Now This: New Oval Office Rug Wrongly Attributes MLK’s Quote?

by Glynnis MacNicol | 5:24 pm, September 5th, 2010

» 39 comments

File this under things that would likely not have been an issue before the Internet. While President Obama was on vacation the Oval Office got a (very beige) makeover. The major contribution to the new look is a new oval rug featuring famous quotes from past presidents and one from Martin Luther King.

The quote from MLK will likely be familiar to you and reads: ““The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Towards Justice.” Except King is not the originator of the phrase, someone named Theodore Parker is. Parker is, according to WaPo, “an abolitionist, Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist thinker who foresaw the end of slavery, though he did not live to see emancipation. He died at age 49 in 1860, on the eve of the Civil War.”

A century later, during the civil rights movement, King, an admirer of Parker, quoted the Bostonian’s lofty prophecy during marches and speeches. Often he’d ask in a refrain, “How long? Not long.” He would finish in a flourish: “Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

King made no secret of the author of this idea. As a Baptist preacher on the front lines of racial justice, he regarded Parker, a religious leader, as a kindred spirit.

Yet somehow a mistake was made and magnified in our culture to the point that a New England antebellum abolitionist’s words have been enshrined in the Oval Office while attributed to a major 20th-century figure….Parker said in 1853: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one. . . . But from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

Presumably the rug will stay, (as a commenter points out the wording is not identical) but look forward to at least part of the next press briefing being devoted to questioning how the mistake was made. Meanwhile, enjoy Mo Rocca‘s tour of the new Oval below.

barack obama, Martin Luther King, Mo Rocca, Oval Office

http://www.facebook.com/people/Geoff-Hines/1663431000 Geoff Hines

oh for F’s sake. This is such bullshit.

You read this English-language blog, so you’ll notice that Parker and King said different things. King cribbed the arc/universe/justice concept, and credited it, but he phrased it differently. And his phrasing is the one that appears on the rug: “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, But It Bends Towards Justice.” Parker never used those exact words. King did. Look, here’s a video of King using those exact words from 1965, which I found in six seconds of googling.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2010/09/04/dept-of-lame-gotcha-stories.aspx

i know it’s sunday Glynnis but maybe you could be just a bit less lazy today. Facts 1, Fake media stories 0

and for the record, could you guys figure out how to log-in through Chrome? I’ve tried every which way but it never works. Through Facebook, etc. it never works on Chrome. No i don’t have ad-blocker, etc. I can only log-in through Firefox.
murf

For heaven sakes ! They can’t even get Obama’s prayer rug right !

LMFAO !
timzank

murf said:
For heaven sakes ! They can’t even get Obama’s prayer rug right ! LMFAO !

heh heh heh…now THAT’S funny…

Seriously though, it’s typical of this high school student council administration. They never check anything or anybody out first. It’s hilarious.
StandUp

I need a new rug for my office, but because of the Obamaconomy I’ve had to cut back on non-essential items.
Was the old Oval Office rug that damn dirty? Who’s not wiping their shoes and tracking dirt in the WH?
I probably could have re-furnished my entire office for what that 1 rug cost.
Washington elitists, all of them, are simply out of touch. But they are about to be touched on the arm and told to leave the building.
TfT

As with “57 states”, “corpse man” and a bunch of other gaffes, Glynnis makes an excuse for Obama with this statement: File this under things that would likely not have been an issue before the Internet.

Just imagine if a republican, lets pick Palin as an example, had made this error….Glynnis would be all over it like ….well you know.

Oh and BTW: Team Obama is blaming the rug maker….LOL….always pointing that finger of blame elsewhere.

PS: Glynnis still hasn’t bothered with a follow-up on her embracing Joseph Gross, even after Gross admitted he got it wrong. Too funny.
BR

I hope Obama doesnt get his rug confused with his teleprompter.
libra blue

@TfT, “Just imagine if a republican, lets pick Palin as an example, had made this error….Glynnis would be all over it like ….well you know.”

