Boeing VC-25 as assembling only three airplanes in the US would not make financial sense. This made Boeing the only aircraft manufacturer interested in supplying the replacement aircraft, and was reported to be exploring a 787 option also. On 28 January 2015, the Air Force announced the selection of the Boeing 747-8 to replace the aging VC-25A for presidential transport. On 10 May 2016, the Air Force posted online an amendment to its Air Force One contract authorizing Boeing to begin preliminary design activities. However, the latest version of the contract synopsis confirmed that the government will buy just two modified 747-8
President Barack Obama (painting) use of bushes in the portrait. President Barack Obama (painting) President Barack Obama is a 2018 portrait of Barack Obama by the artist Kehinde Wiley for the National Portrait Gallery. In October 2017, it was announced that Wiley had been chosen by Barack Obama to paint an official portrait of the former president to appear in Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery "America's Presidents" exhibition. The painting depicts Obama sitting in a chair seemingly floating among foliage. The foliage is described by the author as "chrysanthemums (the official flower of Chicago), jasmine (symbolic of Hawaii where the president spent most of his