I have been working away.
Missed the whole of the Mandela gathering.
Need to catch up
Need to read the Obama speech.
Any others I nee to listen/read?
But I love this item about the day::
8 Photos You Didn't See From Obama's Trip to South Africa
On Tuesday, conservative news outlets in the United States
decided that the best way to commemorate the life of
Nelson Mandela, and to report on the memorial services
in his honor, was to manufacture a controversy about
an AFP photo of President Barack Obama
shooting a selfie with Danish Prime Minister
Helle Thorning-Schmidt. According to Fox News,
the “international incident” was so bad that,
“The tsk-tisk-ing could be heard across continents.”
Liberal news outlets countered with a photograph from former
President George W. Bush’s Instagram feed,
taken at the same memorial,
in which he’s seen posing with pop star Bono.
Two things were lost amid the nonsensical partisan wrangling.
First, the furor shamefully overshadowed the memorial service
itself, and the heartfelt messages that were delivered by
Mandela’s family and colleagues.
Second, such outcries overlook the close quarters
in which our Democratic and Republican politicians
actually live and work.
Candid images from White House photographer Pete Souza
tell another story.
1.
Looking at the individual AFP and Instagram shots,
you would have no idea that Obama and Bush
traveled to South Africa together on Air Force One.
2.
You would miss the fact that they and their wives
dined together on the plane ...
3.
... or that Bush dazzled Michelle Obama and a smiling
Hillary Clinton with photos of his recent paintings.
4.
You wouldn't see that Obama managed to sneak in his own
photo op with Bono ...
5.
... or that the Bushes and Clintons spent the day together
at FNB Stadium.
6.
It’s almost as if photographers go out of their way to present
isolated images of political figures ...
7.
... when in reality, politicians spend their days surrounded by
people ...
8.
... and by political adversaries and allies alike.
Perhaps, instead of giving in to the frantic us-or-them discourse
proffered by the media (Funeral selfies! Handshakes! Ted Cruz!),
it's time that we acknowledge that conservative
and liberal politicians spend more time together,
and have more in common with one another,
than we’d like to believe.
