From today’s Washington Post, a most fortuitous story:
… Washington’s revealing copy of the first Acts of Congress is one of the jewels in the elegant, new George Washington library that opens Friday at his historic homestead, Mount Vernon.
The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon is a $106 million project designed to be the international center for Washington scholarship, with a trove of his personal books and manuscripts at its core.
The enterprise aims to elevate Mount Vernon from a popular tourist stop among the region’s pantheon of historic sites to a place of rigorous Washington research as well….
[Washington’s] floor-to-ceiling bookcase — his “book press,” he called it — held many of the 900 or so bound volumes and hundreds of maps, newspapers and pamphlets he owned.By 1797, he seems to have run out of room. He wrote a friend that he wanted to build one more thing: a structure to house “my Military, Civil & private Papers, which are voluminous and may be interesting.”
But Washington died short of that goal in 1799.
Now, more than 200 years later,“we are building his dream,” said Ann H. Bookout, head of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which owns and operates Mount Vernon…
Which reminded me — as of this writing, with only four days left, Anthony Clark is still some fifteen hundred dollars short on his Kickstarter project:
As I said on Monday, I’d really like the chance to read “The Last Campaign”!
Suffern ACE
If only he had thought to join a speakers bureau to book him at a $100 per half hour, he could have gotten this done without having to sell the naming rights to his library to a Mr. Smith, whom he has never met.
Linda Featheringill
Good morning all. Happy Friday. I see that the world is still here.
On the international scene, things are looking pretty good. Our relations with both Iran and Syria are better than they were a couple of weeks ago. Senator Cruz looks silly, which is a good thing because we don’t want that man to gain power and influence. Obamacare looks like it will be good for individual physical health and national economic health.
And I think that govt shutdown and debt default have been overhyped. The former will be less painful than advertised and the latter won’t happen.
geg6
@Linda Featheringill:
I wish I could be an optimist like you. I am not so sanguine.
Linda Featheringill
@geg6:
It is kind of odd that I’m the optimist of the community. I’m normally a scaredy-cat and a worry-wart
Elizabelle
@Linda Featheringill:
I think you’re right.
Happy Friday, y’all.
WereBear
If you heard the President’s speech yesterday, you would feel better.
raven
@Linda Featheringill: I think it’s all bullshit.
Keith G
@geg6: I have no idea how this will play out, but this is not armed conflict or the brink of existential turmult. The extremists want to sew fear-induced weakness. They want to corner Obama into a compromise favorable to their goals.
Fuck em. I choose to Linda’s optimism. And if a lesser outcome occurs, ….well…”Keep calm, carry on.”
And anyway, the worst outcomes will hurt the GOP more.
OzarkHillbilly
@Linda Featheringill: Ahhh to have such rose colored glasses so finely fitted to my face…. ;-)
I actually agree that things do seem better now than they did on Monday. Especially the fact that so many now see Cruz for the buffoon he is. But like geg6, I will not be holding my breath. Iran seems to be somewhat schizophrenic in their choices of Presidents, and I feel no good what so ever coming out of Syria (is Assad really going to give up all his chem weapons?). Too many are dying there. Too many unsavory characters are doing the killing there.
Also, I have no faith whatsoever that the grown ups in the GOP will assert any kind of discipline on the spoiled 2 yr olds in their party. Not yet anyway. You can’t reason with a 2 yr old. You can try to bribe them. But as long as that is what you do, the tantrums will continue.
As for the “Last Campaign”, I wish I could give. It sounds like a worthy project, but my funds are limited.
Anya
@Keith G: Sadly, nothing will hurt the GOP as long as we have Dems like Joe Manchin and the MSM.
WereBear
FINALLY found it:
Obama: ‘The affordable care act is here to stay’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Kp-a2efQk&feature=youtube_gdata
Anthony
Thank you, once again. I appreciate the support – several good folks from Balloon Juice have pledged to my Kickstarter. With four days left I can use pledges of any amount. My agent is now in negotiations with a publisher, so making these final research trips is all the more urgent.
Ironic about the George Washington Library – that after thirteen ever-larger, more expensive and less factually-accurate shrines to former presidents, Washington gets an actual center for the study of his presidency – which is what FDR envisioned for his own library. And what the taxpayers have assumed – incorrectly, as it turned out – they would be paying for ever since.
