Today, February 20th, 2012 is President's Day! Despite the name, this day is not a celebration of any one president, but was once the celebration of a specific president and of the office of presidency as a whole.
It began in 1879 as a day to celebrate George Washington's Birthday. Then the Holiday was later moved to be celebrated on the third Monday in the month of February, which makes the George Washington birthday reference no longer valid. But as time progressed it turned into a day for stores and auto dealers to run sales promotions and attract shoppers.
Excerpt from the wikipedia article for "Washington's Birthday"
Today, the February holiday has become well known for being a day in which many stores, especially car dealers, hold sales. Until the late 1980s, corporate businesses generally closed on this day, similar to present corporate practices on
Memorial Day or
Christmas Day. With the late 1980s advertising push to rename the holiday, more and more businesses are staying open on the holiday each year, and, as on
Veterans Day and
Columbus Day, most delivery services outside of the
U.S. Postal Service now offer regular service on the day as well. Some public transit systems have also gone to regular schedules on the day. Many colleges and universities hold regular classes and operations on Presidents Day. Various theories exist for this, one accepted reason being to make up for the growing trend of corporations to close in observance of the
Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, when reviewing the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill debate of 1968 in the Congressional Record, one notes that supporters of the Bill were intent on moving federal holidays to Mondays
to promote business.
But today, I would like to recap some facts about our current president, Barack Obama, the 44th Pesident and the first Black President of the United States.
1. President Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.
2. He worked his way through college with the assistance of scholarships and student loans and later moved to Chicago.
3. He went on to attend law school, where he became the first African—American president of the Harvard Law Review.
4. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and remains active in his community.
5. In the Illinois State Senate, he passed the first major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working families, and expanded health care for children and their parents.
6. As a United States Senator, he reached across the aisle to pass groundbreaking lobbying reform, lock up the world's most dangerous weapons, and bring transparency to government by putting federal spending online.
7. He was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and sworn in on January 20, 2009.
8. He and his wife, Michelle, are the proud parents of two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7
President Obama has re-written history. He is fulfilling a dream that Dr. King desired in the late 60's. This man, has made the seemingly impossible, possible and tangible and for that, he is and always will be an American hero, one of my heroes.
Happy Presidents Day!
Photo Courtesy: Whitehouse.gov
