House of Eratosthenes

The White House photostream on Flickr has offered up this image, and it’s an interesting lesson to all of us about the grayness and squishiness of that blurry fat line that separates politics from…well, everything else.

Too Sexy Slobbering Obama fan JMBOwer says it very well, in my opinion. Or would, if the situation was as simple as he puts it,

I always have to laugh at the same sort of people who got steamed at any criticism of Bush as being “not respectful of the office of the president” now coming on to make gratuitous negative comments anywhere they can.

In American politics, it seems ethics are imminently situational.

The photo, on the other hand is fantastic. Politics are irrelevant to the quality of the pic.

Jenius Photography goes for a more neutral stance:

Listen, regardless of whether you like President Obama or not, the White House photostream is not about politics. It’s about the artistic aspect of the photography. The White House photographers are amazing at capturing what would have been unseen moments. They have amazing talent and the best job.

And please don’t assume that I’m “Pro-Obama” just because I said all that. I’m just tired of reading through political comments to see what people actually thought about the photograph itself.

lat54205 concurs:

FLICKR is all about the photography…….not about political opinions.

Go put your opinions in political blogs.

Please let us enjoy this wonderful photography.

Thank You.

And that’s as straight as it gets, right? Right? Simple? Reduced to atomic particles? Measurable? No ifs, ands or buts?

Not so fast. What about comments like these…

Ahhhh memories. Awesome shot.
——–
Excellent shot. Great memories – I’m glad I was there.
——–
I still believe.
——–
!!!!!!!!! excellent!!!!!!
——–
i love this portrait and this moment.
——–
Hooray! I am still glad you are President.
——–
great moment.
——–
From one year ago today I’ve been able to respect the intelligence, decency and good will of the man who holds the presidency. Thank God for him!
——–
It’s been an intense year, I hope he believes in himself as much as we believe in him.

Are those comments “political”?

You have to be delusional, certifiably nuts, or dysfunctionally unintelligent to respond in the negative. And yet…here we are. A full year later, an impressive glut of Flickr regulars, and God only knows how representative they are of Americana, is fully caught up in 1-20-2009 Hopenchange euphoria. This is how it works.

Don’t go getting all political!

“OMG He sends a tingle up my leg!!!” is apolitical.

“Erm…I seem to recall He told us things that turned out to be untrue” — that’s political, and therefore toxic. Shame on you.

“I’ve changed my middle name to Hussein!” — not political.

That’s how it works. And the Massachusetts thing doesn’t mean it’s all behind us, by any means. We’re still right in the thick of all of it.

Hat tip to The Jawa Report, where commenter d_fitz sums up the situation adroitly: “I’m too sexy for America.”

That’s how it works. And the Massachusetts thing doesn’t mean it’s all behind us, by any means. We’re still right in the thick of all of it.

Well, to them it doesn’t mean it’s all behind us. And it isn’t behind us. You’re right. But our side has the momentum at the moment, and we’re a 350 lb linebacker bearing down on a 190 lb halfback. A lot more people are awake, eyes open.

Deny it all you want, ball-boy, but the collision’s gonna hurt, and you’re gonna fumble.

And it’s gonna be our ball.
- philmon | 01/25/2010 @ 21:18
Heh – “Don’t get political.”

Last weekend, we took a nephew to Vegas for his 21st birthday. For a show, we went to see Frank Caliendo. He was very funny, but there was a surprising moment toward the beginning of the show. The Haiti earthquake had just happened, and the undiebomber was still on people’s minds, not to mention everything else that’s happened in the last year, so he started to talk about Obama. Something along the lines of, “I wonder if he’s missing Bush right about now?”

The audience went wild: applause, cheers, whistling; it started tentatively, but within seconds there was this huge swell of acknowledgment. It was surprising, because by the sound of it a large majority of attendees agreed. He was immediately out of his element, and whatever joke he was about to make, he stopped it, saying “Whoa, I’m not getting political!” Then he apologized for not having an Obama impression down yet, and moved on. Naturally, the rest of the show was full of Bush, Cheney and Clinton impressions, and everyone seemed fine with those, too. We were there for caricature, after all, and it was very well done. But when the biggest reaction is to something touching on truth, suddenly the comedian doesn’t want people to laugh at that.

