i followed his headlines from australia to thailand to rome. and then gloriously he came home on christmas eve. that christmas we were seven, two son-in-law and a baby. unspoken was the thought that chuck would not be with us. it was a fragile happiness like some lovely bubble. and i think the room must have sensed it for it was never prettier. it was our first christmas in the white house, a moment to catch and hold. it seemed to unsderscore my feeling that this house is only on loan to its tenants, that we are temporary occupants linked to a continuity of presidents. who have come before us and who will succeed us, for only a brief time we serve as the extension of who have come befo will succeed us, for only a brief time we serve as the extension of 200 million people, holding their trust, working to fulfill it. >> the man who sits in this chair sits in the chair that's been occupied by less than 40 men in a long history of this great republic. he is selected by the will and by the votes of a majority of the citizens of this republic. he mus