Obama Will Eat Like Lincoln on Inauguration Day

Source: ABC News

On Inauguration Day, not only will President-elect Obama be sworn in using the Bible that was used to swear in President Abraham Lincoln, he will dine like Lincoln as well.

The luncheon that will be served in Congress's Statuary Hall to the president-elect and vice president-elect and their families -- as well as congressional leaders, justices of the Supreme Court and pending members of the Obama Cabinet -- will be modeled after foods that Lincoln ate and enjoyed.

The first course will even be served on replicas of the china picked out by then-first lady Mary Todd Lincoln at the beginning of her husband's term in office.

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The luncheon's appetizer will be seafood stew in puff pastry -- scallops, shrimp, lobster -- served as a nod to the 16th president's love of stewed and scalloped oysters.

The main course -- duck breast with sour-cherry chutney and herb-roasted pheasant served with molasses sweet potatoes and winter vegetables -- is a nod to the root vegetables and wild game that Mr. Lincoln favored growing up on the frontier in Kentucky and Indiana.

The apple cinnamon sponge cake dessert is a nod to Mr. Lincoln's love of apples and apple cake.

Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/01/obama-w...

lifelong affliction and probably a result of his difficult childhood.

His families personal tragedies and the terrible tragedies of the war carried a heavy price. At the end of the day he would go down to the White House telegraph office and sit with the operator getting the days reports along with the casualty updates.

depression is depression!

deep sadness in this life, which, we should all be so lucky to have only 2. as a young man his first love died, and he took over a year to recover. and when his son todd died, he also was somewhat debilitated.
other than those 2 periods, he was never anything but active, engaged, gregarious and mirthful.

but not that which is why I'm hungry again.

The original recipe calls for chicken, but we substituted pheasant. Red-skin potatoes, three kinds of peppers (red, green and yellow), and any other vegetable you might throw in there, stir-fried in vegetable oil. Only seasonings are pepper and salt. It tastes great.

stems from my childhood when my dad slaughtered one with a 12gauge and made us pluck it clean. After being forced to eat it, kicking, screaming and crying, I of course, according to day was being quite a sissy, anyway I bit into a shotgun pellet and cracked my tooth, which later led to a root canal, which susequently cracked again and caused me to have it removed. 40 years after that episode and I rub my tongue along my gum in the gap and hate my father all over again.

His over-reliance on Lincoln and/or Kennedy Era symbolism is getting tiresome. Hate when I see the manipulation taking place.

honoring a man who inspires him...

different perspective, I guess.

The man is acknowledging his own place in history by paying homage to the President who made it possible for him to become President. We've been so long without a leader with a sense of history, it's a glorious relief to watch someone who actually knows American history.

And, I can't resist, because it's so obvious, but welcome to DU.

The "Party of Lincoln" is nothing like it was when Lincoln was in it.

recognize the Freudians, and Lincoln would ask the party of lincoln to find a hero more in line with their philosophy. The party of Hoover (Herbert or J Edgar) would be more appropriate.

The strange thing about the GOP's Reagan Worship, is Reagan wasn't nearly the man his legend makes him out to be. He was only a quality president when you compare him to Warren Harding.

played it to the hilt when he finally did.

The Republican Party started as a refurbished Whig Party, which took advantage of the anti-slavery sentiment to get back into power, and Lincoln proved to be their ticket. Once Lincoln had done what he was set up to do (defeat the South), he was bumped off, and his successor, Andrew Johnson, was given the "Clinton treatment", that is, impeached on trumped up charges (in this case, for daring to fire a Lincoln administration holdover who was as corrupt a man as any in his day, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton). After the Johnson administration was rendered virtually impotent, it was followed by the corrupt administration of victorious Union general US Grant (the first in a series of Union general/Presidents whose elections rubbed salt in the South's wounds) and the economic subjugation of the South (laughingly called "Reconstruction") went into full swing.

Although Reconstruction officially ended with the stolen Presidential election of 1876 (the South agreed to let the actual loser, Republican Rutherford Hayes, another former Union general, take the office of President if the Republicans agreed to end Reconstruction), the Republicans still controlled the national political scene. When Hayes ended up being a better man than the party bosses had expected, he was dumped in 1880 in favor of yet another Union general, James A. Garfield. When Garfield showed signs that he was not going to be as corrupt as the party bosses had hoped, he was bumped off in favor of his Vice President, Chester Arthur, who also dissapointed party bosses so much that he was dumped in favor of James G. Blaine in 1884. In 1888, four years after Blaine lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland, the Republicans nominated the grandson of William Henry Harrison, who, like Hayes, lost the popular vote but ended up becoming President anyway.

