The Visit
President Bush will be in town Wednesday and as happens when the gold truck rolls through Mayberry (yes, Eddie, I’m stealing your line) we at the paper get a touch excited.
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A presidential visit like this is a peculiar kind of Kabuki. Protocol, security precautions, a ridged schedule, and some very definite political and policy goals conspire to suck whatever spontaneity there is out of the day. The folks the President might meet at lunch, the kids and teachers at Falkener Elementary school, and yes, even us scrubby media types, are all just bit players on the outlandish stage that a sitting President brings with him anywhere he goes.
The truly impromptu, off the cuff moments will be the rarest of the day.
Bush is expected to pitch renewal and reforms of his No Child Left Behind policy during his visit to Falkener. It’s something that he’s done at other schools in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.
As for his fundraiser Wednesday night, well, the President has done one or two of those as well. It’s at a private residence, so as has become commonplace with this president, the event will be closed to the press. I guess for $1,000 a plate, one might argue donors should get something exclusive.
Not me, though. I agree with whoever the “Q:” voice was from this exchange at a recent press briefing:
Q: Tony, I know this is something of a sore subject with you, but as you know, the President is at another closed fundraiser as we speak, raising $900,000 at a mansion in Georgetown. Just a couple of questions on this, what happens at these events that the public or media should be left out of? And who decides what's open and what's closed?MR. SNOW: If they're in private residences, they're closed. If they're in public spaces, they're open.
Q: Well, as you know, in the previous administration there were events at closed -- I'm sorry, at residences, and they allowed a pool reporter so that the public would know what the President was saying to his supporters. Is this a matter of keeping this exclusive to people who pay big bucks to hear the President?
MR. SNOW: No, it's just a matter of saying that we think that people in their private residences probably don't -- would like to be able to have these things in a confidential manner. But, look, it's not the only area in which we differ from the previous administration. On the other hand, we are going to have a whole lot of events, and you're going to hear pretty much the same thing that the President says behind closed doors. So trust me, Peter, they're not doing anything any different. And I know it's frustrating. I apologize for your frustration, but that's the policy. That's it.
Q: For a President who often talks about transparency on so many issues, why not just not have them at private residences and have them at venues where the public can know what the President is telling his supporters?
MR. SNOW: Well, you know what? You're going to have plenty of opportunities for that -- I mean, a whole lot in the next few weeks, and you'll be able to hear the same thing.
You catch that? “On the other hand, we are going to have a whole lot of events, and you're going to hear pretty much the same thing that the President says behind closed doors.”
Hardly sounds like something for which you’d want to shell out big bucks or mobilize a small army of news staffers. But people do and we will.
Yes, it’s theater. But it’s important theater. Agree with his politics and positions or not, it’s not every country where the boss-man feels compelled to get out and sell his ideas in person.
So put on your Sunday suit, take your seats, flip through the playbill and get ready for the house lights to dim. The political equivalent of Broadway is about to come to town.