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Oops on the photo ops

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Ted Cruz seemingly cannot even pull off a “photo op” without drawing criticism.

The Texas Republican junior U.S. senator has earned all of it … but, really?

He jetted off to Cancun, Mexico while Texas shivered in the midst of a hideous and crippling winter storm. He came home early after news of it hit the fan. He apologized for messing up, but only after seeming to blame his daughters for talking him into going to Mexico just to get away for a few days.

Then came the picture of Cruz loading bottled water; and he cut some barbecue to serve for firefighters in Houston. That’s all fine, except that the pictures looked like “photo ops.” A Cruz staffer snapped the pictures and then he likely was gone.

Ted Cruz under fire for ‘photo ops’ in Houston following controversial Mexico trip (msn.com)

Hey, he’s not the only politician who stages these do-gooder events for the camera. Donald Trump thought he’d toss rolls of paper towels in Puerto Rico to those who needed the paper goods; he did that for the camera, too … but it looked stupid. Remember the time 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis slipped a helmet over his head and then he rode around in the tank? It didn’t work well at all.

So, now we have Mr. Sanctimonious — Ted Cruz — trying to make up for his major mistake by pretending to load bottled water and slice some BBQ for the real heroes of the Texas winter storm.

Not a good look, Sen. Cruz. His photo ops turned into photo oops.

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Uh, Mr. POTUS? Photo ops are meant to convey something

Dear Mr. President,

That was some stunt you pulled today.

You called the media into the White House to watch you sign a couple of executive orders concerning international trade enforcement.

Then one of the reporters fired off a question about Michael Flynn. Your response? You turned tail and ran from the room. Why didn’t you stay long enough to sign the damn EOs?

This was supposed to be a positive photo op for you and your struggling administration. Then someone poses a tricky question — and you provide yet another kind of photo op, one that won’t play nearly as positively as the one you intended.

It was fascinating to watch the vice president acknowledge immediately what was going on and how it would look.

You probably don’t care what I think — given that I live out here in Trump Country, but I have a decidedly different view of the job you’re doing from the neighbors on my street. I’ll tell you anyway.

Every time you perform stunts like the one you performed today, you send chilling messages that there really and truly might be a flame under all the smoke being generated by that Russian hacking story.

We know that you gave Gen. Flynn the boot as your national security adviser because of questions swirling about his Russia relationships. I actually think you made the right call there, despite my belief that Gen. Flynn shouldn’t have held the post in the first place.

You have photo ops and then there are photo ops.

Mr. President, you need to answer the questions. Definitively, with clarity and precision — if you are able to dispel the chilling notion among many of us that there might be something to this Russian “collusion” story.

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Flash to POTUS: Show us your interest

First, I need to stipulate that I do not believe President Barack Obama is disengaged or disinterested in the issues of his time.

With that, it is fascinating to hear the White House rush to his defense … as if one would expect anything else from the staff that reports to the president.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/215937-white-house-checked-out-obama-is-a-media-myth

I do believe, however, that Barack Obama needs to be a bit more dialed in to the value of photo ops, which he says he dislikes.

I get that, too.

A word to the president is in order: Mr. President, they matter — a lot — in a world that relies heavily on visual images.

Obama has returned from his vacation and is back at his post in the White House. He didn’t exactly disappear while he was “away” at Martha’s Vineyard. A lot of things were happening while he was relaxing with his family and friends at the posh resort.

The golf outings didn’t bother me. The juxtaposition of one particular outing, right after he delivered some moving remarks about the beheading of an American journalist in Syria, was bothersome only because of the events’ proximity to each other.

This is the kind of event the president needs to be careful to avoid. It doesn’t prove he’s disinterested, it only leaves odd feelings in people’s hearts and minds about the commander in chief, the head of state and government. It leaves them with the perception of disinterest — and isn’t perception real in the minds of those who perceive such things?