No, I didn't fly on Air Force One. Kathleen Parker did last week along with a number of other columnists, and she's talking about it on the Daily Beast(separate from today's op-ed in the Washington Post). Kathleen Parker, you may remember, had once been a contributor to the National Review Online. She was originally a strong Sarah Palin supporter before Katie Couric's infamous interview with the Governor of Alaska. At any rate, I felt it worth noting how a Republican reported her time on the flight. I feel so because it was a nice break from the usual diary that undoubtedly involved how screwed we all are.
Parker had once referred to Barack and Michelle as "Mr. Principal and Mrs. Math Teacher". She met Barack Obama once before, but this was her first time meeting the rest of the family. Parker notes that the flight was scheduled around Malia and Sasha's school-schedule with approval of First Family values. While Parker had been on Air Force One twice before, it was with Mr. and Mrs. Bush on separate flights. This time, she got a full dose of the First Family.
We five columnists were already seated in cushy chairs in a guest "parlor," when the first daughters entered unannounced and, at first glance, unescorted. There was just, rather suddenly, Malia—all smiles and clearly used to cutting a swath wherever she goes. Then came another burst of light named Sasha.
You know they’re adorable. You’ve seen a thousand pictures and video clips. Forget all that. This is when you need Spanish so that you can add the absolute superlative -isima to the end of adorable. They are that adorable. Uninhibited and guileless, they seemed utterly at ease with five strangers— especially, may I say, with the sole female, who just happened to have a little green Ugly Doll hanging from her purple purse, very similar to one spotted several weeks ago on Sasha’s book bag.
Has anyone forgotten the Democratic Convention in Denver, when the President's youngest daughter grabbed the microphone and proclaimed her love for her daddy? Everyone melted. Those two girls could be the best surrogates that the White House has. Could Senator McCaskill or Representative Wexler completely disarm a Republican columnist with such ease? No. No they couldn't.
So what were Parker's impressions of the first family?
Impressions: I had met Obama before he became president, but not Michelle. I was struck by her warmth and a sense that she has no need to be the center of attention. (This cannot be said of all first ladies.) Her mother was similarly warm, if a bit shy. Why wouldn’t she be? Although no stranger to her daughter’s and son-in-law’s public life, no sensible civilian would enter a room of columnists without wondering whether the staff doctor stocks antivenom. I was also struck by how lean and fit everyone is. The Obamas are thin people, a sight to behold in the age of obesity.
Okay, so that does get a little strange at the end there. Nonetheless, Parker offers some additional insights into how Barack Obama handles himself amongst the sharks. When the President brought the five columnists into a separate room for the little chit-chat, Parker saw the difference between our last President and this one.
How are we going to run this thing?"
Eh? The president was asking us how we wanted to proceed. For the record, this is very un-Bush. At several meetings with the former president, including a one-on-one interview aboard Air Force One, there was never any question about how we would proceed. Bush ran all shows. Either Obama hasn’t figured out yet that he’s the boss or, possibly, he doesn’t care. As a veteran White House correspondent suggested to me later, "Maybe he knows he can handle whatever we toss his way."
I think that veteran White House correspondent has it right. I have been struck by the reassuring confidence that the President exhibits. His confidence is different from Bush's arrogance. Bush's arrogance was one deeply entwined with his ignorance. Obama's confidence is deeply entwined with his intelligence and his famous "cool". Or "calm". This is how Parker described his "calm";
What struck me most was his immense calm. I kept looking for fissures in the façade, some signal that the cool cat is a defense mechanism or some tactical ploy to deflect or defuse an opponent. Nary a crack. You may as well try to find the Dalai Lama’s Achilles heel. I suspect that if you cut Obama open, you’d find a little Buddha sitting inside, smiling.
As Kathleen Parker already noted, "the Obamas are thin people". I guess that explains why it has to be "a little Buddha". She goes further in discussing the man behind the Presidential seal as he swims with the five sharks.
In a small room with a few journalists, he is a teacher, mindful that his students are trying to write down what he says. He speaks slowly. I took this as an act of consideration and thanked him for it.
I bet she'll bring him an apple the next time. However, it should be noted just how big of a step up this is for our country. George W. Bush's "teaching" experience was limited to reading "My Pet Goat" while our nation was under assault.
Never again.
Kathleen Parker's final thought on her experience aboard Air Force One is this;
But one thing did emerge with greater clarity. Quality. If one judges people in part by the way they and their family comport themselves—and we all do—then the verdict is clear. The Obamas are the family for which less-fortunate children wish upon stars.
Many sectors of our economy, and many of our fellow Americans, are bankrupt. Yet this nation has a surplus right now of Camelot.