I wonder if Anderson will be able to tear himself away from his nightly ridicule of Brewer to talk about this one? BTW, I think AC has forgotten about his own on-air fumbles, but we haven’t:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXF3lIZr0wE
Sean68

MLK was a plagiarist so I’m sure he’d approve of receiving sole credit for the quote.
puck30

Another BOTCH by the Kiddie Corps!!!
Pablo

Geoff Hines said:
You read this English-language blog, so you’ll notice that Parker and King said different things. King cribbed the arc/universe/justice concept, and credited it, but he phrased it differently. And his phrasing is the one that appears on the rug: “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, But It Bends Towards Justice.” Parker never used those exact words. King did. Look, here’s a video of King using those exact words from 1965, which I found in six seconds of googling.

Yeah, Parker said this:

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”

Your point?
Moderate

“Parker and King said different things”

My English Professor would have dinged me for plagiarism.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Geoff-Hines/1663431000 Geoff Hines

“Your point?”

lol. Congrats on not following the link in my post. I was quoting a paragraph IN THE ARTICLE I WAS LINKING TO. good lord folks, i put the link there for a reason. follow the link and read the rest of the article. it’s really easy.
sarainitaly

For the record, King never claimed the phrase as his own. He quoted Parker, one of his inspirations, in using this phrase, a point never noticed by Barack Obama during his campaign. He repeated the phrase often enough that it caught the attention of Reverend Matt Tittle, who attempted to inform the campaign in April 2008 that Obama was misattributing the quote. The campaign never replied to Tittle, but for a while Obama dropped the reference, and Tittle thought the message had been received.

When did this come out? Well, Tittle blogged about it in December 2008 at the Houston Chronicle. In July 2009, I wrote about it as an Obamateurism of the Day — and that was more than a year before the White House decided to commit their poor research into the press release for the Oval Office rug. When that happened, it became one of this week’s OOTDs, and will be one of the selections in tomorrow’s OOTW poll.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/09/04/wapo-hey-that-oval-office-rug-quote-got-botched/

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/26/obamateurism-of-the-day-65/
sarainitaly

The Lincoln quote is Parker’s, too.
Pablo

Geoff Hines said:
“Your point?”

lol. Congrats on not following the link in my post. I was quoting a paragraph IN THE ARTICLE I WAS LINKING TO. good lord folks, i put the link there for a reason. follow the link and read the rest of the article. it’s really easy.

Been there, done that. Didn’t find anything I didn’t already know. Your point?
Pablo

Moderate said:
“Parker and King said different things”

My English Professor would have dinged me for plagiarism.

Yep, although King attributed the idea to Parker, quite properly.
TfT

“The rug was crafted by the Scott Group, of Cascade Township, and placed in the Oval Office last month. One of its quotes belongs to Theodore Parker, a Boston Progressive from the 1800s. The words read: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

“This much is certain: The company was given a sketch with quotes and started from there to develop a texture and bring the project to completion, designer Mary Van Haaften said Sunday.”

“She deferred all other comments to the White House and said Scott Group owners would be able to address the speculation about the quotes later in the week.”

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/09/new_oval_office_rug_made_in_we.html

So, the Scott group will comment on the errors later this week, only after they have been instructed by hehimselftehone to ensure they take the blame, despite the sketch with quotes being provided to them. The smartest man in the world….or something.
TfT

Funny how Glynnis embraces the BS of Gross and VF, based on anony sources; but this big error, gaffe, huge mistake is a no-biggie in Glynnis’ mind.

Biased much?
BatBoy

If the administration can now work on getting the text books changed then …waaalaaa they will be makeing (make that changing) history!

Glynnis writes…. “Presumably the rug will stay,…”
From Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals…RULE 10:
“If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.”
Moderate

TfT said:
“instructed by hehimselftehone to ensure they take the blame”

“The One” is doesn’t need to throw people under the bus, he can make them volunteer to jump under the bus.
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Big Eddie

See the rug in person at the White House garage sale , January , 2013 .
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CosmosDan

murf said:
For heaven sakes ! They can’t even get Obama’s prayer rug right !

LMFAO !

Okay! That’s funny
CosmosDan

TfT said:
Funny how Glynnis embraces the BS of Gross and VF, based on anony sources; but this big error, gaffe, huge mistake is a no-biggie in Glynnis’ mind.

