"Special relationship" has all kinds of meanings these days...The official White House Flickr photostream has just been updated, and Official White House Non-Foodie Photographer Pete Souza did pretty swell with the photo, above, which is NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen reaching for a beverage during a meeting with President Obama in the Oval office on Sept. 29. The President has a special relationship with NATO, since we're prosecuting two wars, and those are some very special glasses and teacups!
And then there's the photo, above, of President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arriving at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Awards Gala dinner in Washington, on Sept. 16. Entering and exiting through a secured kitchen is standard practice, BTW, when the President is on the road and speaking at hotels, convention centers or...the UN. When in New York on Sept. 23, the President had a fifteen minute walkabout in the UN kitchen with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, for a private chat, as they were on their way out of the building. Apparently that's what special relationship means in 2009. It was the day before US intelligence discovered those nasty nukes...and the President had little time for Mr. Brown, until they had to rapidly coalesce to denounce Iran. The President also has a special relationship with Madame Speaker...
Above: Souza also outdid the President's press pool and got the best photo of President Obama and President Bill Clinton exiting Il Mulino, a New York restaurant where they lunched on pasta and fish (Mr. Clinton spilled the beans on the menu selections) on Sept. 14, after the President had given a speech that chastised all of Wall Street for destroying the global economy. It was the one-year anniversary of the Fall of Lehman; the President now has a very special relationship with Wall Street. There's a special relationship with Mr. Clinton, too; the Clinton Global Initiative has become a private-sector platform for Obama initiatives. So much so that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced Obama admin plans for feeding the world while at a Clinton Global Initiative event.
To see more of the latest Backstage at the Obama Presidency photos, go to the White House Flickr. There are lots of special relationships captured. Related: The Sept. 1 update of WH Flickr features shots by Souza of tequila, pie and invisible fish; on August 18, there's a very rare Souza photo of an actual plated dish from the White House Kitchen. Photos by Pete Souza/White House.
