Chan Lowe cartoon: What happened to presidential privacy?
The theme of the week appears to be presidential privacy, or the lack of it.
First comes some obscure lower-echelon speechwriter in the Bush administration who is earning his thirty pieces of silver by publishing a tell-all book.
In it, he quotes (or misquotes) his former employer uttering embarrassing comments that he thought were being made in confidence.
Remember those executive privilege arguments, cited by all administrations, about how a president must be able to depend on the confidentiality of his conversations if he is going to get honest advice? Now the wound comes from an inner, trusted member of the tribe. How crass.
Second, we have Barack Obama being twitted, or tweeted, or whatever, about by news personnel for an offhand remark he made--and which he thought was off the record--that Kanye West was "a jackass." Nobody seems to disagree with his assessment, but the controversy has something to do the fact that he said it.
In this high-tech world, with surreptitious cell phone video cameras, social media, instant Internet connectivity, and the promise of big payoffs for loose lips, no leader can be sure that everything he says or does--no matter how trivial or banal--won't be public knowledge within seconds.
I guess all we can do is be grateful that this stuff wasn't available during the Clinton years. The cocktail dress was bad enough.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
I'm kinda torn on the kanye issue. kanye is a tool and a douchbag. he has been for as long as i've been aware of him. but it seems as though nobody who is a public figure has said so. not another musician or actor or writer. he gets away with being an a$$. until now that is. everyone spoke out about it. (I'm confident he'll do it again though). But for the President to say it is just FANTASTIC! There is no reason that the President has to be so politically correct. He should speak his mind about an issue like this. By doing so, it makes it NOT OK to do the things that kanye does. He is the President. He is the leader of this country. This is a great example of leadership in the right direction. By just saying one simple word.
As for whether what the president says remaining private. yes, of course it should
Posted by: not rush | September 18, 2009 8:50 AM
Chan-
I guess this is just a sign of the 24hr access times that we now live in. I meant that in the worst possible way.
Posted by: Charlie | September 18, 2009 10:57 AM
That is very funny. It put a smile on my face. Everything the president does is public. But this is going a little to far.
Posted by: Smith | September 18, 2009 12:06 PM
I think it's great he said that; honesty is back in the White House. I am so tired of PC.
As far as all the new technology, tweeting, etc. JFK would have NEVER have survived. Between all the women, pain killers and civil rights stuff that woudl have come out... wow.
Posted by: Cleo | September 18, 2009 12:53 PM
I agree with the President on Kenye.
Posted by: Tim | September 18, 2009 2:29 PM