A Non-Blue Night in the Blue Room
EmailA member of the Marine Corps band tickled the ivories in the White House Blue Room last night as members of the House and Senate leadership — Democratic and Republican — attended President Obama’s presidential cocktail party last night.
Drinks and hors d’œuvres — chicken curry, wagyu steak — were served as the crowd mingled and chatted cordially.
It was a thoroughly bipartisan affair, with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans from the House and Senate (plus spouses) invited to the exclusive fête.
Just minutes before, the House of Representatives handed the President his first legislative victory as his stimulus bill passed 244-188. But not a single House Republican voted for the bill, a disappointment to the President who on Tuesday visited the House Republican Caucus to try to find common ground.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told the President not to take the unanimous Republican opposition to the bill as a reflection of his visit to House Republicans; they just oppose the bill and think it needs a lot of work, Boehner said, but the outreach was appreciated and was very constructive.
Guests started arriving around 7 pm ET; everyone left by 9 pm.
– jpt
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Pardon me while I spit up in my mouth…
It’s a shame I couldn’t hurl on all that wagyu steak. WAGYU? How appropriate, it describes the attitude of all our elected officials.
Too bad they don’t have enough SERVE YOU in their respective menus.
Posted by: JC in OBX | January 29, 2009, 8:32 am 8:32 am
Yeah, Mr.President they were just rejecting the bill. Our alternative? Tried and true tax cuts. Care to have another go on those? We think they’ll work this time.
Jobs? Uhhhh, no plan.
We do have an idea for the mortgage industry though. Let’s eat and drink up.
Posted by: Mavsreader | January 29, 2009, 8:35 am 8:35 am
I hope Rahm spit in Boener’s drink.
Posted by: Tk | January 29, 2009, 8:35 am 8:35 am
What brand of cigarette does BHO smoke?
Posted by: Steve | January 29, 2009, 8:43 am 8:43 am
How is chicken curry an hors d’œuvre? I think Jack needs to take some pics on his iphone if he is going to take this blog to food pr0n.
Posted by: BertieW | January 29, 2009, 9:22 am 9:22 am
It’s understandable why everyone left in 2 hours.
Posted by: kathy | January 29, 2009, 9:37 am 9:37 am
Any reports on number of bottles of snake oil sold?
Posted by: tjp612 | January 29, 2009, 9:39 am 9:39 am
Hmmmm! And they have a cocktail party in the Blue Room?
Posted by: anonymous | January 29, 2009, 10:19 am 10:19 am
OK, Mr. President do your thing! It’s about the American people that overwhelmingly spoke. Let ‘em eat cake. These people or should I say “aliens” don’t want a government that works. They want what they have always had. “Their” prosperity and wealth. Their thinking, I got mind, who cares. But to keep my job for the “pension”, I’ll throw out “debt, our children, bipartisan, liberal, spend, tax-cut (for me, I pay too much of my wealth), small business,(hire only their family and friends)no, and ….
Posted by: sara wilson | January 29, 2009, 10:26 am 10:26 am
jpt writes:
“But not a single House Republican voted for the bill … ”
Gosh, all that sucking up for nothing. Hurray for the actual Democrats who didn’t go along with this crap.
Posted by: Blue Fairy | January 29, 2009, 2:36 pm 2:36 pm
“I hope Rahm spit in Boener’s drink.”
Is Emanuel now circulating with drinks, dressed in a little red weskit? Good place for him.
NONE of them should drink at ALL. “Responsibility”, “sacrifice” and all that.
If the Congress were EVER sober, they never would have helped install this fraud.
Posted by: Blue Fairy | January 29, 2009, 2:40 pm 2:40 pm
“they never would have helped install this fraud.”
Name calling as talking point.
Posted by: pefros | January 29, 2009, 3:46 pm 3:46 pm
Re: No Republicans voted for the bill.
Unfortunately, this is going to continue to be the case. For decades the Conservative movement has lobbied and propagandized to move the American public more and more to the right. They have continually sought to win narrow majorities by polarizing issues. This has led them into being the party of the extreme right – this is their base.
