Obama's Moving Day: What Happens At The White House

The Obamas move into the White House on Inauguration Day--the same day the Bushes move out. The whole five-hour procedure is extremely well-choreographed.

There is drama on moving day, however. Gary Walters, who retired last year after 21 years of overseeing the 132-room mansion as chief White House usher, explained that on Inauguration Day it was his job to help the first families move, in the scant and hectic period between the time the exiting president departed for good (about 10:45 a.m., after greeting the president-elect under the North Portico and having a cup of coffee with him in the Blue Room) and the new president and his family left the inaugural parade in the late afternoon.

That leaves about five hours for the usher and 93 assistants, including household staff, painters, carpenters, florists and even calligraphers, Mr. Walters said, along with the new decorator and his or her staff, to unpack the family's things and put everything away. "The goal is no unopened boxes," said Mr. Walters, who used to move into the White House for a week before Inauguration Day, sleeping on a cot in the basement.

Keep reading.

Comments

[oandjoe08]

I want to help Bush get the **** out!!

[2008CaliforniaFan]

I hope they remember to 'scour the White House Grounds' and 'clean up' anything left behind by the "White House Dog".

Uhhh. .....is that Cheney... or Barney?
They BOTH smell like S**t.

[alleycat32]

The rest of us taxpayers should have that problem. Most of us are moving to out new digs under bridges.

[4funofit]

THANK YOU SHRUB, Perl, Card, cheeeeny, rove, rummy, and the rest of you croocks!!

[jerrypl]

If Bush needs any help to hurry up the move, then I am available!!!! Many are waiting to see the truck head out of town.

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

[HillbillyBob]

Could always have the sheriff and crew cast it all to the curb and let wb and laura pick it up, there like so many citizens that have to pick up the remains of their home life after foreclosur­e...

[Oldbuck]

Thank God and the moving van he gone. There will be singing in the streets. What is truly sad that someone as unqualified as Bush was ever elected as President and them reelected for second term. I guess the one thing good is this has cured our appheithe about elections

[Dunworkin]

In my almost 70 years of seeing president come and go this is no doubt the one with the most meaning to our country and people around the world.The embarrassment of having people willing to go without their SHOES so they can throw them at the PRESIDENT of what is to be the most powerful most respected country in the world is without doubt the lowest of all lows for a president.

[Avigdor]

What makes you so sure they won't throw shoes at Obama?

[VOTER]

MOST LIKELY, NO NEED AND , ALSO, NO SHOES!

After 8 years of hell, our shoes are aimed at Bush and he
has left us too poor to buy more, so even if we disagree
with Obama, we will be bare footed.

[DreamEmbraced]

Hallelujah Lord....!!­!!

[RenoSage]

I assume the outgoing pres and the newly elected pres are all at the parade and inaugural ceremony.
Then how is it that the outgoing pres would have an opportunity to loot the goodies on departure?
Explain the logistics.

[frantaylor]

He got 8 years to loot the goodies.

[ThinkLiberal]

I am not going to be convinced that Boosh is gone until I see the back of that moving truck heading for whichever hole in TX he will occupy. That leaves the tormented ghost of Boosh to roam the WH's halls and stairways. The usher needs to call in the Ghost Busters while he's at it.

[ManUnitdFan]

It's a $2 million hole in Dallas where he will be free to live out the rest of his days in peace and laziness. How's that for a lack of justice?

[ThatOne4Me]

karma is a beach. he won't get away with it. we might not know how he get's paid back. he will pay a valuable price. and he has damn.ed the bush name in politics for life!

[2008CaliforniaFan]

You mean Cheney's friends at Haliburton couldn't afford a 'better place' for Him..??

SHOCKING..­.. especially after all of OUR money he gave them.
Bush needs a better negotiator.

[OrganOfThought]

nahhh, that house is just for formality of legal residency. $2 million is chump change for that family.

bush purchased 98,000 acres of land in south america back in 2006. they have their fortune invested there.

[Paisano]

Make sure you pack up the guy sitting behind the desk in the oval office!

[bwilder]

A good website where you can view the living quarters. You can click on
each room and pull up a page that shows that room recently and historically.
Intersting and a very cool old house !

http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/Floor1.htm

[Texas4Obama]

Wow- There are some great photos in there, especially the photos of Caroline and Jon-Jons bedrooms. VERY interesting history.
Thanks for posting the link!

[RhondaSTL]

Really cool site, thanks!

[Beninn]

I recall a story I read a long time ago about the transition between JFK and LBJ.

The move wasn't done immediately after JFK's assassination. I think the Johnson family moved in to the White House a couple of weeks after the assassination, but the move happened the way that all others had. The Johnson family's belongings were unloaded from vans and brought into the White House after the Kennedys' belongings had been removed to other moving vans. The two administrations' belongings passed each other, one going in and the other going out.

Everyone had pretty much been in shock after the assassination, and it had been non-stop with news about Lee Harvey Oswald, his murder, Jack Ruby, the funeral coverage, etc. I think it was a journalist who witnessed this. He had been at the White House for a meeting with someone in the administration near the Oval Office. He said this was when the reality of the assassination had really hit him emotionally. On the walkway outside the Oval Office stood two iconic objects of the outgoing and incoming adminstrations. One was Johnson's saddle waiting to be brought in and the other was Kennedy's rocking chair waiting to be carried to the van. What a photograph for LIFE that would have made.

[nogimmicks]

And most of those 132 rooms are in the right wing.

[Petey131]

This move doesn't come soon enough!

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

I don't know if that photo is doctored, but I keep returning to look at it one more time with an ever widening grin on my face.

I'm sooooo glad the reign of incompetence, criminality and insanity is about to end. The grownups will be in charge once again!

[justadood]

I hope they had an inventory of the stuff that was there before the Bushes--you just *know* Dubya and Laura will try to walk off with something.­....

looting is in the Republican psyche--just look at Wall Street....

[BSERIUS]

Uhh,, The place looked like Atlanta after Sherman when the Clintons left

[frantaylor]

We all know you are lying

[ladyv]

I for one am pre-emptively deeply offended by Obama's choice of nominee to replace Mr. Walters as Chief White House Usher and am sure beyond all doubt that said choice will reflect a deep fissure in the Democratic party as well as proving that President-elect Obama is showing his true colors and is failing on his promise to bring change to Washington.

[Realtor n VA]

DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT??!!!!

[LAGuy83]

lol calm down now

[vjoseph]

Its a joke, grow some humor, my friend

[BeyondTheBull]

I assume that this, your remarks, reflects humor?

[Petey131]

Excuse me but what does this have to do with the WH move? Something in that egg nog maybe?

[ThinkLiberal]

Yaaaawn. Boring.

[bwilder]

"Gary Walters, who retired last year..."

I assume you are attempting humor in your comment?

[vjoseph]

Yeah, she is. It was quite subtle