The Obama’s have a “cockroach” problem!
But vermin is nothing new at the White House and “cockroaches” and “flies” aren’t the worst of it.
It was just a “cockroach”, one of millions around the world, except this one had a White House address, making it “pretty” special.
Well, special at least to the reporters with “work spaces” in the often-troubled basement of the “press” offices.
Already this year, they have been treated to “flooding, soaked carpet, mousetraps and the wondrous odors of mold.”
“It was the size of a small drone,” said Martha Joynt Kumar, professor of political science at Towson University, who led the effort to “capture” the intruder.
Kumar, who has worked out of the press offices studying the president-press relationship for almost four decades, wanted to turn it into the “General Services Administration”, the agency responsible for the building.
“I wanted to bag it so that the GSA would know what kind of issue we had,” she said. “I chased it. But it got away behind some wiring.”
It is, of course, not the first time “bugs, flies or vermin” have done battle with the humans who “work” at the White House.
Humans have not always prevailed easily, much to the “deep frustration” sometimes of the president of the United States.
None was more “frustrated” than Jimmy Carter, who battled “mice” from the start of his administration.
To his dismay, he found the “bureaucracy” unresponsive.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) responsible for the White House, insisted it had eliminated all “inside” mice and contended any “new” mice must have come from the “outside”.
The New York Times reported at the time, they were “the responsibility of the Interior Department.” But Interior, wrote the Times, and “demurred” because the mice were now living “inside” the White House.
To make “matters” worse, GSA and Interior refused to use “spring traps”, claiming humane groups had “protested” that in the past.
But when mice started “scampering” across his office in daylight during his meeting with the Italian prime minister amidst the “distinct” smell of a “dead” mouse, Carter erupted.
His fury was “captured” in his diary entry for September 9, 1977.
Carter that day summoned top officials from the “White House, the Department of Interior and the GSA” to the Oval Office to “unload” on them about the mice “overrunning” the executive offices, including the dead ones “rotting away inside the walls” of the Oval Office and giving his office a very “unpleasant odor.”
“For two or three months now I’ve been telling them to get rid of the mice,” Carter wrote. “They still seem to be growing in numbers, and I am determined either to fire somebody or get the mice cleared out – or both.”
Now more “scared” for their jobs than at any possible reaction from “humane” groups, the bureaucracy responded.
According to the Associated Press, daily “battle” updates were sent to the “highest” levels of the White House, complete with “body counts” and descriptions of the “eradication” weapons being deployed.
On September 12, three days after the meeting with Carter, GSA reported 48 “spring traps” were set in the White House, including five in the Oval Office and four in Carter’s study.
Six more “Ketch All” traps were placed in the crawl space under the Oval Office. “Peanut butter, bacon and cheese” were the favored baits.
By September 13, the number of traps “deployed” in the West Wing was up to 114. On September 15, the mice “body count” was up to 24. By September 19, it was 30; then 38 by the end of the month.
Finally, on November 4th, the GSA declared “victory”, reporting officially “the problem is under control.”
The final “confirmed catch” was 61; the final count of “spring traps” was 296 traps and 141 GSA “bait stations.”
Other presidents have had their own “battles” with White House vermin.
First Lady Barbara Bush once was taking her daily “swim in the pool” on the South Lawn when she was joined by a rat that “did not look like a Walt Disney friend, I’ll tell you that.”
She told reporters “it was enormous.” She credited her Springer spaniel, “Millie”, and her husband, the president, with “rescuing” her and “drowning” the rat.
With that history, the recent “cockroach sighting” at the White House is but a “footnote.”
But several days later it is still “unclear” if Obama will declare it a democratic “indoor” bug or find a way to blame Republicans for letting an “outdoor” bug in.
Obama’s campaign plane also stinks probably attracting all the flies