As for another, related topic – Obamacare – that popped up in this thread, on my blog yesterday I posted a bit of behind-the-scenes Congressional business; as a recent Democratic House Legislative Director, Speechwriter and Committee Professional Staffer, I have advised against the Democrats’ embrace of the negative term Obamacare…a new poll shows data on why I was concerned; the term brings many more negatives than positives.
JPL
Even filled with the Koch brothers wish list, he can’t get the votes to increase the debt limit. It’s not extreme enough for his party. Boehner wants to be a leader, but he doesn’t know what that entails and he certainly won’t negotiate with the democratic members to get a vote through.
@OzarkHillbilly: I agree.
Keith G
@Anya: I am at my time to leave for work, so briefly…I disagree.
Our current Democratic leadership are very qualified and accomplished, and Obama et al have done well with strategic pragmatism. And if we can help a new leadership evolve to build on the good while having a bit more of a taste (and skill) for combat, we would see even more progress against the rump wingers in the future.
bemused
Listening to Morning Joe in passing and heard David Gregory opining on “why Obamacare is so deeply, deeply unpopular”. I didn’t hear the answer to why but it has to be Obama’s fault.
Frankensteinbeck
The thing with the budget and debt limit is that Boehner does not have to convince the Tea Jerks to vote for them. Boehner has to be convinced to break the Hastert rule and let Nancy pass it. There are more than enough ‘asshole but not insane’ Republican representatives to pass a bill that does not have unacceptable poison pills attached. Boehner’s pride is the obstacle.
Baud
@bemused:
The answer is, because a lot of people for whom Obamacare will be a godsend don’t want to be indebted to a black president.
As Obama himself said, they won’t be calling it Obamacare for long.
raven
Game Day comes to Athens!
Anya
@bemused: I dislike Scarborough, but I loathe dancing Dave. He is beyond horrible. I wish he would move to something more suitable for him, like writing propaganda for ALEC.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: You have my sympathies.
bemused
@Anya:
Heh, isn’t he basically doing that already?
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s gonna be wild in the streets with them crazy coon-asses in town!
JPL
@Anya: Dancin Dave is giving a forum for Cruz’s to spout his bullshit on Meet The Press.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
200 years is a bit to late for his Cabinet officials to get their Fox News and K Street jobs. Lazy bastard.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Baud:
Maybe – phrases like that have a habit of sticking around in the language. I imagine part of the GOP panic over AHA because it is like the Republicans in the ’30s had convinced everyone to call Social Security “Roosevelt Security”
Anya
@bemused: I just want him to be honest about it. But I guess he’s more useful to the conservative cause now.
@JPL: Two loathsome assholes spewing lies. Why would anyone want to watch that is beyond my comprehension.
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I think we should stop the lie about the ACA being the Heritage Foundation’s plan. The hated mandate is the Heritage Foundation’s only contribution to the ACA.
bemused
@Anya:
I look at the Gregorys in the media and think what a soul sucking way to make a living. Then again, if one’s goal is to be a filthy rich elitist Villager, it’s a no-brainer.
Baud
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
We never should have stopped.
Patricia Kayden
@Linda Featheringill: Even a short government shutdown would be painful to federal employees since they won’t be paid for the days the government is shut down. That’s going to hit a lot of us very hard. But I hope you’re right.
weaselone
@Anthony:
I didn’t see the Administration’s embrace of the term “Obamacare” as a short-term move to bolster support. The term was already well entrenched with the public as the unofficial designation for the health care legislation when the President began using it in his speeches. It might have been possible to score some victories in congressional hearings, but all of half a dozen people would ever hear about them. The President seems fairly confident that the ACA will ultimately successful and popular. Once people gain actual experience with the ACA, the negatives associated with Obamacare should dissipate and the name will forever tie the Democrats to the legislation.
Johannes
Let me just speak up for Anthony’s Kickstarter, so generously linked by Anne Laurie. As an old friend, and a backer of the project I can say that the book looks to be fascinating on several levels–the story of transparency and history being circumvented in institutions designed to serve them, and of the hijacking of taxpayer bucks to create a cross between the pyramids and Disneyland. And the updates have made available some great archival materials already.
Sorry to sound like a barker, but I am really enthusiastic about this project.