World’s most exclusive club — 5 members — has lunch, talks a little

Posted on 07. Jan, 2009 by Russ in Politics, Top of the Ticket

In preparation for the historic turnover of political power at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama, the current president, George W. Bush, had all three living ex-presidents over for lunch today — Clinton, Carter and Bush’s dad, better known as Gampy to his family.

They look like a swell bunch of folks, all friendly-like. They certainly were safe and secure there in the Oval Office where all kinds of historic and weird things have occurred over the years.

If you watch the brief Associated Press video report down below here, these five gentlemen didn’t have much of anything to say to each other.

If you check the White House website, however, two of these five exchanged 157 bipartisan words in two minutes. Here they are:

PRESIDENT BUSH: "I want to thank the President-elect for joining the ex-Presidents for lunch. And one message that I have and I think we all share is that we want you to succeed.

"Whether we’re Democrat or Republican, we care deeply about this country. And to the extent we can, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you.

"All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual. And we wish you all the very best. And so does the country."

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: "Thank you. I just want to thank the President for hosting us. This is an extraordinary gathering.

"All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office. And for me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary. And I’m very grateful to all of them. But, again, thank you, Mr. President, for hosting us."

A psychiatrist friend once told us he always had new patients bring in a photo of their family, that he could tell a lot about relationships from that one moment captured in a picture. He said with virtually all such group photos there was one member visibly on the outside.

Watch the video here. Then take another look at the "family photo" above and a second version of the same group from a different angle on the jump below. (Click the "Read more" line to view it). See if you see any of the five sort of on the outside.

–Andrew Malcolm

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