Visitors to the south side of the White House are now confined to the edge of the Ellipse, behind five barriers and two roads. Note the tourist sign on the right just inside what used to be the sole fence. Citizens used to be able to actually read it.
I can remember the first time I came to Washington some 35 years ago and walked around the White House, protected from the outside world by a freshly-black-painted, wrought-iron fence. I recall doing that not so long ago. I did it again Tuesday afternoon, at least on the Pennsylvania Avenue side. But down by the South Lawn I was amazed to see five — five! — barriers and two roadways separating the President from those he presides over. Of course it’s important to protect the President and his family. But I can’t figure out why, if the single fence is adequate on the White House’s north side, five are needed on the south side. The pair of roads — which used to be open to public traffic — is now open only to Secret Service police cars, horse-mounted policemen, bike-riding cops, and federal riding lawnmowers. So it can’t be a fear of car bombs.
Fences are, as Robert Frost knew, symbols. “We used to be able to get closer,” I heard a little boy say to his parents. That is the memory he took away from his mid-day visit to the Executive Mansion. Perhaps even more distressing is the ugly way the ugly fences have been constructed. A set of Jersey barriers is topped with fencing that has sent rust stains trickling down the barriers’ sides. Robert Moses would be proud: his Cross-Bronx Expressway has come to the White House grounds. I have watched this city, and this country, add layer upon layer of security to itself since 9/11. The cops milling around the White House complex give it an insecure air, instead of the stately presence I fondly recall. If this continues, the nation risks becoming all carapace and no soul.