The awful touch of President Midas in the US

When I was little, my mother told me a Cinderella story that happened to be true.

- Maureen Dowd

Once upon atime, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson held a competition for the design of the house of our presidents. Well-established architects submitted proposals, but the winner was a young Irishman, James Hoban. He also supervised construction of part of the Capitol.

My dad, another Irishman, worked at the Capitol. And sometimes my mother and I would drive down and gaze at the White House and Capitol, so proud that an up-and coming Irishman could have beaten out all the other architects to play such a central role in conjuring the seats of our new republic.

I would think about that when I grew up to be a White House reporter, interviewing President George HW Bush in the Oval Office. The room where it happens was a place of wonder, baked in history — good and bad. A famous old ivy, which had lasted through so many administrations and eavesdropped on so many remarkable conversations, was the main item on the mantel, flanked by porcelain vases. (Now there are nine gold decorative objects and counting.)

Back then, the room was understated and overwhelming. As Michael Douglas’ CEO said in The American President, showing off the Oval Office, “The White House is the single greatest home court advantage in the modern world.” Real power doesn’t need to shout. In fact, it can whisper.