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banishment is over, and maybe it is my imagination, but even the
friendly Secret Service agents manning the Pennsylvania Avenue gates,
greeting a different cast of visitors to the White House (that was
Bob Novak!),
seem
pleased with the new regime. As soon as you enter the West Wing lobby
and spot large color photographs of the new president and First Lady
adorning the walls of adjacent hallways, there is no doubt you are
in liberated territory. Further evidence appears when you note respectful
young aides in suit jackets hurrying through the corridors, one of
whom explains that photos from Saturday's Inaugural were in place
by Monday morning.
The upbeat liberators are still working among packing boxes, and
receiving calls on their Austin area-code cell phones, as they struggle
to sort out the juvenile, destructive "pranks" the Clinton staff
engaged in before vacating the premises. Some White House phones
remain disabled owing to the confusion created by Clintonites who
switched the face plates.
| “The
upbeat liberators are still working among packing boxes.” |
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The
career veterans from the General Services Administration were reportedly
shocked at the state of some offices in the Old Executive Office
Building, where phone lines were cut and offices trashed with the
contents of cabinets and draws thrown on the floors. In a particularly
fitting legacy from their predecessors, Bush aides have found printers
programmed to include pornographic pictures in their memos and reports.
The Clinton staff's lack of respect for their awesome new digs was
evident from the beginning. Press accounts of Bill Clinton's early
days in the White House portrayed the "college dorm" atmosphere
created by aides in jeans, lounging with their feet on desks littered
with soda cans and pizza boxes.
Now, the grown-ups are back in charge, with young White House assistants
who might be expected to pull out knives and forks should a late-night
pizza be delivered.
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