Long an admirer of former president, Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama will honor that influence during his upcoming inauguration festivities. The president-elect Obama will become the 44th president on January 20th and will take the oath of office with his hand on the bible once owned by President Lincoln. Obama has long taken great personal inspiration from President Lincoln and will soon have the opportunity to also take great political inspiration from him as well. Obama has already shown examples of Lincoln’s political philosophies while selecting his cabinet members, filling it with what Lincoln called a “team of rivals.”
The newly sworn-in president Obama will have his first lunch as acting president, with the Joint Congressional Committee and the food on that menu will mirror the food that Abraham Lincoln grew-up with and held a great fondness for such as oysters, fowl and game, vegetables, and afterward, nothing pleased the sixteenth president quite like dessert derived from apples.
For Obama’s lunch, he has chosen to begin with a seafood stew which will be paired with a Napa County white wine, selecting the 2007 Suvignon Blanc from Duckhorn Vineyards in the Napa Valley. Duck and pheasant will be served with sweet potatoes as the main dish, and the dessert will be an apple cake.
Also noteworthy, for northern Californians beyond the wine country is the fact that adding to the ambiance of the event will be a painting selected just for the event. The artwork titled, “View of the Yosemite Valley” by Thomas Hill, depicts the natural magnificence of the country and represents a new era’s dawning. The significance of the selection is due to Lincoln’s signing of the Yosemite Grant in 1864 which preserved both the Mariposa Grove of giant Sequoia Redwood trees along with the Yosemite Valley in which those trees stand today.
