All the President's Dogs
Stubborn Reality and the Stubborn Spells that Keep it Away
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Do you remember the financial crisis? Mortgage Backed Securities … Collateralized Debt Obligations … Credit Default Swaps … good times, good times. Actually - more fun - do you remember before the financial crisis? Young ones, believe me when I tell you that those were the days. They were the days when people were handing out mortgages based on … well, nothing. Because you could get a mortgage, and into a house, for nothing or basically nothing, demand skyrocketed - houses were bought and built like there was no tomorrow. (Narrator: There is always tomorrow.) Of course, prices rose. You would think that this would slow the buying, but since you didn’t need money to buy houses, people still bought them. What about the rising payments? No worries! If you had trouble with the payment, you could just sell it for more money than you paid for it to someone else who didn’t have to have any money to buy a house (see above). Or - even better - you could borrow money using the “equity” of the rising value of your house to make the payments for the same house! Or - what the heck - you could just buy another house!
Good times. Good times.
Now, along the way, some (but not very many) party pooping spoilsports thought this may not last. They insisted on something called “reality” which, according to them, we are all “subject to.” “What goes up, must come down,” “this is a bubble that can’t last forever,” blah, blah, blah.
I guess they were right. Unfortunately, this thing they talked about called “reality” … won. (Narrator: Reality always wins.) It turns out, the moment that the upward spiral of home prices slowed a little - enough so that people could no longer borrow money against their rapidly increasing equity, everything came tumbling down. There is more to it, of course - lots of blame to go around - brokers, bankers, Wall Street, the government … etc. But at the bottom of the smoldering pile that was the 2008 financial crisis lay millions of bad and unpayable mortgages.
Don’t worry, I’m not writing about the financial crisis (Too late! You reply). I am writing about something far more consequential: the President’s dog. When the Bidens entered office, they had a German Shepherd named Major. Actually, they had another called Champ, but we are not focused on Champ for the moment (sorry, Champ). According to Wikipedia, the definitive source on Presidential dogs -
On March 8, 2021, Major and Champ (Biden's other German Shepherd) were temporarily moved to live with a family friend in Delaware after a minor incident in which Major nipped a security guard. Major has been known for displaying agitated behavior on multiple occasions, in the past including "jumping, barking, and charging" at staff and security. Joe Biden noted in an interview that the bite did not penetrate the skin. They returned to the White House on March 24 after Major received some training, including training on how to live with a future cat that the Bidens adopted in the White House. On March 30, Major was involved in a second biting incident at the White House, having bitten a National Park Service employee during a walk.
But I’m not writing about Major. Or Champ. I am writing about Commander.
In December 2021, on the day the Bidens announced a new puppy, Commander, was to move into the White House, it was also announced that Major would no longer be a resident there after experts recommended that it would be safer for him to live in a quieter environment with family friends
So, in the chaotic White House environment which is probably very difficult for any dog but especially for one bred to be a guard dog, the presidential dog had to be rehoused because of a couple of bites. What does one do in that situation? Obviously, one gets another German Shepherd and names him Commander. Honestly, what could go wrong?
Commander, now 2 years old, has recently been moved to an “undisclosed location” after a number of incidents, culminating with his bite of the White House groundskeeper. Actually, it culminated with the publishing of the photo of said dog bite, forcing the issue to some resolution.
Records … indicated that there had been at least 10 instances of aggressive behavior before an 11th reported incident last week. However, two people who have been briefed on the matter but asked not to be identified because of its sensitivity said on Friday that the real total is more like two or three dozen.
One previously reported biting incident, in which a Secret Service officer required hospital treatment, was so bad that it spilled blood on the floor, according to one of the people.
Let’s review. German Shepherd number 2 (Major) was ‘rehoused’ after a couple of biting incidents. Let’s forget about Champ, German Shepherd number 1 who is “rehoused with Major” even though his record is clean (as far as we know). German Shepherd number 3 (Commander) was “relocated” after “two or three dozen” incidents. Or, rather, after pictures emerged of the latest incident. Not after the first bite, or the second - not after blood on the floor, not after the 20th or the 21st … Along the way, some party pooping spoilsport Secret Service agents recognized the reality of the situation.
“If it wasn’t their dog he would already have been put down — freaking clown needs a muzzle,” one Secret Service agent’s email obtained by Judicial Watch said.
