Images telling tales with the help of a few words
Before going further, recall that “moderate” does not equal “centrist” nor “balanced” but instead an attitude that acknowledges the possibility that maybe, possibly, one just might be wrong.
Cross-posted to Random Fate.
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President Gerald Ford gave David Hume Kennerley access to the White House to take unstaged photographs of the President at work. From the MSNBC Photoblog, here is a candid shot of Ford talking with his Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller.
By contrast, the attitude of President George W. Bush has been hostile to open government, creating the most secretive administration since that of President Richard Nixon. Only the carefully stage-managed images are allowed, unless by happenstance a photo is taken that has a resonance beyond the event itself.
Democracy dies when government is conducted in secret.
The scene in Iraq is thousands of miles away, but do not be complacent. It can happen here.
4 Responses to “Images telling tales with the help of a few words”
Ford was able to respond to criticism without getting hostile or defensive. He got along well with politicians from both parties. Ford fought hard for what he believed, but never sacrificed his integrity to get his way. While I personally disagreed with the Nixon pardon, I can really appreciate Ford’s more open style—he was able to listen to differing points of view and believed in concensus style politics.
Bush, OTOH, becomes famously defensive when criticized, and has removed administrators with different points of view. He’s relied on a small, select group of advisors from the start. When those advisors failed him, he put a cloak of secrecy around himself and the presidency. I see him as incompetent and tremendously insecure. Those qualities cause him to be secretive and prickly- although he does seem to enjoy jousting with the press.
It CAN happen here. And I am heartened by the reports I read that the Democrats and moderate Republicans want to address the overreactions of the government. However another major attack on the US could make the entire country more paranoid.
I also appreciate and respected Mr Ford even though I didn’t always agree.
Like most posts that act as if President Bush is the worst president ever, this one is factually wrong. Mr. Kennerly was given unrestricted access to the President because he was employed by the White House as the official White House photographer during the Ford Administration. His photos were the official Administration photos. THAT is why he had unrestricted access.
President Bush also has an official White House photographer, Eric Draper, who has taken a great many candid shots of the President. The National Geographic reports on Mr. Draper’s work here. Mr. Draper has the same access to President Bush that Mr. Kennerly did to President Ford, and for the same reason… they both were employees of the President, and the President had and has ultimate authority over which pictures were released.
Many official White House photographer images are released only after the President leaves office. I don’t know whether the picture of Ford and Rockefeller was released while Ford was President, or whether it was released after he left office.
At the beginning of his presidency Bush passed a law allowing current or former presidents to block access to presidential papers. He got rid of the long-time WH historian. My guess is that he wanted to make sure that nothing embarassing surfaced about his presidency or that of his father.