Nice touch for President Obama to have that customized rug with inspiring, pertinent quotes ranging from Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt to JFK and MLK. But it was part of an Oval Office remodeling, and, as such, was subject to recessionary criticism. Worse yet, we now find that the quote attributed to King (“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”) should have been attributed to abolitionist Theodore Parker. Oops.
If the president is truly committed to quotes that wear better than wool–and is not limited to what lies on the Oval Office floor–he might also consider: * “We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.”–Stephen Vincent Benet. * “No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious.”–George Bernard Shaw. * “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”–Johan Wolfgang von Goethe. * “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.”–John F. Kennedy. * “If you need to verify a quote, at least check with Wikipedia first.”–Jimmy Wales.