Report: Obama leaving the Oval Office, for another. UPDATE: debunked
Last edited Wed Feb 6, 2013, 06:48 PM - Edit history (1)
Report: Obama leaving the Oval Office, for another
(CNN) - One of the most iconic symbols of the presidency will soon have a twin.
Real Clear Politics reported Friday that President Barack Obama will vacate the Oval Office for a major West Wing renovation project but will take up a desk in a "nearly identical replica."
The Oval Office replica was expected to be in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is inside the White House compound and just across West Executive Drive from the West Wing. But the report also noted "unforseen construction hurdles" may alter the current plans.
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Full article here: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/01/report-obama-leaving-the-oval-office-for-another/
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
Jay Carney Says Replica Oval Office Story Is ‘False’
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MR. CARNEY: But I can say specifically there — the reports about a replica Oval Office are false, and no one is moving from the West Wing. Certainly, no decisions about that have been made and not in any timeframe that –
Q You’re saying that no one is moving from the West Wing, you mean including the President?
MR. CARNEY: Including the President.
Q Even though renovations may be made?
MR. CARNEY: Well, again, I don’t have — for what kinds of renovations — I mean, you guys have looked around and seen that there’s constant work being undertaken here on the overall campus, but I don’t have anything specific. But because this issue, because of the description of an alleged replica Oval Office was reported out, I can tell you that that is false.
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Full article here: http://www.mediaite.com/online/non-replica-of-jay-carney-says-replica-oval-office-story-is-false/
= new reply since forum marked as read
"It's going to be important to have a major symbol of the presidency," she said. With a replica, Obama would be able to "put the Oval in your pocket and carry it across the street."
Not long after the Truman Balcony was completed, the main body of the mansion was found to be structurally unsound. Floors no longer merely creaked; they swayed. The president's bathtub was sinking into the floor. A leg of Margaret's piano broke through the floor in what is today the Private Dining Room. Engineers did a thorough examination and found plaster in a corner of the East Room sagging as much as 18 inches. Wooden beams had been weakened by cutting and drilling for plumbing and wiring over 150 years, and the addition of the steel roof and full third floor in 1927 added weight the building could no longer handle. They declared the whole house to be in imminent danger of collapse.
Plans were discussed to demolish the building and rebuild it to the same design, but in the end, Truman went to Congress and requested the funding to rebuild the White House from the inside out, leaving only the stout brick outer walls and the rebuild the interior largely on the same plan as the existing house—very much the way President James Madison had done in 1814.
The old interior of the Residence was dismantled, leaving the house as a shell with the two modern wings. Some of the existing interior detail was saved, especially fireplace mantels. Some of the scrap was sold as souvenirs.
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/special/renovation-1948.htm