The pubs are no longer the party of Lincoln that's for sure.

Also, after seeing the dinner menu from 2005, this is a breath of fresh air! I still can't believe * let there be product placement on the menu! Not to mention it sounded absolutely disgusting. :puke:

until it gets a heart and a soul.

until it gets its heart and soul BACK.

NOT

I for one enjoy the Lincoln and JFK symbolism, think it's appropriate, and hope it continues.

and memorialize Lincoln.

... that makes it an appropriate time for symbolism.

There will be a lot of events with Lincoln themes to commemorate his birth in 1809. Obama probably doesn't have a lot of input into this--it's being planned by a joint committee of Congress.

as I hate Republicans but the dessert sounds scrumptious.

8 hours in the smoker and poke about 5 holes through the skin on both sides of the spine to let the fat drain...

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

I wonder if he comes with tons of trim that will come off in two years too?

Lincoln, out of necessity b/c of his place in time, ate SEASONALLY. He ate foods that were available at his location that were available for that season.

Mr. Obama using a similar menu is also eating 'seasonally'. Everything on that menu is something that could/probably did originate relatively locally and seasonally to Washington (and available in January).

I'm not entirely sure that was the INTENT of the message here, but whether it was intentionally done or not, I LIKE IT! Many more of us should learn to eat much more seasonally and locally.

Peace,
M_Y_H

I just love it. Such a good man in so many wonderful ways...

(at least I've never heard that one before).

Locavore - presumably someone who eats food that is "sourced" locally relative to the eater's location

:toast:

but I saw a GAZILLION geese hanging out on the Washington Monument lawn Thursday afternoon!!!

and bag a few for the lunch!

The quail he was "hunting" had clipped wings. Easier for these lazy assholes to pick them off ON THE GROUND. :eyes:

without a shotgun - they're not exactly scared of people. The real trick would be to avoid slipping in the goose crap, and having the whole swarm of them kick your ass (which wouldn't bother me if it happened to Cheney...)

and was SO FRUSTRATED that I was alone, and couldn't share with anyone!

definitely not! lol

Duck and pheasants are around this time of year on the east coast.

:hi:

The Taco Bar opens. Lincoln loved him some tacos.

TlalocW

chili dogs? Lincoln, that is!

He could drink Cherry sodas with them.

TlalocW

He was a great president and a great person to aspire to be like--but the Bible, food, etc. is going too far. I don't want to be reminded of how Lincoln's time in office ended. Enough!

Which may well have a lot more to do with it. I suspect we will see things like this all year long but especially in February.

It is quite a momentous year for bicentennials: Lincoln and Darwin (who were born on the same day in the same year) and for sesquicentennials (150 year anniversary of Origin of the Species).

Did you read this somewhere?

Why not set an example that resembles the country we now live in and tone it down.

Which of the following do you think was more responsible for enabling Obama to be elected?

The Emancipation Proclamation (Lincoln)

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (passed under Johnson, proposed by Kennedy, championed by Humphrey)

There were many free Africans/Blacks at that time who were never slaves. I'm just saying this because I've heard the slave ancestry thing repeated about Obama as if it really is a significant difference between him and other American Blacks when in fact it's not that relevant.

I agree with you that the Civil Rights Act is far more relevant.

If you were black, you didn't get to vote, eat in a restaurant, go to a quality school, drink from any water fountain you wanted to, sit at the front of the bus, live your life free from fear of lynching, etc.

fond of shellfish like lobster, shrimp and scallops?

None of that sounds appetizing to me, especially not the duck.

The only thing that seems good is the dessert.

I could not afford half of what is on the menu.

If Obama had not made a significant effort to volunteer to help feed the hungry on Thanksgiving day, I would be bothered more by this lavish spread while tens of thousands of Americans go hungry. If Obama had not joined average Americans at Ben's Chili Bowl for a chili dog and cheese fries, I think this expensive meal would be of concern.

But I know fancy meals are a tradition at the Inauguration and there are some cheaper items on the menu like apple, sour cherry, molasses, sweet potatoes (what no sweet potato pie?).

I'll hold my sense of outrage because Obama does make a huge effort (so much more than any repuke, ever) to consider the poor and hungry.

I think Obama is trying his best to model his behavior appropriately, but he is President and from what I understand some of these things are unavoidable.

Maybe I'm just stoned, but that's too many nods for one article...

seafood stew in puff pastry....duck breast.....molasses sweet potatoes.....YUM. And it's still 15 minutes until lunchtime!

Obama will be too. What a wonderful tribute to Lincoln who helped free the slaves.

