Posted on 09/04/2010 8:01:18 AM PDT by BreezyDog
A mistake has been made in the Oval Office makeover that goes beyond the beige.
President Obama's new presidential rug seemed beyond reproach, with quotations from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. woven along its curved edge.
Except it's not a King quote. The words belong to a long-gone Bostonian champion of social progress. His roots in the republic ran so deep that his grandfather commanded the Minutemen at the Battle of Lexington.
For the record, Theodore Parker is your man, President Obama. Unless you're fascinated by antebellum American reformers, you may not know of the lyrically gifted Parker, an abolitionist, Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist thinker who foresaw the end of slavery, though he did not live to see emancipation. He died at age 49 in 1860, on the eve of the Civil War.
A century later, during the civil rights movement, King, an admirer of Parker, quoted the Bostonian's lofty prophecy during marches and speeches. Often he'd ask in a refrain, "How long? Not long." He would finish in a flourish: "Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
King made no secret of the author of this idea. As a Baptist preacher on the front lines of racial justice, he regarded Parker, a religious leader, as a kindred spirit.
Yet somehow a mistake was made and magnified in our culture to the point that a New England antebellum abolitionist's words have been enshrined in the Oval Office while attributed to a major 20th-century figure. That is a shame, because the slain civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was so eloquent in his own right.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Such occurred a couple of years ago when reading an account of a campaign appearance by then-candidate Obama.
Does anyone remember this report from early November 2008? "At a Virginia rally -— 'If you’ll stand with me, then I know that we can win Virginia and we can win this election and we can finally bring the change we need to Washington,' Obama told the estimated crowd of 35,000. 'I feel like we got a righteous wind at our backs here.'”
Upon checking, one finds this quote from Chairman Mao:
“The ill wind of opportunism is falling, the righteous wind of socialism is on the rise.”
Was this a mere contribution by Anita Dunn from her favorite "go to philosopher" or was it just familiar reading which crept into the candidate's remarks in Virginia?
In the case of the Oval Office rug, apparently original sources weren't consulted, and that's a shame in the interest of scholarship and credibility.
Was this rug designed by noted plagiarist Joe Biden?
Is it a prayer rug?
Job 38:4-7 (New King James Version)
4 “ Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Why would ML King’s quotes be alongside those of real presidents in the Oval Office? Should we throw in a token Hispanic and woman as well? WTF?
In the ‘constitutional professor’s’ office.
Incompetent .. through and through.
Dumb and dumber are running the place...
~~~~~~
And how 'bout those Arabian palace or African ministry looking tall standards with ridiculous crystal teardrops?
With the cheesy drapes, it's the perfect ambiance for a 3rd world potentate.
thanks STARWISE!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2583211/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2583251/posts
I have a hard time deciding if the OB is incompetent or devious. Perhaps a combination of both.
When I was growing up we looked at folks like that as LOW LIFES........When W and Laura left...the class went with them....the ghetto queen entered...you know what they say...you can take the gal out of the ghetto but not the ghetto out of the gal.....once a hood always a hood...shameful...
what a goof! lol lol lol
I would be 100 times happier having the Beverly Hillbillies living next to me that these stupid Harvard types. I liked those yokels
Despite his humble roots, Jet Clampett was a gentleman.
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