The First Clothesline?

The Wall Street Journal ("Veggie Gardens and Other Ideas for the Obamas: Advocates Are Pushing Bushels of Suggestions; Clothesline for a Day", January 17-18, 2009) reports that all kinds of kooks and zealots for one cause or another are hard at work, lobbying and advocating for an Obama White House embrace of their passion:

Ben Davis, a marketing entrepreneur in San Francisco, has gathered more than 800 signatures on a petition to encourage the Obamas to install a clothesline at the White House, for at least one day. "It would send a signal to the nation and world that reducing energy consumption is patriotic and that line-drying one's laundry is part of the acceptable social fabric of our nation." Alexander Lee, a leader of that movement and founder of a group called Project Laundry List, in Concord, N.H., points to a photo taken around 1910 that suggests there was once a clothesline at the White House.

This comes on the heels of an article in the New York Times (December 4, 2008) which included Laura Bush's remark that the East Room of the White House used to contain Abigail Adams' clothesline.

Way to go! Installing a nice T-style clothesline on the White House grounds would surely send a message.....but what would it mean?