By George

Happy Independence Day. "Washington Crossing the Delaware," Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1851. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Obama Is The New Washington

My former Nixon Center colleague Steve Clemons on 1:

I know it sounds really corny, but this Thanksgiving, I'm grateful that George Washington was our first President -- and that Barack Obama who like GW can be austere and seemingly distant from common folks but yet is smart and chameleon-like in his ability to forge compromises can still get a great deal right in his presidency.

Restoring Domestic Tranquility

Since July's earthquake, the Nixon Library's White House East Room has looked a little bare. Martha Washington's portrait had come tumbling down, which meant we had to get them both reframed. Long story! Isn't it always? That's Max, Martin, and Adolpho doing the honors, rehanging GW. We're just glad the father of our country made it home for the holidays. And don't worry: The portraits are facsimiles of the ones in the other East Room.