I get it. I love my dog. I would hate to have to give her away or “rehouse” her. But if she bit someone and especially if I had the sense that she might bite someone again, we would have to make that difficult decision. Because that is unsustainable and unsafe and unfair to others. That is the reality. Darn it, reality!
Full confession: I am not really even writing about the President’s dog (even though I could stop right here and it would be a great essay! … but there’s more!) Join me for one more turn in the path.
In C.S. Lewis’ The Silver Chair, the good Prince Rillian of Narnia is captured and put under a spell by someone known as The Lady of the Green Kirtle while above ground and the Queen of Underland in her underground Queendom. Prince Rillian is made prince of this underground place - but rules in appearance only, held in the sway of the Queen of Underland. Each day, for one hour, the Queen binds the Prince in her darkly magical silver chair. The Queen tells the Prince that he goes mad during this hour and must be bound to protect himself and others. The truth is that he is himself and no longer under her spell during this hour and the Queen needs to renew the spell every day. During this hour, he sees things as they are and begs and struggles to be released. The Narnian children come to break the spell by interrupting the witch’s spell renewal. The spell keeps reality away, and the Prince only sees reality by breaking the spell.
It seems our whole culture is under a spell, or under any number of such spells. Each is different in their own way, some appearing opposite from some others. But each performs the same basic function - keeping us from seeing what is right there, keeping reality at bay, causing us to prioritize the trivial and trivialize the priorities. I’ll let you fill in the blanks for whatever spells you happen to see. But the spells you see probably afflict others, it is the spells we don’t see we should be concerned with.
The Prince couldn’t break the spell by himself. He needed others to see his reality as it is and step in to help him see it and change it. One of our problems at the moment is we lack the humility and curiosity to listen to those who can help us break our spells and step back toward reality. We also lack the compassion and love for our brothers and sisters to be concerned with the spells that they are under. We don’t see it as our common duty to help them break their spell - and I don’t mean win an argument, I mean something closer to struggling with the Witch for long enough to interrupt the spell casting. In the end, the children had to kill the witch as she reverted to serpentine form and tried to kill the prince when her spell casting was thwarted.
So we stay underground. We can stay underground even when reality falls on our head from a great height. If we have someone else to blame, say, for the financial crisis, then we don’t have to look in the mirror or see a more complicated reality. Or perhaps we are afraid to speak up, like a White House staffer terrified to go into the next room. Remember, it was only the publishing of that picture that changed things in that case. And so we conspire to remain underground - all the while calling it warm and sunny for us and dark and damp for others.
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate.
John 18:33-38
Truth is what accurately describes or depicts reality - what corresponds to it. Under the spell of our various self-delusions, we avoid reality and make our substitute truth - at least for a time. On an individual basis, we all have been there. We all have had to reluctantly recognize the reality of a situation we are in that, once recognized, seems obvious. It probably was obvious to some all along. We have all seen others reluctantly realize the reality of their own situation. It is the way of things. That is, it is the way of things at their best. In the worst case, there is no recognition - we remain under our own spells, maybe for a lifetime. And it is my own spells that are the hardest to see.
What helps keep the spells of unreality away? Well, we don’t have time at this point in this particular essay to do more than name a few of them: Community. An identity outside of oneself that is not simply for oneself. Brutal honesty about ourselves and a compassionate honesty about others. Obligation. Love and care for others - because that can only really happen in reality. Humility and curiosity about myself and others. A purpose that is beyond my self-interest, something that costs me something - because a commitment that costs me something as I act in the interest of others isn’t a bad working definition of love. I think all of this is only possible through the God who is Love and who is the Truth. On our own, we will tend to stay under the sway of our personal and cultural spells. The pursuit of truth can be thought of as a spiritual discipline - and as the fruit of other spiritual disciplines.
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
Denis Diderot, French Philosopher (1713-1784)
Those are some of the practices I can employ to keep the spells of unreality away from me. What is my obligation to you? What is your obligation to me? I’m not sure. I think we will need to figure out how to graciously and patiently and compassionately help each other discover and live in the real. We aren’t doing anyone any favors by validating the spell they are under. How does that work? Again, I’m not sure. But I think that it is one of the things that the church is for. As we follow Him, we live in the truth, and it is the truth that sets us free.
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
Links
For Biden’s Dog, A Belated Exile: “How many bites does it take?” - Peter Baker, The New York Times
Secret Service: Biden dog would be ‘put down’ if not president’s pet - Paul Bedard, The Washington Examiner
Yes.