Dr. Margaret Flowers at the White House

[t0dd]

Run time: 02:54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxziSRM6fdo   Posted on YouTube: January 28, 2010 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: January 30, 2010 By DU Member: t0dd Views on DU: 837

 

[John Q. Citizen]

1. i could support a single payer system.

[JDPriestly]

2. I recommended this.

I recently read the book, Team of Rivals and was struck by the ease with which citizens were allowed to approach the White House and the president at that time. In fact, the White House was considered to be what it should be -- the People's House, the House of the president of the People.

Abraham Lincoln was brave -- in fact, fearless. In spite of the brutality, high death tolls and horrible danger during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, his son Tad and his wife Mary Todd traveled at great peril to themselves to the front lines of some of the most violent battles in the Civil War.

Ironically, Lincoln was assassinated not by rowdy visitors to the White House or on the battlefront, but in a theater that he chose to attend fairly frequently and which by any reasonable measure probably should have been a very safe place to spend a lovely evening.

Today, we have metal detectors, guards all over the place, and as we see in this video, we can't even hand a petition or letter across the fence to a guard at the White House. Access to the White House and for the most part to the President is by invitation only and subject to careful security checks.

How paranoid we have become. In fact, it seems as though the more secure we become, the less secure we feel.

That the People are reduced to having to petition the President via mail . . . . . Need I say more.

As for the e-mails, I wonder how many are sent to the White House each day. I know that the President can only read a few of them. But does anyone read all of them? Or are we just wasting our time sending e-mails?

[avaistheone1]

3. Dr Flowers touches my heart. She is very inspiring.

She is so brave and committed.

I am reminded that health care is a human right. Health care for all.

[PHIMG]

4. She's a hero!

She was one of the 8 arrested by Max Baucus.

[PHIMG]

5. What bullshit.

So nobody can bring anything into the White House with them?

[vduhr]

6. You're not serious, right?

No you cannot bring anything into the Whitehouse. Ummmmm...security, helloooo! Would you want the Whitehouse to allow just anyone to bring just anything in??? Geez, nowadays you can't even get into a concert without being searched and going through metal detectors. Come on, get a brain! The Doctor was not being told that she could not present her documents to the President, she was simply being told that she would have to send them through the mail so that the documents could go through the proper security measures first. Dr. Flowers may have the right ideas, but she took a stupid approach.

[PHIMG]

7. So if you come in for a meeting you can't bring anything? RIGHT.

If you believe that I got a bridge to sell you.

I can tell you that Margaret Flowers is well know to the White House being that she is a leader of a movement that has been actively marginalized by Rahm's operation.

I can see how this is a perfunctory response from WH Security to just any random coming off the street, but it seems to me from a PR perspective the White House could have recognized this for what it was, a political action, checked her bone fides, and sent down an actually member of the White House staff to cordially greet her, take her materials, and send her on her way. Since this White House is being disengious when it asks for better ideas, the file would wind up in the garbage no doubt, but this video makes the WH look silly and out of touch.

What we're talking about here is a 40 sheets of paper. Its pretty clear that Dr. Flowers is not trying to bring Anthrax into the White House.

This is a great video for the movement so for you to call her approach stupid is laughable.

[vduhr]

8. She may be well known, but...

she approached a gate and did not have an appointment. The Whitehouse may know her, but the guards did not, and they have to do their job correctly and not let anyone in or any documents without the correct procedures. I am sure she could have brought the documents to the President if she had gone through the correct protocol by making an appointment, but she did not. Sometimes, people should not be so gullible. We are talking about the POTUS here. There has to be extremely high security. If you don't think so, then I have a bridge I would like to sell you.

[vduhr]

9. In addition...

you say it "makes the Whitehouse look silly", yet you say they could have sent someone down to pick up the papers from her and send her on her way, you are admitting it is the guards that did not convey the message properly. So that makes the entire Whitehouse look silly? How?

[PHIMG]

10. Beacause the prototcol in place is bad

If you have someone who is an activist coming to the gate to perform a political action they shouldn't be hiding behind security concern to shoe you away. All this because of the Anthrax attacks that got covered up.

FYI...another PNHP Doc showed up a meeting of doctors at the White House and was ADMITTED to the meeting with an invite so this idea that this was about security is silly and the idea that you can't get any paper into the white house without being scanned for Anthrax is a lie.

If this was just some random person trying to give something to the president I would say this was the proper course of action. From a PR perspective the way this was handled makes the White House look bad.