Biased much?

Yeah HUGE!! mistake.
Except the very first post of this thread explains that MLK did say it in exactly those words.
Biased much you ask?

Congratulations! Your post wins the most ironic post of the thread award.
CosmosDan

Big Eddie said:
See the rug in person at the White House garage sale , January , 2013 .

This is also funny.
Big_F-ing_Deal

Hmmm….Bush got a war wrong and Obama got a rug wrong.

How many people died because of bad rug intel?
notsofast

Big_F-ing_Deal said:
Hmmm….Bush got a war wrong and Obama got a rug wrong.

How many people died because of bad rug intel?

How many people are alive because the tyrant Saddam Hussein, a lib favorite, is gone?

How many are dead due to the lib lies of the Vietnam War?
Big_F-ing_Deal

notsofast said:
How many people are alive because the tyrant Saddam Hussein, a lib favorite, is gone?

How many are dead due to the lib lies of the Vietnam War?

Geez dude, I was just kidding.

Anyway, everyone knows the rug was only put there to cover the stain from when Bush shit himself on 9/11.
notsofast

Big_F-ing_Deal said:
Anyway, everyone knows the rug was only put there to cover the stain from when Bush shit himself on 9/11.

No, the libs shit themselves when Bush went into Afghanistan after the terrorists and within 3 weeks, libs were saying we were losing the fight and calling the US “high -tech” bullies.

Always the cowards, count on libs to lose wars!
CosmosDan

Big_F-ing_Deal said:
Hmmm….Bush got a war wrong and Obama got a rug wrong.

How many people died because of bad rug intel?

No shit!
CosmosDan

notsofast said:
No, the libs shit themselves when Bush went into Afghanistan after the terrorists and within 3 weeks, libs were saying we were losing the fight and calling the US “high -tech” bullies.

Always the cowards, count on libs to lose wars!

Stereotypes are ignorant, but they sure save time don’t they?
Pablo

Big_F-ing_Deal said:
Geez dude, I was just kidding.

And pining for Saddam while delighting in Obama slaughtering innocent Pakistanis by the score.
TeaPartyPatriot

The person responsible for everything “You Lie!” hussein knows and does, his vile, racist mentor of 20+ years, Rev. “God Damn America” wright, apparently didn’t bother to teach his protege anything about American history.
PureFreedom

I think his first run of quotes from his favorite people didnt pass… So he settled with the mistakes!!!

“Godd dam America” – Rev wright ( his pastor for 12 years)
“This is the first time I am proud of America” – wife Michelle Obama
“Obama is far more radical than he would like us to know.” – Bill Ayers (his Chicago buddy)

I cant believe this man had so many koolaid drinkers that voted for him…
C.Moore

PureFreedom said:
I think his first run of quotes from his favorite people didnt pass… So he settled with the mistakes!!! “Godd dam America” – Rev wright ( his pastor for 12 years)“This is the first time I am proud of America” – wife Michelle Obama“Obama is far more radical than he would like us to know.” – Bill Ayers (his Chicago buddy) I cant believe this man had so many koolaid drinkers that voted for him…

And now it’s the racists and bigots on the right who oppose him now.
P.S. that “it’s about his policies” crap doesn’t work any more. you people showed your colors!
http://none pyrope

You forgot Cloward & Piven, Saul Alansky, Mao Tse Tung, Josef Stalin, and so many others…but, I guess the rug isn’t all that big.
http://none pyrope

C.Moore said:
that “it’s about his policies” crap doesn’t work any more. you people showed your colors!

You are SOOOO wrong. It’s ALL about his policies. I do not favor socialized medicine, nationalized industries, or the financial reform act. Please note in this egregious act (2300 pages) even more bureaucracies are created, FNMA and FMAC are no more regulated than they already are (which is almost zero now), and capitalism is basically screwed into a perverted form of so-called “progressivism” that only a twit could think it was a good idea.
http://www.facebook.com/people/JoAnne-Braley/1238121543 JoAnne Braley

Obama can take the mistaken rug with him when he leaves, to help cover up some of his other mistakes…which I hope is soon, and we can put different colors in that room…red, white and blue. This is not a beige country.