The Blair House Project

By
Glenn W. Smith
– January 11, 2009Posted in: Politics

An Iraqi newsman throws his shoes at George W. Bush. Bush throws a house, Blair House, at his successor, President-elect Barack Obama. And so goes the ignominious end of the most ridiculous and dangerous president in American history.

The Obamas wanted to move early into Blair House so their children could start school. No, no, said Bush. That room’s taken. Great evils like war and enforced poverty can cause us to overlook the shallow pettiness that often marks the architects of inhuman global horrors. Bush’s Blair House snub might make a future edition of “Presidential Anecdotes,” but it’s unlikely to stay long in the news. Still, I think it is, in its way, as revealing of Bush’s character as the state torture of innocents.

The Sufi poet, Rumi, wrote, “This being human is a guest house.” His point is that we should welcome as guests into the houses of our lives not just our friends, but our enemies; not just happiness, but sadness; not just joy, but meanness, too. Rumi’s not writing about etiquette, not advising his readers on how to win friends or influence people. It’s about “being human.”

Being human is a guest house. Blair House is the official state guest house of the president. It turns out that Bush’s crony, former Aussie prime minister John Howard, is going to stay in Blair House a night or two during the time the Obamas had hoped to move in (the Obamas checked into the Hays-Adams Hotel, instead, and their children have started school on time). The four adjacent townhouses that now make up Blair House total about 70,000 square feet. It’s bigger than the White House. Mr. Howard must be accompanied by a sizable entourage.

The picture chosen to illustrate this post is by legendary Disney artist Mary Blair. It’s a “Blair House” too, so to speak. Visually, I thought it captured something of the shame of the Blair House incident. Mary’s painting was a conceptual piece for the 1952 Disney short film, “The Little House,” about a modest home overrun by modernity and sprawl.

Shadowy figures haul away a saddened little home, it’s eyes shuttered, it’s doors boarded up. Notice, though, that through Mary Blair’s eyes, it’s the little house that seems human while the shadow-figures are made of inhuman, machine-like angles.

Bush is such a shadow-figure, an indistinct shadow at that. It may seem outrageous to say his slight of Obama is somehow equivalent to his atrocities (Iraq, Guantanamo, Katrina) incompetence (Iraq, Guantanamo, Katrina), and greed (the orchestrated theft of billions by his cronies while the global economy collapses). It does, however, reveal his character, and even the goofy pundits tell us that’s what matters to Americans.

Obama, of course, let it go. There was no percentage in pounding on the door from outside when he’ll be in charge of the guest list soon enough.

Bush was successful in a political era that swamped fundamental elements of human relationships (kindness, reciprocity, empathy) in a modern orgy of carelessness, greed, hatred, and the callous disregard of every “Other” on the planet. It’s not unlike how the Little House was surrounded by modern urban sprawl and blight.

Bush’s slight was, in all ways, a small thing. Like the man himself. Why not let it go the way Obama has? Isn’t Bush already history? He is, but not his kind. Remember.

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About Glenn W. Smith

Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”

Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.

In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.

As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.

Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.

Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.

As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”