In January 2009, President George W. Bush invited President-elect Barack Obama and former presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter to the White House for a meeting and lunch. The gathering was organized in part so that Obama could hear firsthand from the only living people who had already experienced the pressures of the office, weeks before he took office. The country was in the midst of a financial crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were still ongoing, and Obama was preparing to inherit the presidency after eight highly defining years under George W. Bush. Seated at that table were all the living presidents of the time: a rare image of continuity transcending party lines. Carter had been out of the White House the longest: nearly 28 years. Together, Carter, the two Bushes, Clinton, and Obama represented more than three decades of American leadership, from the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate to the end of the Cold War, the rise of globalization, 9/11, and the Great Recession. It was the first time since 1981 that all living presidents had gathered at the White House. That luncheon did not resolve the crisis awaiting Obama, but it left behind an image of institutional continuity at a time of peak uncertainty.

🚨BREAKING: Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued an ultimatum to Senator Mitch McConnell, demanding that the 84-year-old senator either provide direct, verbal proof of his capacity to continue serving or resign from office. Beshear also sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, urging leadership to investigate McConnell's condition.