SAN FRANCISCO–It turns out that getting your photo snapped with President Barack Obama is not as difficult as you would think.
I strolled into historic Longshoremen’s Hall, hard by the shrimp and crab food vendors and gluttonous seagulls and pigeons who line Fishermen’s Wharf, and in two minutes I had my own photo with Bam Bam.
(The Hall, former stomping grounds of brilliant labor leader and fighter for justice Harry Bridges, will be the venue for Friday night’s Telefutura “Solo Boxeo” card featuring rising Pinoy lightweight sensation, Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta in a rematch against Genaro Trazancos, good seats still available but going fast.)
I know what you’re saying, that I should cut it out because my photo with Barack is with a cardboard facsimile.
Well, it seemed amusing at the time.
What’s not so amusing is the negative fallout from Manny Pacquiao’s widely publicized, quickie meet and greet with an in the flesh Obama Tuesday at the White House.
Here it is, Thursday going into Friday, and the Congressman from Sarangani Province has plenty of photographic and video evidence that he was a special guest at the Capitol Building, that Sen, Harry Reid praised him on the floor and those words went right into the Congressional Record. There is also documentary evidence of Reid’s 10 minute press briefing and flag exchange with Pacman.
But, again, where is the key photo, that of the Pinoy Idol standing with Obama, the Democratic standard bearer alongside the People’s Champ party kingpin?
I know this, Pacquiao doesn’t have it yet, it’s in the control of the White House media control staff and promoter Top Rank has yet to receive a single photo of the historic meetup.
I don’t seek to overplay or exaggerate this but one source tells me that somebody important at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue took offense with the emphasis on Pacquiao’s Washington and environs promotional pitching for the May 7 bout against Sugar Shane Mosley and may have felt that the august Oval Office does not want to be associated with hyping a boxing match.
Perhaps the whole event would’ve come off smoother and with less friction had Pacman gone to the nation’s capital solely for the meeting with Reid and then with Mr. Obama.
I think if they had ditched the visit to the USA Today editorial board and the TV appearance on ESPN’s ?PTI? show, the White House might have been more relaxed about receiving Pacman and then dishing out photos and a video of the brief conversation and handshaking between the Filipino boxer/politician and the Leader of the Free World.
Even Filipino President Noynoy Aquino, in publicly remarking on the significance of Manny’s meeting with Obama, referred only to the fighter’s prominence as an athlete.
From Mr. Aquino’s remarks, we could draw an undercurrent which means that the leader at Malacanang Palace in Manila thinks Pacman was only with Obama as a jock and not as lawmaker.
It figures that the image-conscious Obama aides who decide such matters wanted to deliver the meeting because Reid, the president’s strong ally, requested it but they wanted it downplayed so as to not be construed as any part of hyping the next PPV TV bout.
They often say a picture is worth a thousand words. This photo is worth a hundred thousand words.
My picture with Cardboard Cutout Obama may only be worth a dollar, maybe less.
But I can say to Manny, hey, pal, I’ve got my snapshot with Obama, where’s yours?
Maybe Obama’s people got tied up with the blood on the floor of the budget battle.
Maybe they will be emailing Manny’s photos out any minute, any day.
And maybe not.
Maybe the White House does not want to be portrayed as just another way station on a fight promotion’s media tour.
That’s understandable.
A White House visit is a main event, not a preliminary bout.