Current events, however, have illustrated all too clearly the folly of the extreme right positions form war to the economy. The American public now is moving back to a centrist position, leaving the extremists clearly and vocally isolated and talking only to themselves. This is illustrated beautifully by the GOP Senator who had to go back home and kowtow to Rush Limbaugh, for some comments he made.
This is sad because Obama would really like to heal the divide. But let’s think about it… If the GOP is not willing to compromise – i.e. support some bills if some concessions are made – then what is the point of the Dems making any concessions at all?
The GOP is painting themselves into a corner with their extreme policies. They refuse to see the obvious fact, what most Americans see clearly, that their policies of the last 8 years are all failures.
Posted by: jmmx | January 29, 2009, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
JMMX,
I am on record, hardcore Republican McCain fan that I am, as having praised Obama for holding this cocktail party or whatever they want to call it. I think the civility displayed in such a setting is a great thing to cultivate.
That being said, I am disappointed in your comment here that, “This is sad because Obama would really like to heal the divide. But let’s think about it… If the GOP is not willing to compromise – i.e. support some bills if some concessions are made – then what is the point of the Dems making any concessions at all?” What has that to do with the stimulus bill? This bill is the biggest spending bill ever, and it includes tons of spending to which Republicans are philosophically opposed in this context, because it is NOT stimulative. Yes, two such items were removed– sodding the Mall and birth control funding. The vast majority of such spending was NOT removed, and the Republicans therefore stood by their principles and voted against it. Saying– “Oh, you removed 2% of the things I object to, that’s a reasonable compromise” would be insane. The Republicans were not at the table when the bill was drawn up, thanks to Pelosi and Reid. They could not support the bill. That does not mean they are going to be recalcitrant for the sake of recalcitrants no matter the issue going forward.
And I might add that many Americans share their misgivings about some of the specifics of the plan being rushed through. It is not as if the Republicans are ignoring the public. And remember the campaign pledge about going over the budget line by line and cutting needless spending– why is that same philosophy unacceptable here? Gibbs glibly says that we can’t eliminate every little unstimulative detail, but that does not mean the Republicans should blindly accept a bill that is chock full of them.
You then said,”The GOP is painting themselves into a corner with their extreme policies. They refuse to see the obvious fact, what most Americans see clearly, that their policies of the last 8 years are all failures.” Oh, there’s a bipartisan, reach across the aisle attitude if I ever saw one– Hey, all your ideas suck and none of them for the past 8 years has been acceptable. That is not constructive criticism (and it has the bonus of not being true, btw). This is not about extreme policies, this is a debate about how to best spend precious resources to stimulate the economy.
Posted by: jmmx
Posted by: moderate | January 29, 2009, 6:29 pm 6:29 pm
Dear Editor,
It is the United States Marine Band. Not the Marine Corps Band. Do the research.
Posted by: Richard William Schulze | January 29, 2009, 6:33 pm 6:33 pm
I love chicken curry!
Posted by: Chrissy | January 30, 2009, 2:18 am 2:18 am
Do you know how much Wagyu beef sells for? Between $125 and $400 per pound!!
This from the man who says
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,”
Oh and by the way:
“The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.
“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.” –Ed Morrissey
WASHINGTON HAS BECOME THE TOWN OF DO AS I SAY AND NOT AS I DO
Posted by: cuttingbackinmn | January 30, 2009, 11:40 am 11:40 am
Did you guys ever examine the cost of luncheons during the Bush Administration?
Since you are so good at this kind of stuff, can you find out for me what Rumsfeld paid for his suits?
Posted by: jmmx | January 30, 2009, 4:25 pm 4:25 pm
They probably did check the price of luncheons at the Bush White House (which by the way, all food is paid personally paid for by the president and not the taxpayers) but Bush never told us we couldn’t eat all that we wanted and expect other countries to say O.K.
This while he’s telling the American people that it’s “shameful” that executives make the kind of money they do.
Again, Do as I say and not as I do.
Posted by: cuttingbackinmn | January 30, 2009, 5:30 pm 5:30 pm