The other option—certainly a valid one—is that the hat belongs atop of museum mannequin for it witnessed the first African American president being sworn in atop the head of the Queen of Soul. I only partly buy that. Include Aretha's hat and what makes you think that the Smithsonian archives won't be filled with, say, Sen. Joe Lieberman's shmoe-y baseball cap, Sen. Barbara Mikulski's red felt beret or Justice Samuel Alito's silly black ear warmers? Certainly they too can place a similar claim of putting their hands on the arc of history. For that matter, perhaps the Smithsonian would be interested in the Barnes & Noble mug out of which I drank lukewarm coffee whilst watching the inauguration. There's even some historic coffee dried to the inside (I didn't do the dishes in the name of history.)