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It's the shredder for some Obama portraits hanging in federal buildings

 
The official White House portrait of outgoing United States president Barack Obama, left. President Donald Trump's portrait from his whitehouse.gov profile, right. [whitehouse.gov]
The official White House portrait of outgoing United States president Barack Obama, left. President Donald Trump's portrait from his whitehouse.gov profile, right. [whitehouse.gov]
Published Jan. 20, 2017

TAMPA — For eight years, a portrait of a smiling Barack Obama, arms folded across his chest, hung in tens of thousands of court houses, post offices, government buildings and military installations around the nation and the world.

But by 12:01 p.m. Friday, in one of the most visible signs of a presidential transition, the pictures disappeared.

Or they were supposed to under federal polices. A check with some of the score of federal installations around the Tampa area showed widespread compliance.

So what becomes of all those images of the former president?

"As the photos are collected by our interior design department, they will be shredded," said Jason Dangel, spokesman for the Bay Pines VA Medical System in Seminole, where nine portraits of Obama hung.

It's nothing personal.

The process is spelled out in the policies of the General Services Administration, requiring that all portraits of former presidents be "respectfully disposed of," said Karen Collins, a spokeswoman for the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa.

"The message we received recommended shredding and/or recycling," Collins said.

At the 10,000 buildings administered by the GSA, it will be awhile — maybe March — before anyone hangs the official portrait of President Donald Trump.

The frames "will be left blank until we receive the replacements from the Government Printing Office, which is responsible for printing the new presidential portraits," said Shayna Rodriguez, another Haley spokeswoman.

Over at MacDill Air Force Base, Trump's portrait will begin replacing Obama's much sooner.

"All organizations are reminded to remove photos of President Obama in chain of command photo displays at noon today," said a public affairs office email to personnel at the base's host command, the 6th Air Mobility Wing.

"Public Affairs will print a limited number of photos of President Trump as his official photo is released. If your organization has an official need for a photo of President Trump please send your request."

Terry Montrose, a wing spokesman, estimated that there are about a dozen presidential portraits in buildings across the wing.

U.S. Central Command at MacDill is waiting for a high resolution, downloadable photo to be posted on the White House website, said Andy Stephens, a spokesman. Until then, a digital print of the presidential seal will do.

"Modern technology has changed how command photography is done," Stephens said. Up until the late 1990s, presidential images had to be mailed from an official photographer. "With hundreds of federal/military sites all over the world seeking new photos, most offices had to wait a while for command photos," he said.

At U.S. Special Operations Command, also headquartered at MacDill, the main Presidential portrait has already been swapped, according to spokesman Ken McGraw, and Trump's portrait has been sent to subordinate commands.

For the military, the massive swap is a global undertaking. The United States has about 800 bases plus other outposts in some 70 countries — all displaying presidential portraits.

The frames, at least, will stay.

Contact Howard Altman at haltman@tampabay.com or (813) 225-3112. Follow @haltman