Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
After the President threw out that bust of Winston Churchill, he filled the vacuum with ... pictures of himself! Ah, if only Comrade O would hang a picture of this guy in the Oval.
That's right -- Silent Cal. The latest Forbes has a great piece by Amity Shlaes on Coolidge's many virtues, including slashing the top tax rate by half (down to 25%), keeping inflation low and unemployment below 5%, and vetoing farm subsidies. There's a new book out this month: Why Coolidge Matters. This is a President desperately in need of better PR. He suffers only by virtue of the misguided statist view that a President must be judged by the number of amount of money he managed to confiscate from the citizenry. As Shlaes writes, Coolidge was a "great refrainer." Now there's a model for Obama.
Which gets me thinking -- what other inspirational items belong in the Oval Office? The pen that Reagan used to sign the 86 tax cuts?
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
The smartest Presidents know that they're not smarter than a free market.
Jul '10
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
Mitch Daniels: the Calvin Coolidge of the present day.
Jun '10
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
The first item would be to bring back the bust of Churchill, who had more smarts and humor in his little finger than the entire Obama administration.
Other items: A copy of the constitution, a document that Obama (despite his teaching backgound) apparently has not read. A portrait of Madison, along with some pertinent quotes from his writings in the Federalist on the limitations on government inherent in the constitution.
Jun '10
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
Maybe the quill with which Madison signed the ratification papers ending the War of 1812. Or Jimmah's cardigan. Either one should remind him not to punch above his weight.
Jul '10
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
Perhaps Bill Clinton's squashed Labrador, stuffed and mounted, as a reminder that it ain't over until the chubby, pant-suited lady sings.
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
If only Obama would hang a picture of Silent Cal in the White House? Would it surprise you, Adam, to learn that Ronald Reagan did just that, giving a portrait of Coolidge one of the traditional places of honor in the Cabinet Room?
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
“It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.”
--Calvin Coolidge
May '10
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
Peter Robinson: “It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.”
--Calvin Coolidge · Aug 17 at 10:04pm
I nominate this for Ricochet quote of the week.
Aug '10
Re: Oval Office Decorating Tips for Obama
A silver plaque with these words etched into it:
In May 1939, Treasury Secretary Henry J. Morgenthau Jr., one of Franklin Roosevelt's best friends, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee: "I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started… And an enormous debt to boot".
At the time he spoke, over 20 percent of America's workforce was unemployed. By 1941 even the onset of World War II didn't end the Depression. Unemployment ended, yes, but only because of the draft. Without military servitude, there's every reason to believe that Roosevelt was a complete and total failure.