If I’m President Obama, I’m steering clear of Ford’s Theater, thank you very much. I mean, supporting arts and culture is one thing, but tempting fate is quite another.
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The Edge of the American West 
12 comments
February 11, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Vance
My thought too. As Marshall puts it, “Please don’t stay long.”
In the AFP story: “Obama’s historical status as America’s first black president is forming a circle-closing undertone to 200th birth anniversary celebrations of Lincoln….” Block that metaphor!
February 11, 2009 at 9:08 pm
kid bitzer
it’s like michelle said; guy could get shot at a gas station, anywhere.
i don’t know how they live with that, but then i’m a coward.
however brave people do it, i don’t think it’s by worrying about walking under ladders or going to fords theatre.
February 11, 2009 at 9:09 pm
andrew
The Emancipation Proclamation is going on display today. For four days only. I guess it’s too fragile to be on permanent display.
February 12, 2009 at 6:01 am
jazzbumpa
Ari –
Off topic, but you’ve stumbled into one of my pet linguistic peeves, usually uttered by sports-casters. See, you’re not president Obama, any more than John Madden is the Arizona Cardinals. Oh, well . . .
This has been a public dis-service announcement. You may now resume regularly scheduled posting.
February 12, 2009 at 6:07 am
silbey
“Yes, but other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”
/punchline
February 12, 2009 at 7:14 am
Tim Lacy
You could view Obama’s presence as a kind of exorcism for the theater. It’s also poetic justice. So I’m glad he decided to attend. – TL
February 12, 2009 at 8:18 am
Jason B.
If I’m jazzbumpa I’m harboring no ill will toward ari, since he triggered my pet peeve unknowingly, but I’m really irked at the next guy to do it, since he’s just being an ass.
February 12, 2009 at 9:18 am
politicalfootball
Is jazzbumpa being a fussy grammarian, or a fussy incorrect grammarian? I have a lot of sympathy for fussy grammarians, but if I’m being honest with myself, I have to say that this construction seems perfectly reasonable.
February 12, 2009 at 12:51 pm
PorJ
Any of you actually been in Ford’s Theater? The bizarre thing (to me) is how tiny everything is – the seats, the aisles, the stage, the boxes, etc. People must have been really small in the 1860s. I guess that’s why Lincoln needed to be up in the box.
February 12, 2009 at 3:42 pm
teofilo
I was there once when I was a kid. I don’t remember the seats, but I do remember that the whole building seemed pretty small.
February 13, 2009 at 9:35 am
amy
he clearly is not superstitious as it has been reported he uttered “MacBeth” as well…..
February 14, 2009 at 7:45 am
Galvinji
Off topic, but you’ve stumbled into one of my pet linguistic peeves, usually uttered by sports-casters. See, you’re not president Obama, any more than John Madden is the Arizona Cardinals. Oh, well . . .
The subjunctive mood is for weak, cowardly languages like French. We don’t need any of that in American English.