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This Exists: Random Tchotchkes Guard the White House Briefing Room

video

by Tommy Christopher | 10:59 pm, February 9th, 2011

» 15 comments

What do Wolf Blitzer, Barack Obama, a pair of gargoyles, and a London bus have in common? They all share a ledge above the James S. Brady Briefing Room, apparently warding off evil spirits along with a hula girl, an army man, a sneaker, and what appears to be a Cootie™.

Wednesday marked my two-year anniversary covering the White House, and while it goes without saying that I’m still learning new things every day, sometimes that learning is just downright weird. For example, after two years of walking into and out of the Brady Briefing Room, I finally noticed a row of odd tchotchkes lining a ledge in the ceiling as you enter.

Some of them form amusing tableaux, such as the Barack Obama bobblehead who appears to be telling a felled Wolf Blitzer cutout to stay down, or my personal favorite, Army Man vs. Child’s Sneaker. Others are just kinda there, like a pair of Associated Press souvenirs.

In order to give you a sense of placement in the briefing room, and to avoid having to do a slideshow of each one, I shot a little bit of video of this odd collection:

The guy in the video didn’t know where they came from, and what few of my colleagues were still around were as surprised as I was, having also never noticed them before.

Just as I was about to leave, one of the sound guys told me that the stuff had been accumulated there by cameramen, mostly during the Bush administration. That makes sense, those guys do get awfully bored waiting for the press office to call a “lid” (an end to the day’s press pool coverage).

I know, this is not earth-shattering stuff, but it’s the kind of quirky detail that gives the place some workaday personality, and I think it’s also pretty cool how people have worked there for years, and never looked up the two feet to notice. And not just any people, reporters.

For my part, before I left, I grabbed an umbrella and put Wolf Blitzer back on his feet (if only it were that easy for Rick Sanchez), secure in the knowledge that I had solved another of the People’s House’s many mysteries. Except I still don’t know what that thing on the end was. Any guesses?

barack obama, Cooties, James S. Brady Briefing Room, rick sanchez, tchotchke, White House briefing room, Wolf Blitzer

http://www.zazzle.com/talkingpoints NORBIT Jr.

Tommy,
What happened to Helen Thomas’ bikini top that was next to the double-decker bus?
Annie Oakley

Bet the stuff is gone tomorrow! This IS funny.
Dem4Ever

NOBODY CARES!
OxyCon

Keep looking Tommeh, I think I saw Obama’s birth certificate up there near the surf board.
Yoda002

OxyCon said:
Keep looking Tommeh, I think I saw Obama’s birth certificate up there near the surf board.

Obama should come out there during a press conference and take a step stool with him and say I think my birth certificate is up here. That would really stir the birther pot.
Big Eddie

Look what’s up there later today : Tommy’s press pass , cigarettes , lighter , 1/2 pack of Certs , yo-yo , Obama cuff links , Ked’s sneaker and propeller beanie .
Ollie

Slow news day, Tommy?

Hint: When you are reduced to posting stories like this it may be time to move on.
nowaythisisreal

instead of wasting time in the briefing room you should be working on your writing. “what few of my colleagues were still around?” whew, that’s just plain ugly.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

This was a nice feature piece. Thanks for sharing.
bealzebubba

Jonie loves Tchotchkes?

Sorry…I had to do it
CLTstraightguy

I thought it was a riot, just one of those funny news pieces that you used to see at the end of the news. Relax folks, we don’t have to be talking about politics, idiot bombers, wars, and stars to make news.
Just_MC

Most sincere apologies if I get this wrong.

But I’m pretty certain I posted a comment on this last night, which appears to have been quietly deleted.

The gist was that this was YET ANOTHER “story” whose purpose seems indecipherable unless it is simply to point out that Tommy Christopher has access to the WH press room.

The point of my mocking how this parallels name-dropping is not without purpose. Tommy Christopher has shown his willingness to SQUANDER the access to ask questions in order to lob softballs to Robert Gibbs.

Our tax dollars pay for Gibbs’ time. It’s bad enough we have to pay for people like him to lie, deceive, and otherwise stonewall us when his JOB is to SHARE information with the public. But for what should be an adversarial and naturally NON-trusting press to cozy up, as Tommy has been doing, is abhorrent.

This is my firm belief. If anyone wants to delete my comments because I criticize Mediaite people selling out the public to cozy up to government officials, let me say that ARE A SELLOUT HACK of the first order.

And thin-skinned to boot. You won’t even let the public vote thumbs up or down when you do post comments. Serious intellectual cowardice.
Arch

Fun piece. I like seeing a little whimsy in public life.
CLTstraightguy

bealzebubba said:
Jonie loves Tchotchkes?

Sorry…I had to do it

You’re showing your age ;)
justpassingby

The thing on the end is an “iZ”. Basically an mp3 amplified speaker toy.
Bought one for my kids years ago for Christmas and could not shut the thing off. It made sounds all Christmas day/night, pretty funny now.
Try http://www.aboutiz.com (page is a bit stale) for more than you ever wanted to know.