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BARACK OBAMA, 44th US PRESIDENT

History's Long Arc

From the transition team:

Washington, D.C. - On January 20th, President-elect Barack Obama will take the oath of office using the same Bible upon which President Lincoln was sworn in at his first inauguration. The Bible is currently part of the collections of the Library of Congress. Though there is no constitutional requirement for the use of a Bible during the swearing-in, Presidents have traditionally used Bibles for the ceremony, choosing a volume with personal or historical significance. President-elect Obama will be the first President sworn in using the Lincoln Bible since its initial use in 1861.
'President-elect Obama is deeply honored that the Library of Congress has made the Lincoln Bible available for use during his swearing-in,' said Presidential Inaugural Committee Executive Director Emmett Beliveau. 'The President-elect is committed to holding an Inauguration that celebrates America's unity, and the use of this historic Bible will provide a powerful connection to our common past and common heritage.'

Presidents often call for meaningful historical or personal objects to be used at their inaugurations. I view Obama's request to use the Lincoln Bible as very unselfish. Instead of marking his inauguration with a personal object that he can keep or use in his Library, he is using an object which already belongs to the people of the United States. The Lincoln Bible is a part of the Library of Congress collection.

ObamaWear

Women's Wear Daily features the top designer sketches for Obama's Inauguration day and evening wear. The designers seemed to have an easier time drawing a likeness of the President-elect than they did for Michelle Obama. Some of the designers drew Barack Obama's face as a close likeness; others used headless mannequins; Tommy Hilfiger drew, well, himself.

The designers' sketches feature suits (which I don't find very interesting) and 12 ties (which are more interesting). Check it out.

Michelle Obama's Image

Women's Wear Daily commissioned top designers to create the inaugural gown for Michelle Obama. Here's the slide show.

Forget the dresses. Look at how our future First Lady was drawn. Could it be that difficult to portray a black woman? In some of the drawings she's not even dark-skinned; in several there is no head at all; ET comes to mind a few times; and in one, she looks exactly like Jackie O instead of Michelle O.

Obama/Biden Transition Website

"Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today." from President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech, Grant Park, Nov 4, 2008

Go to Obama's transition website for all the news of the transistion. Then share your vision for what America can be, where President-Elect Obama should lead this country. Where should we start together?

America Has Turned the Corner

Winston Churchill famously quipped, "America can be counted on to do the right thing after she has exhausted all the other options."