Interesting.
- Julie | 01/25/2010 @ 21:29
I always have to laugh at the same sort of people who got steamed at any criticism of Bush as being “not respectful of the office of the president” now coming on to make gratuitous negative comments anywhere they can. In American politics, it seems ethics are imminently situational.

Yeah, ain’t that the truth? Course, it works the other way around, too. I saw a great bumper sticker a couple days ago, which read, “I guess it’s okay for the president to lie, now that the one YOU voted for is doing it.”

I remember listening to the Left call for Bush’s impeachment, and wondering, “Whatever happened to ‘doesn’t rise to the level of impeachable offenses’ and ‘you’re trying to undo the results of two presidential elections’?”
- cylarz | 01/26/2010 @ 00:01
From one year ago today I’ve been able to respect the intelligence, decency and good will of the man who holds the presidency. Thank God for him!

Funny, those were precisely my thoughts UNTIL one year ago today. I remember back in 2000 thinking, “Finally, the adults are in charge again.” Shame that didn’t last.
- cylarz | 01/26/2010 @ 00:03
From one year ago today I’ve been able to respect the intelligence, decency and good will of the man who holds the presidency. Thank God for him!

Funny, those were precisely my thoughts UNTIL one year ago today. I remember back in 2000 thinking, “Finally, the adults are in charge again.” Shame that didn’t last.
- cylarz | 01/26/2010 @ 00:03
Pfft. Frank Caliendo had about one act on MAD TV, and that was “sound like president Bush.” Trouble is that he didn’t look much like Bush…he was too fat to pass as the president.

I would never have paid good money to see that moron.
- cylarz | 01/26/2010 @ 00:06
“artistic aspect of the photography”

Riiight.

I’ve taken better pictures than that of my girlfriend. In a dark room. With an Instamatic.

And she didn’t know she was posin’, either…
- rob | 01/26/2010 @ 01:03
I’ve taken better pictures than that of my girlfriend. In a dark room.

You wouldn’t happen to still have those, Rob? Can you post pics in comments? 🙂
- bpenni | 01/26/2010 @ 06:56
Cylarz – I would never have paid good money to see that moron.

It wasn’t my choice, and also not the point. I actually didn’t expect much out of it, so enjoyed myself a lot more than I thought I would.

Regardless, the audience reaction was clearly unexpected. I don’t think Vegas comedians are used to seeing their audiences so openly pissed off at Obama. There was one other moment, where he did start a riff on Obama:

“When he says ‘Listen up, people,…’ or ‘Now look…,’ you know it’s gonna cost you a buck or two…”

Same audience response, same backing down from the joke with the caveat that he’s “not getting political.” Again, one of the biggest reactions of the night and instead of going with it he backed away. After that one, he stayed away.

What’s interesting is the mentality behind criticism of Obama being “political” and therefore somehow unacceptable. Not just at the White House Flickr page, but elsewhere as well.
- Julie | 01/26/2010 @ 09:25
What’s interesting is the mentality behind criticism of Obama being “political” and therefore somehow unacceptable.

Yep.

And meanwhile…

1. If you say you want Him to fail, that must mean you want the country to fail;
2. George W. Bush lied to get us into a war, and should basically be tried at the Hague;
3. a. Michelle Obama is lovely and beautiful and smart just like Hillary Clinton, b. Sarah Palin is a stupid dimwit tundra yokel;
4. Haiti was caused by globular worming…

These are politically neutral comments, and therefore expected to be perfectly fine in front of a large audience of complete strangers you’ve never met, or distant family members you’ve not seen in many a year. Of course there might be some who’d disagree, but they should keep their opinions to themselves because that would be the polite thing (for them) to do.
- mkfreeberg | 01/26/2010 @ 09:35

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