The thought that any President would recklessly act to demolish the Oval Office is almost impossible to imagine. Like the Crown Jewels or the Angelus Window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, the Oval Office is a symbol of power that derives its authority from continuity of use. To use the thing is to be the only person in the present time with the authority to use the thing.
■ And thus to tear it down would be an utterly baffling act of self-immolation of one’s own claim to authority. Yet the President has issued an executive order claiming to forbid anyone from doing that. It’s an inexplicable choice of first official act following a historic electoral repudiation.
■ It’s also a peculiar act to take at the very same time that a judge is restraining a rush to throw up an unnecessary and unwanted arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. Just as negative space is sometimes a more significant design element than a block of color, sometimes an open view is more important than a piece of tangible construction. One such view is experienced at Arlington.
■ Like silence, tasteful restraint can be golden. It is not the least bit obvious why anyone would use the power of the Presidency to diminish one of the primary symbols of that power. Regrettably, it is entirely obvious why someone of low character would want to thinly veil a monument to himself without any regard for the value of what’s left behind.