the ghosts (and styles) of inaugurations past
By American Girl in Italy on January 23, 2009 at 9:40 AM in Current Affairs, Inauguration Day
It seems there were more than just hints of Lincoln’s ghost at the inauguration.
Obama kicked off the event with a train ride, taking the same route that Lincoln travelled to his inauguration. (I couldn’t find a picture or drawing of Lincoln, but here is Mr. Ford re-enacting Abraham Lincoln’s Christening of Lincoln, Illinois, with Watermelon Juice at the Train Depot on “The Honest Abe” Special)
And, of course, the Lincoln Bible was there.
> 
The menu was the same as served at Lincoln’s Inaugural lunch.
The wine: Goldeneye, 2005 Pinot Noir from the Anderson Valley in California.
The wine: Korbel Natural ‘Special Inaugural Cuvée,’ from California.
The Kennedy family is oft mentioned in the media, comparing the Obama’s to Camelot. It will be cute to have two small kids in the White House again.
The streets were lined with excited cheering crowds, like most Inaugurations. Things sure have changed over the years, though. No more convertibles and a lot more security. And this year we didn’t have angry mobs, and speeding limos.
Obama’s speeches are often compared to JFK, FDR, and MLK. But this comparison is something new, coming from liberals, anyway.
Sasha and Malia shared style tricks with Barbara Bush, belting their double breasted jackets. Jenna’s cardigan seems to be an inspiration to the one Michelle wore underneath her jacket. (Sasha and Malia win for best outfits of the day.)
Jill Biden, with her red coat and blonde hair, looks a bit like Tipper from the Clinton inauguration. (I love Jill’s outfit!)
And perhaps Michelle is giving a little shout out to Hillary, here, with the big oversized coat? (I like the blue accessories, with the black coat.)
The President and First Lady emulate the Reagan’s and Kennedy’s in their Inaugural Ball dress.
And of course I can’t go without a picture of Hillary and Bill from the big day. (Much better coat choice here, Hillary! Love it!) Wow, look at the changes in Bill’s hair! And this is a cute picture of Nancy, in a matching jacket.
The day following the inauguration, and the 10 inaugural balls, everyone set off to church. Hillary looks great here, very peppy early this morning. Maybe she didn’t go to as many balls as the Obama’s? Seeing the Clinton’s in the front row, I can almost image that she is the President. *sigh*
Well, the parties over. Now, who didn’t pick up their trash? What is up with that? And who forgot the lady??! What happened to all those environmentally friendly Democrats? I don’t see any trash on the ground at Lincoln’s inaugural.
And Thursday, we truly had an inaugural first. Obama retook his Presidential oath (sans bible).
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Good photos — looks like Michelle was in the mood to channel Jackie and Nancy in her copycat gown. All three women look good in that style though so I guess we’ll have to forgive her this one time.
I do think that Obama should take the oath again though because he didn’t use a Bible the second time around. Of course, if the third oath goes awry, you know what they say about Three Strikes and You’re Out!
I didn’t notice he didn’t use a bible, hmm.
Or .. third times the charm Lol
As far as ” I am in sooo need of attention I will say anything ol thing that pops in my mind JOE Biden”
yeah, he’s got alot of room to “talk” ( And don’t get me started on his “Dr” wife who dissed the hell out of Hillary on National TV ( my take on it anyway)
Thanks for doing this American Girl. It was fun. I agree that it is great to have small children back in the White House. Both children seem so very well mannered and well adjusted. It will be fun to watch them grow up ( at least for the next four years)!!
Looks like Obama’s going to have to come up with some undisclosed location for BOTH Joe and Jill.
Thanks AGII..
This is a good read..and intweresting…lways nice changes of pace and Interest here at NQ..
I often wonder whose idea in was in the Obama team to do the whole camparison to Abraham Lincoln ..the train Ride and all of it as a PR Stunt ..
sadly there are Tragic comparisons that could be made too..considering all that happened during Lincolns presidency..CIVIL WAR.a great Chaos..
