Posted on 02/10/2009 4:56:20 PM PST by STARWISE
You can stiff the president on a policy issue and defy him on a political one, but who can turn down an invitation to the White House?
Using one of the world’s most famous private residences as bait, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are unleashing a bipartisan charm offensive and exploiting every square inch of their new home to make friends and influence rivals. The social calendar suggests a return to the days of Camelot.
Since moving into their new digs, the first couple has hosted a half-dozen gatherings — from bipartisan cocktail receptions to a public open house to the more intimate Super Bowl party two Sundays ago — ending many of their days past midnight. Most recently, on Wednesday, the Obamas opened the White House doors to House caucus leaders from the moderate Blue Dog Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus. White House aides say the couple hopes to make the Wednesday cocktail parties a tradition.
Friends say the Obamas are looking to maintain the dizzying social calendar they had in their pre-White House days, while using their knack for socializing to find new friends and win hearts on Capitol Hill and in other Washington power centers.
“They want to replicate the same kind of environment they had in Chicago,” said a longtime friend of the Obamas, adding that White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers is “the perfect person” for the job because she knows the couple’s former life inside out and is “designing the calendar to reflect the kinds of things they like to do.”
“If there was a party or an event [in Chicago], they were there,” the friend said. “They’ve always liked to go to lots of restaurants and be a part of the community. Now they want to be a part of D.C.”
“Barack and Michelle have always been interested in the details of people’s lives,” the confidant said, calling them “people people.” “They know who’s engaged to whom, what people’s spouses do for a living, all about their parents, where they grew up, names of children.”
The president, the friend added, “likes to be in the know.”
Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of the president’s closest friends in the Senate and a guest at a recent White House party, said Obama likes a mixed crowd because he “knows if he’s around people like that, he won’t get everything sugarcoated. He wants to make sure he stays grounded and wants to hear the good, the bad and the ugly.”
Obama hopes to finesse the bad and the ugly by opening doors to Republicans and other ideological adversaries, but some are suspicious of the outreach. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said last week that, when it comes to economic recovery plans, he prefers being included in the decision-making meetings, not just the parties before and after.
But Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said that Obama’s aim “isn’t about one vote,” as some assert. “It’s about building relationships and getting rid of the partisan divide,” she said.
Despite the obvious political dimension, guests say there is little overt arm-twisting at the White House soirees.
At a cocktail reception Wednesday evening, Obama — joined by the first lady and top administration officials such as Valerie Jarrett, Michael Strautmanis and Phil Schiliro — worked the room, talking to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.), as they nibbled hors d’oeuvres.
Butterfield said he teased the president about his commute after the party. “It must be mighty nice to get home in two minutes,” Butterfield said.
“Thirty seconds,” the president deadpanned.
At the bipartisan Super Bowl blast, the Obamas kept it casual, serving up hot dogs, pizza, and vanilla and chocolate ice cream, with no mention of politics, guests said. Conversations centered on football, basketball and day-to-day life.
“You would have felt like a fool talking about politics at this party,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), one of the guests. “I was surprised how much of a social event it was and how little of a political occasion it was.”
Obama asked Rep. Charles W. Dent’s daughter about field hockey games, and the Pennsylvania Republican and his wife chatted with the Obamas about their mutual obsession with Friday night at the movies.
“They’re very natural in that kind of social setting,” Dent said. “They’re both gregarious people and very gracious.”
At the start of the affair, the first couple worked their way around the East Wing, where guests initially gathered. Then, just before the start of the game, Obama shouted, “Kickoff!” and pointed revelers toward the White House theater. During the game, guests said he groaned at bad plays and threw his hands up in the air when the Steelers — the team he was rooting for — scored. (Meanwhile, kids who scored an invite with their parents played video games in the East Wing.)
At halftime, the president — who guests said never downed a beer and ate very little — walked around with a plate of oatmeal cookies, schmoozing with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and others. When someone asked for directions to the bathroom, the president quipped, “How would I know? I’ve only been here for 10 days.”
Dent said he left the White House with a “good impression” of the new president.
“He seems like a great guy, and my family had a lot of fun,” he said. “I respect what he’s trying to do by having these gatherings and trying to build relationships, even though we disagree on issues.”
The couple’s social calendar is markedly different from that of other recent inhabitants at 1600. The Bushes 43 often were in bed by 9 p.m. and kept a tame social life, gravitating toward old pals from Texas and a tight circle of Washington friends. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton also kept lighter social schedules.
Dee Dee Myers, former White House press secretary to Clinton, said he and Hillary “were not as social as the Obamas appear to be.”
“We haven’t seen this kind of entertaining in a really long time,” she said.
Myers said the Clintons — who did not have a wide circle of friends in Washington — liked movie screenings and small dinners, but they did not host many bipartisan gatherings.
“I don’t remember it happening while I was there,” she said.
Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, said Obama is “smart to use the off hours to move forward with his ideas and agenda in a town that is so harsh.”
“He wants to convey this idea of someone who is young, alive and active. Young people host parties, they go out to eat, especially when there are young kids around,” Zelizer said. But he cautioned that the gatherings could “detract from the image he is trying to cultivate.”
“At some point, he looks more like ‘them’ than ‘us,’ because many people don’t realize that parties are work in Washington,” he said. “There’s an agenda behind every event.”
Da-amn!!
Still looking for that hundred pounder though.
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