119 Rooms But Not One Key for the Obamas

[dynasaw]

Letting go is hard to do!

"But Blair House is huge. It's not one house but four houses put together. The federal government bought the house from the Blair estate in 1942 and connected the adjoining Lee house in 1943. The two closest houses to those were bought in 1969-70 and connected as well. So Blair House now has 119 rooms and is 70,000 square feet. It's larger than the White House. And yet there was no room at the inn for the Obama family. . .The unavailability of Blair House means that the Obamas will have to move three times in three weeks, adding an additional disruption for two young girls already in an incredibly pressured situation. Not only that, but the expense of staying at the Hay-Adams Hotel was considerable, as was the added expense and trouble of having to secure the hotel and its environs by the Secret Service. All of this so that Howard and his wife could have 119 rooms to themselves (including living rooms, sitting rooms, dining rooms and kitchens) for one night?"

"Why couldn't the Howards have stayed at their country's embassy, as Tony Blair did at his? Why couldn't the reception have been held at the State Department? The White House could easily have made these things happen."

"In the end, though, the Bushes are about to relinquish the most powerful position in the country, maybe the world. And over the years, as that transition approaches -- no matter which party is in power -- there is always a last grasp, a moment when the outgoing first family tightens up on the reins of power as if to say: Not so fast. Until Jan. 20, we still call the shots.

Different people have different ways of expressing that reluctance to let go. For the Bushes it has been Blair House."

The incredible ugliness of the Bushes just doesn't end.

[cali]

1. Yawn. Let if go.

The Obamas are now esconced in Blair House and this was only posted about 100 times.

[Helen Rainier]

8. Cali

There is a much larger principle involved with this than you seem to comprehend. If it needs to be explained then it is probably beyond your understanding.

[bahrbearian]

11. As you know Cali has rose colored glasses of understanding.

[bahrbearian]

10. Ya lets move on , becuse it works so well. "It"

[WI_DEM]

2. My guess is that the Obama's will show more grace in 2013 than Bush did.

[rateyes]

3. My guess is that they won't need to show that grace to the next

president-elect until 2017.

[Webster Green]

4. Bush is a dick, and Howard is a dick.

Case solved. :thumbsdown:

[tblue37]

13. Dick is also a dick, of course. nt

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Actually, I think this last act of childish pettiness is a good thing

It demonstrates very clearly just how childish and petty the Bush administration really is; we could not have come up with a better illustration if we tried.

[dysfunctional press]

6. "the Obamas will have to move three times in three weeks"

:eyes:
melo-dramatic much?

yes- i'm sure that they pack and unpack all of their belongings three separate times...:eyes:

get over it already- yes it was a petty thing to do on the part of bush/howard- but that's what they are.
and except for where the limo drops them off and picks them up, and the colors of the furniture are the biggest differences/disruptions they'll experience from the hay-adams to blair house to the white house.

[bobd0]

7. It's the Washington DC president-elect residence equivalent of "back of the bus"

As usual, Bush's actions speak louder than his words.

[Zywiec]

9. On what day did Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41, Reagan, etc

Check into Blair House in the past before their inauguration???

I believe it was January 15th as has been the tradition.

When did Obama check in....

January 15th!

:crazy:

[truedelphi]

12. If it is any consolation to the Obamas, the Bushies have given up on the Pres. comments line

I called it today to sing my "Happy SOng" about how Happy and nice it is that Bush is bye bye and a recording told me that I had to write a letter instead.

This makes me feel that many many people must have been calling the * comments line with their happy songs, since oh, about Nov 5th at 2Am or so.

Remember remember the fifth of November!

[mopinko]

14. thank gawd for term limits.

can you imagine a third bush term?
:hide:

[TahitiNut]

15. The obscene arrogance of the Bush klan is almost unbounded.

In 1989, the Vice Presidential mansion in Bethesda wasn't nearly enough for Poppy Bush's 'convenience' ...

Twenty years ago, on Jan. 19, 1989, 22 members of the Bush family were staying there to witness the swearing-in of George H.W. Bush. The place was chockablock with toys, playpens, computer games, trucks and 10 grandkids. "They're having a ball," reported a member of the transition team who stopped by. A Washington Post story at the time quoted the president-elect's son George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, as saying, "Blair House was fairly formal. Until we moved in."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/01/14/ST2009011401722.html

When a Blair House decorator sent Barbara Bush a note about minding the fine china during George H.W. Bush's pre-presidential stay in 1989, the First Lady-elect sent her own note back: "We're playing football with the china. Don't worry about it, everything will be mended with Elmer's glue."
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1871809,00.html

Those people are detestable.
:puke: