FIT FOR A KING GEORGE...BUSH, THAT IS, NOT WASHINGTON

Political Strategy updates us on the hypocrisies evidenced in Inaugural ball planning and the redecorating of the Lincoln Bedroom.

Gilded crowns and royal colors strike an unusual note in a house carefully stage-managed to symbolize the democracy. Neither element would have been acceptable to George Washington, who was advised to surround himself only with things that were "substantially good and majestically plain." Eagles were fine in "the President's House." Allusions to monarchy would have been anathema.