A bit meretricious for me, but there's nothing really wrong with it.

Then I'm going to worry.

As long as he doesn't get crippling depression like Lincoln did. nt	Liberal_Lurker	Jan-10-09 09:58 PM	#1
Didn't that come after Will's death? n/t	madeline_con	Jan-10-09 10:02 PM	#4
I believe that it is well established that Lincoln's 'melancholy' was a	grantcart	Jan-10-09 10:12 PM	#6
How about	elleng	Jan-10-09 11:55 PM	#25
Or genetic.	No Elephants	Jan-11-09 06:13 AM	#45
or that other thing that happened to Lincoln	stillcool47	Jan-10-09 10:38 PM	#14
this is not true according to doris kearns goodwin. he had 2 bouts of	mopinko	Jan-12-09 11:59 AM	#76
You just made me hungry!	Patchuli	Jan-10-09 09:58 PM	#2
I'm hungry and I just ate	Ichingcarpenter	Jan-10-09 10:02 PM	#3
Duck is good, if it is drained properly	IndianaGreen	Jan-10-09 10:08 PM	#5
Pheasant is very good. We sort of invented a stir-fry in our house	shrike	Jan-12-09 10:02 AM	#66
I hate Pheasant....	humbled_opinion	Jan-12-09 06:43 PM	#85
Well, under those circumstances, I'd hate pheasant, too.	shrike	Jan-12-09 08:24 PM	#88
Wish Lincoln's Ghost Would Tell Him...	radhika	Jan-10-09 10:18 PM	#7
I see it as....	gblady	Jan-10-09 10:22 PM	#8
...	eleny	Jan-10-09 10:25 PM	#10
Nice rebuttal ; )	Merlot	Jan-11-09 01:33 AM	#35
hahahha	nini	Jan-12-09 11:43 AM	#74
Oh, lighten up..................	Tangerine LaBamba	Jan-10-09 10:28 PM	#11
He's taking Lincoln away from the Republicans.	alfredo	Jan-10-09 11:31 PM	#20
If Lincoln was alive today, the Republicans would throw him out of their party	jmowreader	Jan-11-09 01:04 PM	#53
Christ would be puzzled and offended by the "Christians" Freud would	alfredo	Jan-11-09 01:19 PM	#55
They need to just call themselves the Party of Reagan	jmowreader	Jan-11-09 04:35 PM	#59
His hatred of regulation (and Dummya's idolatry of Reagan) helped put us where we now are.	No Elephants	Jan-11-09 05:08 PM	#60
He always had a hard time getting leading man roles, so I guess he	alfredo	Jan-11-09 05:23 PM	#62
The Party of LIncoln died with Lincoln	Art_from_Ark	Jan-12-09 09:13 PM	#89
I hadn't thought about it like that, and you're absolutly right.	Veruca Salt	Jan-12-09 10:15 AM	#67
the United States needs some symbolism...	stillcool47	Jan-10-09 10:40 PM	#15
How about	elleng	Jan-10-09 11:54 PM	#23
when did it have one?	crikkett	Jan-11-09 11:02 AM	#50
Some time ago.	elleng	Jan-11-09 07:04 PM	#63
At least he hasn't taken to wearing a stovepipe hat and grown a mustacheless beard yet.	salguine	Jan-10-09 10:58 PM	#16
If he did, people would stop talking about his ears.	Bette Noir	Jan-11-09 03:56 AM	#41
That's funny.	crikkett	Jan-11-09 11:02 AM	#51
Pheasant Rules	wiboy	Jan-10-09 11:06 PM	#17
So did Lincoln. Barum Bum!	No Elephants	Jan-11-09 06:18 AM	#47
Or he just thinks it would be really kicky.	aquart	Jan-11-09 01:44 AM	#37
Yeah, that sure is a big thing to complain about, isn't it?	NBachers	Jan-11-09 03:15 AM	#39
This isn't symbolism. He's looked up to Lincoln all his life and now he's doing his best to honor	w4rma	Jan-11-09 06:01 AM	#44
The inauguration is a symbolic occasion, ...	surrealAmerican	Jan-11-09 03:03 PM	#58
This is most likely because the Lincoln bicentennial is this year	dragonlady	Jan-12-09 01:07 AM	#64
I hate duck almost as much	nevergiveup	Jan-10-09 10:24 PM	#9
I guess you have to know how to cook it	snooper2	Jan-12-09 10:25 AM	#69
He's a Lincoln, not a Ford.	originalpckelly	Jan-10-09 10:35 PM	#12
But he's not overpriced and old people don't seem to adore him.	Liberal_Lurker	Jan-10-09 11:17 PM	#19
