Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Rug Doesn't Lie

I know that there are at least some conservatives out there jumping on the bandwagon and agreeing with the assessment that the Martin Luther King Jr. quote attributed to him on the rug in the Oval Office is misattributed to King but after researching that particular quote, its attribution is indeed correct.

Obama's Oval floor piece contains five quotes from past presidents and Martin Luther King Jr.

From The Daily Caller, here are the five quotes:

•“The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt

•“The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Towards Justice” – Martin Luther King, Jr. (this is the controversial quote)

•“Government of the People, By the People, For the People” – President Abraham Lincoln

•“No Problem of Human Destiny is Beyond Human Beings” – President John F. Kennedy

•“The Welfare of Each of Us is Dependent Fundamentally Upon the Welfare of All of Us” – President Theodore Roosevelt

Here is the original quote by Theodore Parker.  In Parker's book "Of Justice and the Conscience" (1853) he asserted: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."

According to Wikipedia, Martin Luther King Jr. echoed the same sentiments of Parker but only more succinctly.  Martin Luther King Jr. did indeed say "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice".

I do agree that the Bush-era rug displayed an air of optimism whereas the new rug that Obama chose for the oval office is quite drab and honestly IMO displays pessimism. Bush endeared, loved, and raved about his rug since his wife Laura designed it. His rug displayed what looked like rays of sun.

Here is a picture of Bush's Oval Office rug:




Here is a pic with Bush, the Pope, and with furniture:




Here is Obama's new Oval Office rug with furniture:






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