McCain's office is undoubtedly the pompous overstuffed one. Obama's too classy for big n' ugly.

Awesome! This only further confirms my presidential decision.

Ah, yes I thought the same as you toomuchstuff. Very interesting and makes a lot of sense to me.

I LIKE the "pompous, overstuffed" one. It looks like a place for thinking, instead of a drab hotel lobby.

Thinking about what? Cigars? Cattle rights? It screams "smoky back room" and "halls of power" like it was Warren freakin' Harding's house.

I'll agree that the design of the Obama room is not what I'd pick, though. Although I do like that painting on the far wall, and the sunny yellow, and I salute him for having living plants in the room.

You know the adage about a desk reflecting the mind of the owner?

Seems to fit.

Fine, Obamas desk is tidy, but not only is it tidy, I see no signs of work being done there. No computer, no NOTHING!

mccain's office contains a picture of him and jerry fallwell, and a gun. enough said.

Perhaps this is a function of Obama only having been Senator for 4 years, while McCain for, what, 20?

Sorry, just not sure what either is supposed to say about the other one. Once Obama is in office for 20 years or so, I'm sure we'll see plenty of pictures of him with the Jerry Falwells of the left. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc.

Sorry, meant to say, "just not sure what these are supposed to say about them".

I think they should both keep their day jobs and leave the design to the pros.

Yikes!! I actually like McCain's better. I feel dirty.

Well, according to the captions McCain didn't even design his office, his wife Cindy did. Just like she bought 9 of their 10 homes with her inheritance.

At least Obama had a say in how his office looks instead of just stuffing it full of crap.

Ok, I see a LOT of truly American items in McCain's room, except for the orange rock from when he was a Prisoner of War. In stark contrast, B. Hussain Obama's room has a LOT of NON-American items, except for Muhammad's boxing gloves. And a guitar, that really has nothing to do with being a devout American. I want an American for president, not someone who is calling racism at every corner, and still can't prove that he was actually born in the USA and not some other country by an unknown father.

Nuff said, and BTW, perhaps Apartment Therapy is not the place to be posting stuff to cause political conflicts.

Born in America? Seriously? He was born in Hawaii (ooooh, how exotic).

McCain was born in Panama.

Perhaps you want to check the facts instead of throwing out vaguely racist comments like "B. Hussain Obama" and "Muhammad's boxing gloves".

Ooooh, I guess I'm anti White now if I support Obama, and anti Black and anti Muslim if I support McCain... Get YOUR facts straight, Obama can't prove he was born in Hawaii. As for being vaguely racist, the article listed those items, and that is his name. BTW, didn't the USA just hang someone named Hussain?

Plain Jane - I think you were the only one that went off on a rant that some might find offensive. Then you complained about the potential for AT becoming too political. Weird right?

BTW, I wouldn't read much into either office. Both have staffs who staged these offices.

Um, sorry..plain jane, but I took "vaguely racist" as a reference to your use of Barack Obama's middle name rather than his first name, and not a reference to his skin color. Nice bait and switch. The racism you display is the assumption that a person's name alone (in this case, an identifiable Middle Eastern name) is sufficient cause to dismiss them as "not American" enough. So I hope you don't have any Germans or Italians or Poles or Irish in your family tree. If you do, a hundred years ago your family might have been "not American" enough.

And really, what is a truly American item? And how does one guarantee one's "devout American-ness"? (sounds a little too fundamentalist for me!) I don't know about you, but I'd sure be pleased to be represented by a president who recognized that other nations and cultures have contributed valuable ideas and ideals to our modern consciousness.

Oh, and America didn't hang Saddam Hussain, the Iraqi-interim government hung Saddam Hussain. Unless, of course, that was your Freudian slip and you believe that the war in Iraq really is a war of American aggression and that we took over the country and the government rather than were "invited".

Hm, somewhat unsurprisingly, McCain's office is more my style. I like the more traditional furniture but the whole room feels kind of heavy.

I love the lightness of Obama's office, but that red carpet really clashes.

If you combined the lightness of Obama's office and the traditional furniture of McCain's then you'd have the perfect place, in my opinion.

And why don't we just knock it off with the politics, yeah? People believe what they believe and there's very little changing it and this is definitely not the place.

no jane, the iraqi's hung someone named hussein.

no jane, the iraqis hung someone named hussein.

I like McCain's office much better. But like another commenter pointed out, he has been in that office 20 years, so obviously Obama's is going to look a little better. I bet 15 years ago McCain's office was pretty hip looking. Now it just looks lived in and comfortable. I really think Obama's office looks like a therapist's waiting room, and McCain's looks like a man's study.

My design choice preferences do not reflect my upcoming vote though.

They both look awfully dated to me. The first one seems not out of place with candles and lanterns, rather than electricity. Not the most forward thinking, outside-the-box type, in my view. "I'm comfortable with what the status quo of everyone who has come before me, and there's nothing wrong with that," type of nonsense.

And the second seems more 'attempt at coastal' in the early 90s. More of an afterthought to fill a room than an attempt to affect his environment. And in that setting, it does seem out of place and/or time, but the incorporation of a world view other than traditional English/Early American furniture makes it far more refresing.

Plain Jane:

I found your comments to be inflammatory and inappropriate for a design blog. The racism wasn't vague. Please take it somewhere else.

i guessed right, Obama is too upbeat to be in such a dark room. plainjane: very Mcain of you bringing up pointless issues to divert attention from the issue John would be proud.
God help America...

you can find Obama's birth certificate right here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/birthcert.