The funniest part of the story is that they think this will be a tourist attraction:
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit popping Dramamine:
She was an attorney at a big Chicago law firm. He was a Harvard Law student who landed a job there as a summer associate. He was immediately smitten. She wasn’t so sure. But he won her over, and the couple sealed their budding romance with a kiss at the Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop in Hyde Park.
So goes the story of how Michelle and Barack Obama fell in love in 1989. And on Wednesday, a historical marker went up at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and 53rd Street noting the exact location where the couple had their first smooch.
A quote from President Obama, taken from an interview published in “O, The Oprah Magazine” in February 2007, is inscribed beneath an embedded photo of the couple.
“On our first date, I treated her to the finest ice cream Baskin-Robbins had to offer, our dinner table doubling as the curb. I kissed her, and it tasted like chocolate.”
As landscapers added the finishing touches, placing orange impatiens around the boulder placed in a flower bed near the entrance of the Dorchester Commons shopping center, curious residents trickled by to snap pictures.
The 3,000-pound granite boulder, commissioned by the owners of Dorchester Commons, was 2 1/2 years in the making, according to Jonelle Kearney, a spokeswoman for Mid-America Asset Management, which manages the shopping center. She said the idea came about after several queries from visitors.
“It’s a marker for the community, for posterity and tourism, too,” she said.
Chris Matthews has already begun his pilgrimage to the site.
I read a comment somewhere that asked, “is this North Korea?”
Worth noting: Baskin-Robbins, purported location of Barack & Michelle’s first date, is operated by Dunkin’ Brands, Inc, which is now owned by… Bain Capital. Heh.
Update: The location of the monument is being questioned:
Bill Ayers’ house. RT
@politico: Plaque marks Chicago site of Obamas’ first kiss: politi.co/Nq2ksA— Cuffé (@CuffyMeh) August 16, 2012
(h/t Gateway Pundit)
