John Mwazemba
Obama should move into the White House with powerful exorcists in tow. He moves into a haunted house; with the spirits of George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove running up and down every corridor.
I digress but Obama will find the traditional letter from his predecessor in the Oval Office’s "Resolute Desk" on the day he officially takes over office. We learn of this traditional letter to the next president from former US President Bill Clinton’s memoirs, My Life. In the book, Clinton also flauntingly lifts the veil to take one reverential tour of the White House, providing nuanced and intricate behind-the-scenes workings. Clinton captures, almost teary-eyed, his last day in that powerful house. He writes, "Hillary and I didn’t want to sleep; we just wanted to keep strolling from room to room. We felt as honoured to be living in the White House on our last night as we had when we came home after our first inaugural balls. I never ceased to be thrilled by it all…
I went back into the Lincoln Bedroom, read Lincoln’s handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address one last time, and stared at the lithograph of him signing the Emancipation Proclamation, on the very spot where I was standing. I went into the Queen’s Room and thought of Winston Churchill spending three weeks there in the difficult days of World War II. I sat behind the Treaty Table in my office, looking at the empty bookshelves and bare walls, thinking of all the meetings and calls I’d had in that room…"
On the morning Clinton left the White House, he recounts, "…I returned to the Oval Office to write my note to President Bush. Hillary came down, too. We gazed out the windows to take a long, admiring look at the beautiful grounds…then she left. As I placed the letter on the desk, I called my staff in to say goodbye. We hugged, smiled, shed a few tears…Then I walked out of the Oval office for the last time…As I stepped out…the entire residence staff had gathered to say goodbye…I looked into their faces and stored memories, not knowing when I would see them again…"
Secrecy
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Located on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House — the official residence of the President of the United States and his family — glows with glory. To those who enjoy peeking into the trappings of power as I do, detailed accounts of the White House are as riveting as detective fiction. It is unfortunate that our own State House is so enshrined in magic mystery and an almost impenetrable cover of secrecy. This is complicated by the fact that none of our presidents, their couples, children or aides have written a real detailed account, in book form, of the behind-the-scenes workings of State House.
This leaves the ordinary Kenyan with a shallow picture of the most powerful house in the land. As Clinton narrates, "I wrote this book (My Life) to tell my story…to give people who have never been involved in public life a sense of what it is like to hold office, and especially what it is like to be President…I’ve simply tried to tell the story of my joys and sorrows, dreams and fears, triumphs and sorrows…I think it’s a good story, and I’ve had a good time telling it".
Outgoing presidents can emulate Clinton and give detailed accounts of the joys, tears and burdens of high office. Members of the First Family could emulate US President Harry Truman’s daughter, Margaret Truman, who wrote the book, The President’s House, in which the First Daughter shares the history and secrets of the world’s most famous home. Margaret writes, "The last time I was in Washington, DC, I walked by the White House on the way to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Hidden floodlights made the historic building glow like a mansion in a vision or a dream. Suddenly I thought: I am not the woman who lived in that house more than 50 years ago. She is a completely different person. I barely know her.
Splendid house
The words whispered in my mind like a voice from another world. I was remembering, or trying to remember, what it meant to be the daughter of the president of the United States, living in that shimmering house. I have lived in several houses and apartments, and spent some time in splendid establishments, including a few royal palaces. But not one of them – or all of them together – can compare to the feeling I recalled from my White House days.
That was when I resolved to write this book about one of the most mysterious, terrifying, exalting, dangerous, fascinating houses in the world. It is a house that has changed people in amazing, unexpected ways. It is a house that has broken hearts and minds. It is a house that has made some people weep when they walked out of the door for the last time… Some marriages have been saved within those pristine white walls. Others have been irrevocably ruined.
Children have played marvellously clever games inside and outside this unique piece of architecture. Other children have twisted and turned in their death throes while their weeping parents, arguably the most powerful persons on the North American continent, clutched them in their impotent arms".
The curious urge to find out how the privileged and powerful live dates back to antiquity; when subjects were consumed by everything the royal families did. Such writing also enables people to understand the way the presidency works; revealing the day-to-day conflicts, personalities and achievements.
Margaret recounts a funny story, showing the arm-twisting that goes with high office. She writes, "My favourite story… is a little soiree President Lyndon Johnson hosted at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for a group of congressmen, who had been voting against him much too often. ‘Nice place, isn’t it?’ Lyndon Johnson said. "Take a good look around. If you guys don’t change your voting habits, it’s the last time you’ll see it while I’m president," he stated.
Special experience
Margaret also sheds light into the fact that the presidency is not all butter and bread, "Presidents…have paced the White House’s darkened halls in periods of national crisis, gazing at portraits of their predecessors on the walls, seeking communion with their triumphs — or shuddering at their blunders".
Living in the White House, she adds, is "a special experience — a unique combination of history, tragedy, comedy, melodrama, and the ups and downs of ordinary living under one roof."
And as Barack Obama takes over residence at the White House after January 20, he should remember that some of his predecessors have hallowed it and others brought shame to it. We wish him well.
The writer is the publishing manager of Macmillan Kenya Publishers.
Johnmwazemba@yahoo.co.uk
