Monday, December 22, 2008

Is the Secret Service doing its job?

Many are salivating at Obama, his gams and abs, but many are wondering how in the HELL did this photographer take these pictures? Or even get close?

Well, the photographer was walking along the beach (it is public property) and he was about 200 feet from the Obamas.

The Bush "Shoe" incident sent questions and shivers about the Secret Service protection and their job. Remember, this organization is the one who should not be surprised or shocked at anything. So, why was this photographer, who is paparazzo allowed such close access?

And I am sure the Obamas while used to this, are probably pissed. This is their vacation time, after a long and arduous primary and election season. Plus, it is the secret service who is suppose to make sure this stuff does not happen. Right?

Reporters, photographers and television camera operators traveling with the Obamas have been banned by the Secret Service from approaching the oceanfront estate in nearby Kailua where the family is vacationing. But an enterprising paparazzi photographer wearing a Hawaiian shirt apparently strolled along the beach, saw the Obamas, took out his long-lens camera and started shooting.

The photographer was less than 200 feet from the Obamas, said Frank Griffin, co-owner of Bauer-Griffin, the California-based paparazzi agency that snapped the shots. But the Secret Service agents guarding the property did not ask the photographer to leave the beach.

"There was tacit approval that he was able to shoot what he could shoot. It's a public beach," Griffin said in a telephone interview Monday with The Washington Post. He declined to identify the photographer, but said he is a contractor who lives in Hawaii and whose family has a house not far from the Obama's vacation property.

"The guy just walked along there. He had a camera in his hand. He wasn't hiding behind the bushes. He took some pictures. Everybody saw him. And then he walked off," Griffin said. "It was as simple as that."

Griffin added that the Secret Service "didn't seem to mind."

"He wasn't hiding behind the trees, he wasn't on a boat and he wasn't doing anything that we are used to doing," Griffin said.

Again, a public beach, so the Obamas just have to get used to what may seem like "privacy" invasion. But for someone to be less than 200 feet from the Obamas, sorry it is scary and unacceptable.

Pics and link, here.

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