Obama Lunches With Former Presidents

AP story:

Last updated: 12:48 pm
January 7, 2009
Posted: 11:00 am
January 7, 2009

President-elect Barack Obama hailed a rare Oval Office gathering of all U.S. presidents as extraordinary on Wednesday, while President George W. Bush wished him well and pledged that the office "transcends the individual."

"I just want to thank the president for hosting us," the president-elect said, flanked by former President George H.W. Bush on one side and his son on the other.

Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, both smiling broadly, stood with them.

"All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office," Obama said. "For me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary."

In a swift photo opportunity, the current president wished Obama well before all five men headed off for a private lunch.

"I want to thank the president-elect for joining the ex-presidents for lunch," Bush said, even though he's not quite a member of that club yet.

"One message that I have and I think we all share is that we want you to succeed, whether we're Democrat or Republican we care deeply about this country," Bush said. "All of us who have served in this office understand that the office itself transcends the individual."

Bush and Obama also met privately for roughly 30 minutes.

Brace yourselves – George Bush will soon be free to do just what he wants

We are about to enter the twilight zone, that strange black hole in political time and space that appears no more than once every four years. It is known as the period of transition, and it starts a week from today, the time when the United States has not one president but two. One will be the president-elect, the other George Bush, in power for 12 more weeks in which he can do pretty much whatever he likes. Not only will he never again have to face voters, he won't even have to worry about damaging the prospects of his own party and its standard bearer (as if he has not damaged those enough already). From November 5 to January 20, he will exercise the freest, most unaccountable form of power the democratic world has to offer.

A scary thought. And, why did they do it?

A former official in the Bush administration confirmed to me yesterday that the US has lunged into Syrian territory several times before: it's just that Damascus chose to keep quiet. In which case, the interesting question is why the Syrians went public this time.

This was a deliberate act, calculated to send a series of messages. First, to the Syrians, reminding them who's boss in the region and strong-arming them to do more to crack down on al-Qaida.

Second, to the Europeans who have been moving towards a rapprochement with Damascus. Nicolas Sarkozy may have invited President Assad to Paris and David Miliband may have been hosting the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Muallem, in London this very Monday, 24 hours after the raid - but no matter. Bush gets to remind both these uppity Europeans who's in charge.

Third, the president could have been sending a message to his own administration.

However we are meant to read it, the attack on Syria looks a lot like a parting shot from Bush, an end-of-the-movie reminder of what this long and bloody saga has been about. A small operation, causing eight deaths, it nevertheless captures much of the Bush ethos that has ruled the globe these past eight years. It was unilateral; it trampled on state sovereignty; and it relied on force as a first, not last, resort. As a souvenir of the Bush era, it would be hard to top.

Bush may be thinking of a parting gift more in keeping with the record of the last eight years. He and Cheney might decide, what the hell, we have one last chance to whack Iran - and let the new guy clear up the mess. Not likely, but possible. For in the twilight zone, anything can happen.

The Heartbeat Job

Three decades after Mr. Rockefeller departed the office, Dick Cheney has transformed it into a veritable fourth branch of government.

Cheney seems to have claimed that the VP is both in the executive and the legislative branches. Who bought that argument?

His authority at times seemed to eclipse that of President Bush.

Well, besides Georgie W?

Mr. Goldstein said the ascendancy of the office began with Walter Mondale, who secured a central role as adviser. Jimmy Carter gave him a West Wing office, an autonomous staff and access to all key meetings, perks that have gone to succeeding vice presidents.

[Joel K. Goldstein, a law professor at St. Louis University and author of “The Modern American Vice Presidency: The Transformation of a Political Institution.”]

Vice presidents after Mr. Mondale were given wider scope than those who came before. President Clinton entrusted Al Gore with the chore of streamlining government and overseeing global warming policy. He also carried a substantial foreign affairs portfolio.

Dan Quayle had a lesser role but kept the West Wing office and met regularly with the first President Bush. He spent much of his time on goodwill missions, raising money and chairing panels on the economy and space.

Meaning that Al Gore was given responsibilities outside of the mainstream responsibilities of the President, but important ones, while Dan Quayle went to teas.

Mr. Cheney has taken the office to a new level. He honed his bureaucratic skills as White House chief of staff under Gerald Ford, and during 10 years in Congress and 4 as defense secretary under the first President Bush. When he returned to the White House in 2001, he negotiated a broad brief from President George W. Bush.

Cheney goes back to Ford, a point not often mentioned. That amounts to more than 30 years of being in the loop.

In 1989, George H. W. Bush was flying to Malta for a meeting with Soviet leaders when Philippine military officers attempted a coup. Mr. Quayle assembled the National Security Council to consider a response. Mr. Cheney, then secretary of defense, refused to attend because the vice president has no place in the military chain of command, according to an account in “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency,” by Barton Gellman of The Washington Post.

That is very telling: the VP, when it was Quayle, was not in the military chain of command (and didn't Bush 41 consider delegating authority to his VP?), but when it is Cheney, the VP is in the chain of command.



This picture tells all.