Yay, it’s back! And in the politics section of the Paper of Record, too!
(At) their first state dinner on Tuesday night, President Obama and his wife, Michelle, made sure to infuse the glittering gala with distinctive touches.
They hired a new florist, Laura Dowling, who bedecked the tented outdoor dining room with locally grown, sustainably harvested magnolia branches and ivy. They selected a guest chef, Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit in New York, an American citizen who was born in Ethiopia, reared in Sweden and cooks up melting pots of flavors and cuisines…
The evening was a potent mix of politics, diplomacy and glamour, with the administration’s favored donors mingling with lawmakers from Congress, cabinet secretaries, Indian dignitaries and Hollywood celebrities decked out in tuxedos and designer dresses. The first lady wore a golden sleeveless gown created by Naeem Khan, an Indian-American designer.
Just everyone was there.
Isn’t it wonderful to have people you can cheer for again? People who make sure to infuse a glittering gala with distinctive touches?
I know I think so.
Way off topic, but the Smithsonian channel has a great show on right now re: the strangest planes/jets our government has built. They have a fighter jet the Navy built that takes off and lands on water!
Heard on TV the first ladies gown was made by 40 Indian garment workers. Wonder if those workers are all excited about Cardcheck? Oh, yeah – nevermind….
We are a nation at war, even if the only people who know it are the men and women who serve, their loved ones, and the enemy.
Lex, was that just a hint of sarcasm I detected? Not sure …
“But what we’ve learned over this year, is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something, for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country”.
Happy snarksgiving day! Now off to rent an old Richard Harris movie, though it’s Bob Goulet’s voice I hear.
On a serious note, wishing all a joyful and safe Thanksgiving with friends and family, wherever you might be. A heartfelt Thank You to our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen (and all others fighting the good fight) who find themselves apart from family this year. Please know that you are appreciated and missed by a thankful majority of this nation.
Nice gala event as always. Any idea how much this party cost? Just asking for the benefit of the folks that are still without work.
‘Qu’ils mangent de la brioche’
Sounds like a “Let them eat cake” moment…
Fluge, I am extremely jealous of your Viator or whatever you call it. It makles me look handsome. VX probably likes it also.
A picture of my nephew…
(Actully pilfered from a old poster over @ Airwarriors.)
Ain’t it grand eatin’ with the swells?
Everyone that is but any Republican.
“Sounds to me like the Obamas filled their guests with piles of wind-inducing vegetables. Hardly necessary, you would have thought.”
here is the blog posting
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100017885/sick-bags-at-the-ready-the-new-york-times-gushes-over-the-obamas-state-dinner/
Heh…he said “torches”
Hey aside from the Hollywood heavy hitters, they made sure to have Andy Stern of SEIU on the list and Jeff Imelt of GE–those folks who made bodacious contributions to the Obama campaign deserve a free meal for all that moolah.
They even managed to find one Republican to attend–Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana made the cut–but what the heck, he’s of Indian extraction so they could sorta ignore the taint of the Republican label.
And what the heck, I’m just pleased as can be that Nancy Pelosi had a place to wear her little black Armani dress.
Of course if they’d cut the guest list down, and left some of the Hollywood celebs/donors back in Hollywood for another day, well they wouldn’t have needed to hire the doggone circus tent to hold this dog and pony show.–there would have been room in the White House.
Bah, Humbug!
Happy Thanksgiving, Y’all!
Is it already Thanksgiving in the western Pacific? I will hoist one for those who may not be able to at the moment, God bless their dedication to us landlubbers.
Lex, you sound like you’re proud of the US again.
You know, it wasn’t a state dinner. State dinners include heads of state. Without one there it’s just an official dinner. And yet…the Obama Administration refers to it as a state dinner.
I know I’m being a pedant but…
According to the NYT Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India was there. Doesn’t he qualify as a head of state?
P.J. O’Rourke – when he was funnier and more insightful – in discussing a book (and a review of the same by David Horowitz) on “Camelot” once observed that a much worse sin against the Republic than the urge of a powerful President (like JFK or Obama) to be worshiped, was the desire on the part of the people to worship the powerful. He argued that the occasional megalomaniac who managed to get his 15 minutes of fame was much less a cause of concern than large swathes of the public who transferred their relatively harmless fascination with celebrities onto politicians.
Which brings up something I’ve been pondering – no insult to any non-believers, but I wonder if those who cannot satisfy the desire to direct their sense of gratitude and wonder to God are not perhaps more vulnerable to being too deferential to this-worldly causes and realities? (And yes, we who are religious have our own pathologies – I only raise this because of the disturbing cult of personality around Obama by otherwise militantly and impeccably secular people that really does have a stench of messianic politics about it).
What’s the matter, David?
You mean you’re really not familiar with that whole ‘second coming’ thing?
Snickers, even the uninvited managed to penetrate the stalwart defenses of the SS…posing as ‘FoB’s to hobnob with the hoipoli and have pictures snapped to post to Facebook.
Camelot? Meh, not so much from what I’m seeing. Perhaps just another campaign fund raising dinner with a smattering of dignitaries and the usual suspects.
noticeably absent – any Fox news anchors. Brain Williams, Katie the disco queen, and others were there. Just to give the news that unbiased factor ya know.
I can’t wait until Tuesday night. I’m sure it will be full of biting commentary. How much spent indeed.
Let’s not go to Camelot, it is a silly place.
Dear Michelle,
Pre- or post-trib? I was so familiar with the Second Coming growing up that once when I was a wee tike and couldn’t find my family about the home for 1/2 hour I thought they had been raptured away (and of course my mum owned several books by Hal Lindsey). Which makes me amused at self-styled secular, sophisticated people who can simultaneously sneer at fundies and indulge in all sorts of secular apocalyptic fantasies (Al Gore’s environmentalism is looking more post-trib), look at a candidate who could invoke snake-oil cures without blinking (John Edwards – “We will do stem cell research. We will stop juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other debilitating diseases….People like Chris Reeve will get out of their wheelchairs and walk again with stem cell research” ), and evince the need to worship The Lightworker and sing hymns to the new age. Which brings to mind Chesterton’s dictum that those who cease to believe in something will become credulous about everything.