For Obama, Family Trumps Social Washington

March 20, 2009 -- President Obama campaigned on a pledge to bring change to Washington and move away from business as usual. Many people assumed he meant politics -- not necessarily messing around with the long-standing traditions of social Washington, D.C.

But, Obama, who has been more active and visible on the District scene than his predecessor, George W. Bush, is skipping town this weekend and passing on the exclusive Gridiron dinner, an annual off-the-record event that brings together journalists and politicians for a night of song and dance, including skits that poke gentle fun at elected officials.

Obama will be the first president to miss the dinner in his first year in office since Grover Cleveland in 1885.

The Gridiron Club was founded that year by two dozen Washington newspaper writers and has evolved in recent years to include television, electronic and magazine journalists. It is the oldest and most elite club in the nation's capital for journalists.

The White House said the president's absence is simply because of a scheduling conflict and not a rejection of inside-the-Beltway traditions.

Today marks the beginning of spring break for Sidwell Friends School, where Obama's daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, are students.

Instead of donning white-tie and tails, the president will depart with his family to the presidential retreat at Camp David for the weekend.

Gridiron Club member and 2008 president Carl Leubsdorf of the Dallas Morning News dismissed any suggestions of a presidential snub and said it boiled down to a conflict on the calendar.

"Some members are disappointed because everyone was looking forward to having the president there," Leubsdorf said, "but we have no reason to believe the reason he's not coming is anything other than what we were told."

Added one Gridiron Club member: "It's not like people are moping around or anything. It is a disappointment but these things happen."