Opinion: World’s most exclusive club -- five members -- has lunch, talks a little

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In preparation for the historic turnover of political power at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama, the current president, George W. Bush, had all three living ex-presidents over for lunch today -- Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Bush’s dad, Geroge H.W. Bush, better known as Gampy to his family.

Talk about a genuine Washington A-list of guests.

They look like a swell bunch of folks, all friendly-like. They certainly were safe and secure there in the Oval Office where all kinds of historic and weird things have occurred over the years.

The menu for the others was not disclosed, but guaranteed the current president had one of his luncheon favorites: grilled cheese, hot dogs or PB&J.

If you watch the brief Associated Press video report below, these five gentlemen didn’t have much of anything to say to one another. (It’s the first time all living presidents were assembled since Ronald Reagan did it in 1982.)

If you check the White House website, however, two of these five exchanged 157 bipartisan words in two minutes. Here they are:

PRESIDENT BUSH: ‘I want to thank the President-elect for joining the ex-Presidents for lunch. And one message that I have and I think we all share is that we want you to succeed.

‘Whether we’re Democrat or Republican, we care deeply about this country. And to the extent we can, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you.

‘All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual. And we wish you all the very best. And so does the country.’

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: ‘Thank you. I just want to thank the President for hosting us. This is an extraordinary gathering.

‘All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office. And for me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary. And I’m very grateful to all of them. But, again, thank you, Mr. President, for hosting us.’

A psychiatrist friend once told us he always had new patients bring in a photo of their family, that he could tell a lot about relationships from that one moment captured in a picture. He said with virtually all such group photos there was one member visibly on the outside.

Watch the video here. Then take another look at the ‘family photo’ above and a second version of the same group from a different angle on the jump below. (Click the ‘Read more’ line to view it.) See if you see any of the five sort of on the outside.

(UPDATE: In an interview Wednesday night with John Harwood of ‘CNBC Reports,’ Obama praised Pres. Bush for the luncheon and said he found the entire time most helpful. An excerpt:

‘Well, first of all, Pres. Bush has been incredibly gracious. The transition, I think, has been as smooth as any we’ve seen in history partly because President Bush and Josh Bolten and his team have worked very closely with ours.

‘And all of the former presidents as well as current President Bush, I think have a unique understanding of what the pressures and possibilities of that office. And so they gave me good counsel, not just on specific issues, but more importantly, some of the typical problems that you may end up confronting in the office.

‘How do you make sure that you get good information? How do you make sure that people aren’t just telling you what you want to hear? How do you make sure that people are thinking as a team instead of promoting their own individual agendas. And so I found it very helpful. All of them have insights that I hope to apply when I’m president.’)

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Top photo: Eric Draper