Parties You Will Never Get Into

For the first state dinner of his administration, US President Barack Obama did not scrimp on pomp and pageantry. On November 24, 2009, he poured them all on India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur.

For a first, the event broke away from tradition on several levels. First, the President lavished the foremost state dinner not on Mexico or Canada, but on India. Furthermore, he held it under a specially built tent on the White House South Lawn, not in the State Dining Room.

Obama’s tent victoriously atoned for its derring-do. Insulated against the cold, rainy November evening, the tent proved to be a seamless extension of White House. Eleven chandeliers, hanging from a cavernous canopy, radiated glorious ambient light on invitees. Better yet, the magnolia-adorned walls offered them a view of the Washington Monument.

Due to the tent’s expansive capacity, 400 VIPs, including top Indian diplomats, were able to come. Inside, the sea of bodies made for a curious mélange of tuxedos, gowns and saris. In deference to the occasion, First Lady Michelle Obama donned a gown designed by India’s Naeem Khan.

There to toast the Prime Minister was a flotilla of Democrats, including State Secretary Hillary Clinton, Social Secretary Desirée Rogers, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, plus a few Republicans, also came.

Unsurprisingly, Hollywood sent a few emissaries like director Steven Spielberg and actors Blair Underwood and Alfre Woodard. Singer-actress Jennifer Hudson and Indian-born musician A.R. Rahman, along with jazz crooner Kurt Elling were also around to provide entertainment. From media came CBS anchorwoman Katie Couric and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.

Place settings consisted of state service plates inherited from the Eisenhower, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations. From them, guests ate, among others, salad with rocket leaves harvested from Michelle Obama’s White House Kitchen Garden.

Tables were draped in apple green linens and came with gilded cane chairs. On each table sat a combination of hydrangeas, roses, and sweet peas in colors not unlike the peacock, India’s national bird.

On top of Hudson and Rahman, guests had entertainment in the form of The United States Marine Band. Marvin Hamlisch also directed an ensemble from the National Symphony Orchestra.

President Barack Obama honored three famous men, Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro and Mel Brooks, with lifetime achievement awards on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009 at the Kennedy Center Honours.

The event was black tie and was in honor of the celebrities’ efforts in “transforming arts in America.”

“These performers are indeed the best,” said Obama at the event. “They are also living reminders of a single truth – and I’m going to steal a line from my wife Michelle here – the arts are not somehow apart from our national life, the arts are the heart of our national life.”

Celebrities in attendance included Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Edward Norton. Meryl Streep was on of several who spoke about the award winners.

“Bob (De Niro) has earned the respect he enjoys around the world in the thousands of little bitty details,” Streep said.

On its 95th outing, the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was characteristically festooned with stars. This year marks a milestone however, as it welcomes a new, historic administration.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle took center stage at this year’s WHCA dinner May 9 at the Washington Hilton hotel. Politics, movies, music, media, and fashion bonded together that night to make an indistinguishable mélange.

Delivering the night’s most important remarks, Obama managed to tickle the glittery assemblage with light, hilarious quips. Comedienne Wanda Sykes, in comparison, worked up guests with a more politically charged speech.

Politics’ new guard that evening included White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Attorney General Eric Holder, Senior Advisor David Axelrod, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, and White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers. New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, among many other government leaders, was also in attendance.

Not everyone was a Democrat. Spotted briefly at the bash was former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Sen. John McCain’s daughter Meghan partied the evening away; so did Antonin Scalia, the conservative Supreme Court Justice.

Entertainers from all alphabets of the list freely mingled among such movers and shakers. The entertainment world’s ambassadors included Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Glenn Close, Natalie Portman, James Franco, Owen Wilson, Mike Myers, Eva Longoria, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Jon Bon Jovi, Elizabeth Banks, Kerry Washington, Jon Hamm, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Denis Leary, Matthew Settle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Rachel Leigh Cook. Donatella Versace and newfangled designer Jason Wu attended the dinner in behalf of fashion.

Covering the festivity and attracting mileage themselves were media personalities like Katie Couric, Christopher Hitchens, Dee Dee Myers, Steve Kroft, Jim Kelly, Jennet Conant, David Gregory, Ana Marie Cox, Lara Logan, David Brooks, Bianna Golodryga, Chris Matthews, David Carr, Julia Allison, Mort Zuckerman, John King and Dana Bash.

Modern heroes Chesley Sullenberger and Richard Phillips were accorded due esteem with the best of these stars.

Holdovers of the dinner trickled to the opulent mansion of the French ambassador for the after-party sponsored by Vanity Fair and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.