Oval Office Makeover
Replacing President Bush's "Sunbeam" Carpet designed by Laura Bush (at the cost of $62,000) is a new oval office carpet made for Obama. This time, apparently not on Taxpayer coin...Which is probably why the Obama Administration, who back in January 2009 stated they would not be replacing the sunburst Carpet, accepted the donation of this piece.
The new Obama Oval Office rug is in fact oval, and features a wheat/sand field with minor blue borders and main ivory border. Centered in the field of course is the Presidential Seal, and the outer edge inscribed with "historical quotes of meaning to President Obama.":
- "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.
- "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
Contrary to past tradition of renewing the Oval office with a taxpayer budget around $100,000, it is reported by CNN the carpet was a donation made by Scott Group Custom carpets, and many of the new items were US sourced this way, not on taxpayer's dollars.
