Writing on her blog on October 29, Susan Eisenhower, a granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower, endorsed President Obama for re-election. Even though the blog post made no mention of her high-profile opposition to Frank Gehry's design for the national memorial to President Dwight Eisenhower, Susan Eisenhower's endorsement could have more effect upon that fight than the one for the White House.
Eisenhower is, like her grandfather, a lifelong moderate Republican. In 2008, reacting to the GOP's rightward drift, she became an independent and endorsed Obama. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Obama administration has been receptive to Eisenhower's concerns about Gehry's approach to the memorial. Eisenhower has said that the memorial is too large and ecologically unsustainable, and that it presents the President in an undignified manner. In June, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asked for an opportunity to review and weigh in on the plans. That caused the Eisenhower Memorial Commission to cancel its previously scheduled presentations to the Commission of Fine Arts on June 21 and the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) on July 12.
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