.and No America..we are not healed from that Threat or possibility AGAIN..becase HATRED..DISCRIMINATION..RACISM..SEXISM and other similar Attitudes are an INCURABLE Disease..
Also..I really Hope that Obams People have not set him up for a fall similar to President Lincolns…which would certainly start a RACE RIOT and Civil war..that I think would destory the Unted States in todays world..We have too many other enemys at the gate..who would Pounce..
They say History repeats itself..and i or one fear for the safety of Our New president..and that of our nation..With more Chaos..we CANNOT Long endure..
I agree that picking Lincoln, ML King and/or Kennedy as alter-egos might not be such a good idea. Millard Fillmore might have been a safer choice.
Thanks for the photos, AGI. Liked seeing the comparisons. I’m one of the few on the board who thought Michelle looked perfectly fine on inauguration day. But I had no idea her outfit so closely resembled Laura Bush’s. Still doesn’t look warm enough. I would have been shivering my face off.
Good piece.
Well, Obama interrupted Roberts – throwing him off track – and thereby Obama is the cause of the flub.
And the sans Bible – it indicates Obama’s real feelings toward his religion.
Well, Obama interrupted Roberts – throwing him off track – and thereby Obama is the cause of the flub – yea, that’s what I think happened, too.
Good photos — looks like Michelle was in the mood to channel Jackie and Nancy in her copycat gown. All three women look good in that style though so I guess we’ll have to forgive her this one time.
sorry, but MO’s dress was a really bad choice. There is a reason why jackie looks so elegant; note how the line of the top of the dress is parallel to the slope of her left shoulder? THAT is intentional.
Michele’s body is too boxy (basically, she’s too fit) to pull off that style. (and lets no go into the fact that her dress looked covered in dryer lint.)
As for her dayware choice — it looked like drapery fabric my mom used to have. And there is a difference between wearing all white matching unadorned dress and coat (laura looked great in it) and wearing that elaborately detailed yellowish green matching coat and dress. Its the difference between simple elegance and bad taste.
(I do agree that sasha and malia looked great, however.)
I agree that she should have gotten rid of the lint. Thought that part also made it look sort of like a prom dress and certainly less elegant than the other two examples.
I also agree that the daytime choice was absolutely atrocious. MO looked dowdy and uncomfortable in that unwearable mustard colored ensemble while Laura looked very sharp in white. Some commentator also opined that Michelle’s black print frock worn to the Cathedral the next day echoed Maimie Eisenhower.
Just goes to show that it’s much better to find your own style rather than try to copy others. I thought that when MO dressed in a more classic way she looked better. Somewhere along the line though she decided to occasionally slip into I Love Lucy/Leave it to Beaver mode, which in my opinion rarely works for her.
I didn’t like her day or evening wear. Laura BUsh looked great, but i didn’t like that yellow number, nor do i think it was flattering. And the white dress was just TOO much for her tall frame – too much fabric. And unflattering. And lintballish! haha
I saw the designer of the yellow number, and he said he was told it had to be warm – so i think it was a pretty heavy fabric. it was jut too busy – the scarf, the sweater, the jacket, the big necklacy looking thing… I didn’t get it. I did like the green gloves.
Hillbuzz had a great post using Vanessa Williams from Ugly Betty, showing things Michelle COULD have worn, that were fab!
I’ll tell you a dress that Michelle looked stunning in [at least IMHO]. The day before she was photgraphed with the Bushes outside the WH. She wore a long, red sheath. It fit her like a glove, and I thought she looked fabulous–good color, very flattering style.
Fashion is as fashion does. I’m sure she will have a thousand hot/not opinions on everything and anything she wears. I remember when the columnists went after Hillary. It’s got to be wearisome. Barack must feel slighted because no one pays attention to what a man wears.
ck out what others are saying about the dress.
You can even vote on whether you think it was a hit or miss.
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2009/01/michelle_is_golden_in_isabel_t.php?page=2
Funny, my 12 y/o daughter thought Michelle’s day dress looked like drapery, too. Strange, she does well dressing her daughters but when it comes to her it’s almost as if she’s trying too hard.
Michelle can dress but she missed on both dresses. Her outfit for the train was much more beautiful.