Don't forget the Lincoln undies. nt	Mithreal	Jan-10-09 10:38 PM	#13
There's another facet to that menu that is very subtle...	Mind_your_head	Jan-10-09 11:14 PM	#18
Obama is a locavore! Yipee!!	CTyankee	Jan-11-09 01:29 PM	#56
"Locavore".....What a great new word!	Mind_your_head	Jan-12-09 06:08 PM	#79
Dunno about duck and pheasant,	elleng	Jan-10-09 11:49 PM	#21
Call Dick Cheney - I'm sure he'd grab his trusty shotgun	RamboLiberal	Jan-10-09 11:54 PM	#22
he wouldn't be able to -- they have working wings	Donnachaidh	Jan-11-09 12:01 AM	#28
Actually, I suspect that the geese roaming DC could be scooped up	petronius	Jan-11-09 02:28 AM	#38
The lawyer didn't have working wings, either.	Bette Noir	Jan-11-09 03:58 AM	#42
I thought of that at the time!	elleng	Jan-11-09 12:13 AM	#30
"cooked goose" would not send a positive message.....	Mind_your_head	Jan-10-09 11:54 PM	#24
And then after that...	TlalocW	Jan-10-09 11:57 PM	#26
Didn't he also like	elleng	Jan-10-09 11:59 PM	#27
Only when	TlalocW	Jan-11-09 12:06 AM	#29
I luvz me some Obama, but this Lincoln obsession is getting a little weird	Truth Hurts A Lot	Jan-11-09 12:14 AM	#31
Agreed.	Myrina	Jan-11-09 12:30 AM	#33
JFK also. Good point.	No Elephants	Jan-11-09 06:17 AM	#46
As someone pointed out, this is the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth.	alarimer	Jan-12-09 06:16 PM	#80
I don't see in the post where it says Obama personally chose the Lincoln theme for this meal.	cottonseed	Jan-12-09 06:24 PM	#82
how very nice !	blues90	Jan-11-09 12:24 AM	#32
I'm shocked that you disagree. Shocked! I say....(nt)	Tarheel_Dem	Jan-11-09 01:25 AM	#34
Damn. There's no pie?	kwenu	Jan-11-09 01:37 AM	#36
That all sounds delicious.	Bette Noir	Jan-11-09 03:53 AM	#40
Just a quick question...	enuegii	Jan-11-09 04:48 AM	#43
The Civil Rights Act. His ancestors were never slaves. So, what did Johnson enjoy dining on?	No Elephants	Jan-11-09 06:21 AM	#48
For the record, some American Blacks have slave ancestors and some don't.	kwenu	Jan-11-09 02:47 PM	#57
The people who codified the Jim Crow laws probably didn't care if your ancestors were slaves or not.	Aristus	Jan-12-09 11:02 AM	#70
I am a litlte surprised that someone who lived in Kentucky, Indiana and Illiniois was so	No Elephants	Jan-11-09 06:29 AM	#49
Obama is the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln. nt	skooooo	Jan-11-09 11:55 AM	#52
I just hope there's no reincarnation of John Wilkes Booth	jmowreader	Jan-11-09 01:07 PM	#54
IMO, each of Abe and Barack is very much his own man.	No Elephants	Jan-11-09 05:09 PM	#61
Wonder what it costs compared to Lincoln's largest dinner? nt	pokercat999	Jan-12-09 07:59 AM	#65
Blech!	The Stranger	Jan-12-09 10:20 AM	#68
I have to agree, since I'm a vegetarian.	RebelOne	Jan-12-09 12:04 PM	#77
Where's the freak'n pie?	lonestarnot	Jan-12-09 11:09 AM	#71
I feel like a peasant in pre-revolutionary France watching the King eat while I starve.	fasttense	Jan-12-09 11:17 AM	#72
Exactly, and it's really not that extravagant a meal.	cali	Jan-12-09 12:06 PM	#78
You probably couldn't afford to fuel up Air Force One either.	cottonseed	Jan-12-09 06:27 PM	#83
Nod, nod, nod...	bitchkitty	Jan-12-09 11:40 AM	#73
That's what I took away. nt	BullGooseLoony	Jan-12-09 06:18 PM	#81
That post made me SO hungry	MathGuy	Jan-12-09 11:45 AM	#75
Great way to start his presidency and with class. Lincoln was a great great president, and I believe	superconnected	Jan-12-09 06:33 PM	#84
That's cool enough, I guess.	Snicker-snack	Jan-12-09 06:44 PM	#86
If Obama Starts Growing a Beard Like Lincoln	Yavin4	Jan-12-09 06:47 PM	#87