice painting tho.
Keep on being observant.....they could just sneak something onto the American People!
This reminds me of one of those grade school assignments: What's different in this picture?
Well, it's not just the painting.....how about the chairs, plant, and unless the colors are really altered, the room has been painted...lots more, it's funny once you start looking.
Just like Obama, a few days difference and a lot of changes....seldom for the best. Nice painting tho.
Keep on being observant.....they could just sneak something onto the American People!
Here's a picture for you, Ms. Rozen: A president who isn't incapacitated without a verbal IV. Obama is temporary. Let him play games. We will be rid of him in 2012 or before, if he's impeached.
Someone needs to tell the Prez. that the picture is crooked.
There, that's better.
In this White House, it's all fluff, instead of substance. So staging the photos by changing the artwork makes perfect sense. Nothing gets done, but it looks nice.
Too bad Obama can't pay as much attention to the actual details of governing...