Heavy duty: Reggie Love, President Obama's bodyman, lugs bags to a car
and, right, on the campaign trail
Posted on 01/25/2009 10:37:02 PM PST by yankeedame
...a tiny cubicle just outside...the Oval Office sat Reggie Love, a 6ft 5in, 18-stone, shaven-headed, muscle-packed...
...the man is fast, athletic and tough... he is not one of the new President’s official bodyguards.
Heavy duty: Reggie Love, President Obama's bodyman, lugs bags to a car
and, right, on the campaign trail
...Reggie, a charismatic and immaculately dressed 26-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, spends more time with Mr Obama than anyone else - even the First Lady...he is the President’s ‘bodyman’....
The personal protection role has long been assumed by the highly-trained bodyguards of the Secret Service but...
...remained a little-known political tradition until the inner workings of the White House were dramatised in the TV drama The West Wing...
Obama and Reggie with another aide in the campaign aircraft
...It is Reggie who holds Mr Obama’s BlackBerry, dials the numbers on his mobile phone, briefs the White House chef on what the President would like for lunch ...Until Reggie Love, bodymen tended to be regarded as glorified butlers...
But Mr Obama promises to be a different kind of President - with a different kind of bodyman.
Reggie, who even the notably cool Mr Obama acknowledges is super-cool, has a suitably pithy phrase for his role. He is the "White House Chief of Stuff."
Brotherly love: Reggie sticks close to Obama as they take to the streets
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Apparently he doesn’t trust whitey to protect him.
Mr.T is still the toughest. Right on.
They make a great couple.
This is a joke right?
Old White House: secure communications, President can't have personal e-mail.
BO: "I want my BlackBerry."
Old White House: professional kitchen staff prepares delicious meals.
BO: "I'm bringing my own personal chef."
Old White House: President settles in and works with members of Congress over legislation that will be signed into law.
BO: "I'll sign as many Executive Orders as I can as fast as I can."
Old White House: Secret Service protection for the President.
BO: "I have my own personal 'bodyman.'"
What this all tells me is that BO doesn't feel his occupation of the White House is legitimate and therefore he has to protect himself with all these other layers that bypass the regular and accountable processes.
i don’t think its a joke and I bet there has been some back room discussions about “the line of fire” if such an attempt was to happen by the Secret Service.
This is Obamas wine taster as he does not trust anything of the government and probably is cursing every minute of the day the hovering presence of the SS.
And this president knows about secret mikes, he must have someone to get his briefings from his handlers.
I shudder to think of Obama at Camp David.
Looks suspicious to me....He’s in charge of the blackberry....and does what the SS will not do.....like?
Wow! Just what everyone hopes for in life.
A guy with a degree from a great university to have our toilet paper out and ready before we even know we have to go.
Surrogate Franklin Marshall Davis.
“White male construction workers need not apply for any jobs.”
Seems like a real African-AMERICAN like Gov. David Paterson has transcended race and is blind and color blind. I sure wish Paterson was POTUS versus the half white Kenyan born illegal alien race huckster.
i find the blackberry think interesting. since all WH comms are restricted perhaps this is a way ole barry gets around the email and IT restrictions, kind of like, no i dont have a blackberry but i know a man who does.
also what is stunning is here is a man telling everyone the 11 scariest words in the english language (hi, im from the govt and i am here to help.)* yet he doesnt trust it himself...
i guess its a case of do as i say not as i do.
* quote courtesy of ronald reagan
I believe the reporter screwed things up - as usual. I’m pretty sure this guy is NOT a bodyguard. By “bodyman” they mean the person that carries all the “stuff” for the president, gets him things, etc. (I don’t think he is the person telling him “and your meeting with his Holiness (that should be interesting!) is at 2:30 pm).
He IS a glorified butler, and all the presidents have had one. (Now I’m going to try to find the thread with a photo of former President Bush’s).
I agree. The Executive branch has been compromised. We’re in the beginning stages of a dictatorship. Problem is who runs Obama?
Hmmm. I wonder if the press will make fun Barry if he ever chokes on a peanut.
"He always has a pack of the President’s favourite chewing gum - Dentyne Ice - and dispenses nicotine gum. (Mr Obama is a secret smoker with a penchant for Marlboro cigarettes but promised Michelle he would quit if he ran for the White House.) "
In other words, he's Barry's "Boy."
*******
Marvin Nicholson has been indispensable to Sen. John Kerry, serving as the candidate's personal aide, or “body man” as the campaign calls him, since he decided to run for president in 2002.
“My business card reads: ‘Marvin Nicholson, Chief of Stuff,’ “ he said. “I make sure he's got everything from his briefing books to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
The two met while Nicholson was working at a Massachusetts windsurfing gear shop. Over time, he became Kerry's golf caddie, then his driver and later his personal aide. Nicholson, 32, may be the only man on the campaign taller than the candidate.
He always has to be one step ahead of Kerry, ready with a pen when it's autograph time.
“My arsenal of pens,” Nicholson said, showing his fully stocked inside pocket jacket. “I like to be prepared for every possible signature scenario. Our mainstay would have to be the Sharpie.”
Bush's Body Man
Blake Gottesman has served as George W. Bush's “body man” since 2000. On the trail, he's known as the “two-minute man.” When Blake puts a speech on the podium, it's a sign that the president is about to arrive.
An interview with Gottesman was denied by the Bush campaign.
The personal aide is the keeper of the schedule. He tells the candidate when it's time to move on.
Tim McBride was a personal aide to the former President Bush.
“We developed over time a little schtick for breaking up meetings that were going too long,” said McBride. “It often involved a raised eyebrow or a cough, but the secret weapon was to walk in and say, ‘Mr. President, the Secret Service has blocked the street. The motorcade is waiting to go,’ and that would usually evoke a reaction, ‘We've got to go.’ “
Clinton's Body Man
Kris Engskov was President Clinton's “body man” for three years.
“The way I describe it to people was: no life, no dates, no sleep and no money,” he said. “They trust you; they expect you to be there for them at all times. At the end of the day, you're the only person who may not have an agenda other than to take care of them. Toward the end of our time, I feel like we were like an old married couple. We could go though an entire day and not say two words to each other and anticipate every other move.”
It is the psychological support that may be most important.
“At the end of the night, we'll be in the room, we'll maybe rent a movie, have a burger and have a beer,” said Nicholson. “The way that the schedule is now, [Kerry's] day is so jam-packed with event after event after press, that it's time for him to forget about all that stuff, and we just hang out.”
“......and immaculately dressed.....”
Is he clean like Biden wants?
If he’s such a smart dresser, then why didn’t he shine his shoes?
That’s his hanky panky guy for late night trysts in the oval office.
It also tells me he wants some of his dealings to be very private. He cannot be trusted and I can’t stress how strongly I feel about that. He can earn my trust and respect but he is off to a piss poor start.
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