Reading The Pictures: George And Laura Look Good In Ribbons

a. If you looked up "pandering" in the dictionary.

b. Desperate days in the legacy hunt?

c. Laura gets World AIDS Day mixed up with Christmas?

d. It's always been about backgrounds and logos. (This angle catches the matching pins.)

e. Chill out. The AIDS crisis can use the biggest boost it can get.

f. All of the above.

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(image 1: Manny Garcia/Getty. image 2: Jason Reed/Reuters. Washington December 1, 2008)

Comments

[omaro]

While all six options are true, I think "e" is the correct choice. We need to get over our focus on Bush and all his shortcomings, for the sake of our own well-being, and concentrate on becoming the kind of people we'll need to be to do our part to make positive changes in our country. It will not be easy, especially for super-partisan yellow-dog Democrats like me. And let's face one truth: Bush has been better on AIDS than other presidents, and it has in fact been one of the few relatively bright spots in his generally piss-poor administration, in spite of the fact that much more could have been done. Enough already. I think the Bushes sincerely believe in this cause (their daughter has been an activist and educator in this regard) and I think their outfits were well-chosen for the occasion.

[Wals]

Obviously the answer is (F), though I'm partial to : d." It's always been about backgrounds and logos. (This angle catches the matching pins.)"

I am just so sick of this crap I'd like to see Obama dump it all. Every last backgroup, pin, logo, badge, official jacket, the whole F'ing nine yards of ego prepping nonsense.

[liveandlearn]

bush is trying, with the aids ribbon, to let us believe that after ronald reagan let that horse (aids) out of the barn, bush is picking up its manure.

[bedrocklib]

I think he would look especially good in hand cuffs.

[s miller08]

I can't believe there are still 50 days left.

[kellygrrrl]

He should just stand in front of a giant burning pile of rubbish with a pageant sash that reads "I'm Done"

[jerrypl]

It has to be big for George to see it, otherwise, it won't get his attention. When it is big, and in the form of a picture, he then can look it up in his picture dictionary and have Laura read the definition to him. If it does not say, Mission Accomplished", then he does not know the words.

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

[insanityfollows]

Oh, I am so glad you pointed this out. I have been bothered for so long with the American flag being used as a backdrop for political agenda. Criticism over Obama not wearing a lapel pin a few months ago really underscores how much the Bush administration has adopted the flag and wearing it as one of the caveats of being "patriotic" or not. Our flag represents just the opposite of that. Our flag represents the freedom from us NOT having to tout it or wear it out of some kind of patriotic obligation. The way the Bush administration has shoved our flag in our faces at every single possible opportunity and/or wrapped up issues, policies, etc... is demeaning to what it represents. It reminds me of the GOP taking another symbol of national pride, the purple heart, and putting it on band aids at the 2004 convention as a token of John Kerry's somehow less valuable purple heart. The Bush administration stakes everything in all of this symbolism, as if wearing a symbol itself aligns them justly and completely with what that symbol represents. It will feel good to wear the flag again as a pure symbol of national pride and wear it out of pure impulse of pride rather than some obligatory political statement. Especially with true change in the air, I am more proud than ever to wear it even with the economy and everything else falling apart.

[kellygrrrl]

when I see the SUVs with the mindless Flags clipped on the windows I snicker,
especially rich when they have the "troops" magnets on the back.

[fussygorilla]

insanity.

I agree except that Obama also is usging hundreds of flags around him at every press conference. wouldn't just ONE flag suffice. I hope they do that in the future. I am sick and tired of seeing all those flangs. Why do we need a wall of flags each time a politician speaks? Down with it.

[Clavis]

Although it is true that Obama hasn't spent the last 8 years attacking other people for not being sufficiently patriotic, so his use of flags isn't a gesture made in deliberate contrast to the "America-haters", it's just a straightforward expression of patriotism.

[Janelynne]

They cannot get out of town fast enough.

[1differentdrummer]

Amen.

[Mr Grey]

The Bush administration, full of sound and fury (and symbols) signifying nothing.

[asnevitt]

well, signifying a lot of devastation and destruction.

[BabsfromKansas]

thus the symbolism of the color red