If you ck the picture at the site Kin gave you will also see that the coat is very poorly tailored; the seams show.
Even cheap coats are tailored better
Well, it IS always easier to dress others than it is yourself.
Far too many people cannot see themselves as they really are, so they’ll try on something that looks good to them and then, far more often than not, when they look in the mirror, they see that idealized self. Certain people match certain colors and positively need to stay away from other colors. All’s fine and dandy with that notion until one of the colors they match is one they don’t like and one of the colors they need to stay away from is a color they love. (Think about it. Orange and bright yellow will not work on a very pale-skinned person. It doesn’t matter if the person loves either color. But put the same colors on a tanned skin and they work, even if the person hates the colors.)
As to Michelle’s ball gown, it didn’t work, not because of Michelle’s own shape, but because it had a single over-the-shoulder strap which seemed to not match the gown’s cut. Every image I’ve seen of that gown appears to have a straight top line and the strap was tacked on at the last minute (either that or a second shoulder strap was cut off at the last minute). Compare Nancy’s and Jackie’s gowns, where the shoulder strap creates a full diagonal line from the shoulder to the opposite arm. Michelle’s doesn’t seem to have that line.
A lot has been made of the designer’s connections to designing for drag queens and transgendered women, but, in all honesty, I can’t see any drag queen worth her salt wanting Michelle’s gown–well, there are a few drag queens who might, but they’re the ones who tend to do a more comedic drag.
That outfit would not have made it past the first cut on Project Runway.
Can you imagine Tim Gunn’s face the first time he clapped eyes on that mess?
Anyone check to see if the chenille bedspread is missing from the Lincoln bedroom?
Looks like it was used to make Michelle’s ballgown.
The white dress looked like something a little girl would wear for a piano recital…not sophicated in the least for an elegant occasion.
I usually would not comment on personal traits or style.
In this instance however, I will say that Mrs. Obama will not be mistaken for a “conservative”!
Nor will Mrs. Obama be mistaken for a fashion icon or a gracious lady.
So much for the misty eyed approach to the Obamas. Obamas, isn’t that something you say when you sneeze?
I have always been pretty uninterested in fashion. So my favorite inauguration “scandal” was the one surrounding Rosalyn Carter, who wore the same dress for the inauguration that she had previously bought off the rack and worn to the gubernatorial inauguration for her husband. Sounds like what many people, in this very bad economy, should have been looking for in this inauguration, as far as I am concerned. They could have given shout outs to the poor salesgirls, like the one Larry talked about in an earlier post, who are all worried the economy may soon put them out of work.
We all know how the party crowd danced and drank and had a great time admiring their own style while the rest of Germany floundered in debt between the wars.
I am sorry for the doom and gloom. Fashion is just not a topic that interests me at this time. Leave it to Hollywood.
With our economy I was hoping for a few cost cuts.
It looks like when it comes to the Obama’s personal things they are going to spend spend spend like there is no tomorrow.
Diane, you are so correct.
Mrs. Carter was criticized for breathing!
The lofty D.C. crowd stayed on the Carters throughout his administration.
Perhaps his Presidency did not go well, but they were decent people!
I’m really surprised no-one here at NQ has picked up on the story about the very angry Obama supporters who got shoved into a tunnel and missed the inauguration. Dianne Feinstein calls for hearings:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/us/politics/22purple.html?ref=us
It’s being called a Katrina:
http://greentechgirl.com/environmental-news/inaugural-katrina-the-mess-and-the-aftermath/
I read about it, but frankly wasn’t that upset about it. hahaha They can fight that one for themselves.
Thanks Sara, very nice photo essay…
I know she is 45, but it looks like a bump… and Obama is superMAN after all. Will the Obamas be the first to have a child born in the WH? Maybe you can look for some pictures of ghosts past for that addendum to your post, ha, ha.
Not likely. During the primaries Michelle made some comment that seemed to indicate that she had BO “fixed”. He is likely to be more of a gelding than a stallion.
Sorry, first child born to a President while in the White House was Esther Cleveland, born in 1893.