Carol Platt Liebau: Symbols and Celebrities

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Symbols and Celebrities

In this piece, the famously partisan Washington Post writer Robin Givhan takes it upon herself to pen an ultimately indecipherable column discussing Jenna Bush's engagement in the context of celebrity and symbolism.

She seems to believe that, by formally announcing the engagement, The White House made it everyone's business, entitling everyone to an opinion on it. Or something like that.

But it's not clear how the information should have come out if not through the First Lady's office. Perhaps in People magazine or a supermarket tabloid (where the latter might well manage to allege that her fiance is a space alien, or something of the sort)?

If anything, Jenna and the Bushes have made it clear that they're not trying to capitalize on the wedding for PR purposes -- in fact, the bride has announced that she prefers to be married in either Maine or Texas, rather than in The White House. It's rather refreshing that she prefers a private place with special meaning for her throughout her life -- and something of a contrast to the Clinton years, when The White House was used as a wedding venue open even to the President's in-laws. But of course Givhan never had anything to say about that.

2 Comments:

Blogger Chris Crawford said...

Darn! Darn! Darn! You managed to get 90% of the way through this post without saying anything partisan, and I thought for once you'd have a nice piece, but then, right at the end, you just couldn't resist taking a partisan crack at somebody.

I don't mind your criticizing Ms. Givhan for her column; I sincerely hope that everybody leaves Ms. Bush alone to enjoy her wedding in peace. But Ms. Givhan had to get all partisan about it, and you just couldn't resist joining in, could you?

Rats.

5:26 PM  
Blogger Marshal Art said...

Aren't wedding announcements simply expressions of joy? What of all the announcements publicly made in newspapers all across the country? What ulterior motive lies behind them?

11:17 PM  

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