Anyone checked www.whitehouse.gov lately? Change in the air, for sure. There’s even a blog of sorts! The first thing I noticed, I’ll admit, was the font choice: the more elegant and tradi­tional Hoefler Text has replaced Gotham as the Obama campaign becomes the Obama admin­is­tra­tion. Gosh, it seems like H&FJ are the official unof­fi­cial first typog­ra­phers! (Also, unre­lated, but a funny coin­ci­dence: the main headings on this site are set in Gotham and Hoefler Text.)

I remarked to Martin this morning that, of all the histor­i­cal-ness (histri­on­ics?) of the occasion, the most remark­able thing to me is: this is the first time in my life that the pres­i­dent of my country is someone who I can look up to, in a very real way. In addition to the intel­li­gence and charisma so evident when he first entered my conscious­ness, Obama seems like an almost impos­si­ble good person, in that every­thing he says and does is derived from a solid, fibrous moral core. And not the pander­ing, one-sided “morals” the right-wing is so fond of, either, but the real meaning of “morals”: the ability to weigh all the elements of an issue, to see differ­ent perspec­tives all at once, and distin­guish not just between “right and wrong” but see the grada­tions between those poles.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I could really imagine being friends with him.

Also (and I’m really grateful for this level of trans­parency): the inau­gural lunch menu. Mmm, a brace!