Bush’s official portrait: What, him worry?
Dubya checks what time it is.
From the Associated Press (via MSNBC):
President George W. Bush’s two terms in office have been marked by wars, a global financial crisis, and a steady stream of political opposition. But his official portrait, unveiled Friday at the National Portrait Gallery, shows him at ease and smiling, seemingly unfazed by eight years of tumult.
. . . Bush wanted painter Robert Anderson, a Yale classmate of the president’s, to give him a more informal look for his likeness at the National Portrait Gallery. Anderson painted the portrait to engage viewers with the president in a “personal and conversational manner,” according to an event program.
Isn’t it kind of curious that a president who was obsessed with presenting himself as a figure of unquestionable authority (a “war president,” the “decider,” endless self-references to being “commander-in-chief,” etc.) would suddenly decide to go casual for his official portrait?
Seems to me that the only times I’ve seen the Shrubster in shirtsleeves came when he was posing as engaged and working hard while touring the site of a natural disaster. I guess maybe envisioning his legacy counts.
Watertiger, meanwhile, notes the special obstacle that the presidential artist had to overcome.
Tags: bush, official portrait, random snark
December 20th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I am reminded, as this failed president leaves office, of the famous Chesire cat..where the last thing to go as it dissapeared was its smirky smile.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
“What happened to my thumbs?”
I’m usually all thumbs.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
“Whoops! (chortle) Guess Bobby did paint them winkie stains after all.”