While the White House will become Barack Obama's new home on
Jan. 20, the physical building is still George Bush's residence until
... Jan. 20. It's a peculiar move-out and move-in schedule that leaves
White House staff exactly five hours to transform the three-story,
132-room structure from one family's house into a home for another. "To
the first couple and their children, it's their home, and they need to
feel at home the moment they arrive," says Gary Walters, former White
House chief usher who has overseen every White House transition since
Richard Nixon lived there.
The flag drops the moment Bush and
Obama head to Capitol Hill for the swearing-in ceremony. All 150
members of the White House staff go to work immediately, rearranging
and redecorating in precisely the way the Obamas chose when they met
with the chief usher during their first visit to the house in November.
The process is finely documented in an official "choreography plan," as
it's called, that details by the minute when everything is to be moved
out of and into strategically parked moving trucks. Carpet, paint,
everything down to bed linens and lamp shades are changed to reflect
the new family's taste.
Some rooms, like in the West Wing, are
finished before others, in case the president is rushed back early to
attend to urgent business. But under a very strict timetable, the rest
of the transformation leaves little room for the unexpected. In 1989,
George H.W. Bush's granddaughters walked into the madness before the
end of the inaugural parade (the official deadline) because it was too
cold. Caught completely off guard, a staff member sent the girls to be
entertained by the White House florist until the residence was ready.
In 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton's inaugural gown and tuxedo went
temporarily missing when an aide veered from the script and carried
them to the wrong floor.
The process is kept strictly secret and
details of the house's decorative style are scarce. The White House
declined to discuss the choices the Obamas made for their home (citing
privacy reasons) and no spectators--and especially no reporters--are
permitted in the house on Inauguration Day. "Not even the president has
ever seen this happen," says Walters. The way it's designed, no
president ever will.
