The Obamas will be back at the White House on Wednesday. The fact it took this long tells the tale of America’s bitter, fractured politics.
The former first couple will attend the unveiling of their official White House portraits — an honor accorded to all former Presidents and their spouses. The 44th President was back at his old digs earlier this year for a health care event with President Joe Biden, but it will be Michelle Obama’s first return since she handed the presidential mansion over to the Trumps on January 20, 2021.
Generally, the portrait ceremony takes place during the succeeding presidency — typically a lighthearted affair to show bipartisanship and continuity across party lines. Yet, to no one’s surprise, Obama’s portrait dedication didn’t happen during his successor’s White House term; ex-President Donald Trump had no interest in sharing the presidential limelight with anyone. And Obama was hardly going to stand beside the man who authored a racist conspiracy theory that he wasn’t born in the United States. So it has fallen to Biden to do the honors.
Such ceremonies also serve as a reminder that presidents serve all Americans, and that some things — like respect for an office first held by George Washington — supersede politics. Sitting presidents often pay tribute to their predecessor’s record in office, going out of their way to find areas of agreement even if they were from different parties. In the portrait ceremony during then-President Bill Clinton’s first term, he praised predecessor George H.W. Bush — an ex-World War II pilot, US representative to China, CIA chief, vice president and President — for an “entire lifetime of public service.” Bush was gracious in return. And like all returning presidents, he said how much he loved the permanent White House staff and even confessed to missing the press corps.
The event was especially poignant as a show of unity because Clinton had beaten Bush in an acrimonious election in 1992 — though they later became friends.
