Bush=bridge over troubled waters?

Posted by Frank James at 6:49 am CDT

This official White House photo by Eric Draper from the White House web site caught my eye. From yesterday's Cabinet Room meeting with senators on immigration legislation, it is President Bush portrayed as the bridge across the bitter partisan divide. During his first presidential campaign, Bush marketed himself as a "united, not a divider" and this photo obviously harks back to that catchphrase.

Of couse, more than five years later, the mere mention of the "uniter, not a divider" slogan in this posting will likely trigger a highly charged, partisan argument. Ironic, no?

The photo is also interesting because to the president's right, as called for by protocol, is Senate Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) Frist, as everyone knows, wants to be one seat to the left, that is, in the president's chair, come 2009. Frist appears to be looking at Bush but could very easily be looking WAY down the table at his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who, at least on Tuesday at this event, was not in the limelight.

There are only inches between Frist and Bush's chair. But that's deceiving. It's McCain, the guy WAY down the table, and hundreds of millions of dollars as well as who knows how many intangibles and unknowables that are actually between the chair Frist was in Tuesday and the one he wants to occupy someday. Ahh, so close, but...

Meanwhile, there's Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid looking appropriately poker-faced for a lawmaker who represents Las Vegas.

There is no love lost between Reid and Frist. Their most recent disagreement, over how exactly to proceed on immigration reform, stopped in its tracks a compromise agreement the Senate had reached with great fanfare just before the recent two-week congressional recess.

Reid has said some fairly nasty things about Bush. Last year, for instance, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Reid told a group of high schoolers that Bush's "father is a wonderful human being" but of the president he said "I think this guy is a loser. I think President Bush is doing a bad job. He's driving this country into bankruptcy." Reid later said he crossed the line and apologized to White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to the Review Journal.

If Bush holds a grudge against Reid, it isn't apparent from this picture. He appears to be looking warmly at Reid who doesn't seem to be making eye contact but, rather, staring into the middle distance. Reid appears to be getting a version of the "Bush treatment" where he looks earnestly at you with those presidential blue eyes and tells you how much he "appreciates" you.

This is one of those photos which makes you wonder what the subjects were really thinking at that moment. If Swamp readers would like to offer some thought balloons, I'd sure love to see them.