2012: “Our Journey Is Not Complete”

Abstract

On january 7, 2009, 13 days before taking office, president-elect Barack Obama had visited the Oval Office as a guest of outgoing-president George W. Bush along with three former presidents Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter. The purpose of the get together was for the thirty-ninth, forty-first, forty-second, and forty-third presidents to offer their collective advice to the soon-to-be forty-fourth. The following day, Indianapolis Star cartoonist Gary Varvel had the five-some stood in front of the president’s desk posing for the cameras, just as the pictures in the media had shown during the previous 24 hours. Of the five, President-elect Obama had by far the biggest, broadest smile. A thought balloon emanating from the heads of the other four bore the words: “Four years will wipe that smile off his face!” And it certainly did.