Oval Office Re-Do
 

President Obama finally had the Oval Office redone. (Every president gets to redecorate the OO. Most did so much earlier in their terms.)

It's ok, if a bit Pottery Barnish. Too bad they kept those god-afull gold brocade curtains the Bushes put in.

It's better than my office. But not by much.

Now if I can just convince the building owners to let me put a zipline from here to the parking lot...

Meh.

Beige is not a power color. How is beige going to intimidate foreign heads of state?

What is this opposition to color? I got a very large Restoration Hardware catalog in the mail the other day and the entire thing is beige and brown. BORING!

Jinx, Moonie.

This article has the quotes on Obama's new rug.

Agreed that the place could be more stylish, but as usual, if he went big he would get crap for it, no matter that the money came from his own fund.

Do you have this in Taupe?

At least brown is a color. The Bush OO was mostly off-white.



The Clinton OO was the most colorfull IMO.



The right-wing blogospere is already working itself up to a lather.

A foam party in the Oval Office would KICK ASS!!

The de riguer presidential symbol in the carpet looks stupid in dull tones, and appropriately regal and powerful against a field of navy blue. The Clintons were the last ones with a clue. I'm voting for Hillary next time.

The couches always seem so out of place and tame to me, even in crazy red and white stripes. They should look more like this.



Though I admit that would be less comfy.

Looks fine to me.

Oval Office Fun Fact:

The cane backed side chairs are the only pieces of furniture that have been in continuous use in the OO during every administration since Herbert Hoover. They were made for the room in 1930 and have been there ever since.

Screw that noise, somebody walks in to MY oval office, I want them to cower in fear. Maybe put a red white and blue iron maiden in one corner, and DON'T TREAD ON ME in blood across a black bear skin rug. Nothing too dramatic.

If you can't induce the cower simply by being president and sitting behind the president's desk then you don't deserve the office.

And conversely if you cower because of the couch color but not the fact that you're talking to one of four or so people in the world who can single handedly destroy the world then priorities may be out of whack.

Well, you learn something new every day. I always thought the Resolute Desk was a mainstay of the OO. While it's been at the White house since the 1880's it was only during the Kennedy administration that it was moved into the OO.

Good thing too. If they take it out of there the entire premise of the second National Treasure is going to be ruined.

As if it could be made any worse than it was...

It has been in and out several times since Kennedy.

Kennedy: In
Johnson: Out
Nixon: Out
Ford: Out
Carter: In
Reagan: In
Bush I: Out
Clinton: In
Bush II: In
Obama: In

Here is a very goog page on OO history:

All this talk of in and out and red and white striped cooches in the Oval Office. It's like the Clinton White House all over again.

And if you get it all over again, please, use a towel.

OK, Parmesan Jim beat me to it, but... And the cigar was in and out several times during the Clinton administration.

I quizzically read that three times before I figured out you weren't saying the Roulette Desk.

The Resolute Desk is one of the few things I remember from the awesome book I read about the history of the White House, mostly because of this picture.



I wish I could remember more details. My memory sucks.

I LOVE that picture, but then, I had a thing for John John. My very first memory is is him at his Dad's funeral.

My first memory of him is him failing to pass the bar a couple times. Then him publishing a decent politics magazine. Then him getting acquainted with the Atlantic Ocean.

Obama should have made a real bold move and turn it into the trapezoid office. It has a nice ring to it.

Me, too.