It was a year ago today that District residents awoke — likely groggy from the celebrations the night before — to a new president-elect. Barack Obama not only became the nation’s first African-American president, he also offered residents of the District of Columbia the promise of a new relationship between the federal executive and the city, one that had largely fallen by the wayside during President George W. Bush’s eight years in office.

The first months of 2009 saw a flurry of activity as the First Family took to getting to know the place they would call home for the next four years. Before even being inaugurated, President Obama joined Mayor Adrian Fenty for a chili dog at D.C. mainstay Ben’s Chili Bowl and played basketball at the Marie Reed Community Learning Center in Adams Morgan. Along with First Lady Michelle Obama, they visited a local church as they sought a place of worship (which, as far as we know, they still haven’t found) and debated what school their daughters would attend.

After the inauguration, the Obamas’ outreach to the District continued. A number of residents sat with the First Lady during his first address to Congress, and the Obamas surprised second graders with a visit to their charter school. Michelle Obama planted an organic vegetable garden at the White House with the aid of students from Mt. Pleasant’s Bancroft Elementary, and the White House created an internship program for D.C. high school students. President Obama even tried to have a normal guy night out at a Wizards game and continued to sample local fare with a visit to Ray’s Hell Burger and Five Guys.

On at least one major local issue, though, President Obama has fallen short — D.C. voting rights. When Mayor Fenty first endorsed Obama, the then-candidate all but promised statehood for the District. But since he’s been in office, not only has Obama not said much of anything about the D.C. House Voting Rights Act, he hasn’t even gotten around to putting “Taxation Without Representation” license plates on the presidential limo. In a mid-summer briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs again stressed that Obama favored statehood for the District, but gave no indication of how or when the president would address that. Of course, there is only so much President Obama can do for our cause, but even a nod, a wink and a supportive statement would be helpful.

All told, the relationship between the First Family and the District over the last year has been a positive one, certainly at least compared to their predecessors, who rarely left the White House. (To be fair, Laura Bush was a supporter of D.C. public libraries, but that was pretty much it.) Though we can’t expect them to dine out in a local restaurant every week, it has been a refreshing change to have a First Family that recognizes that a city exists beyond the federal government that occupies it.