Kennedy Center: Doo Wa’s and Hoo-ha’s.

Wow, what an evening! Better than the Grammys, expect no dirty dancing. For the occasion, Lady M pulled out all the stops.

We’re making progress: no more gowns reminiscent of WH draperies. We’ve moved on to lampshades.(and how do you like the handiwork of my newly installed wasp-waist drivers?)

You’ve probably heard about the winners of the 32nd Kennedy Center Honors: Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Grace Bumbry (opera, people), Dave Brubeck and Robert De Niro. I can’t speak to the rest of the gang, but I have some insight into why Grace and Robert won – it’s mostly due to their sartorial tastes:

 

Robert De Niro and wife Grace Hightower

 

 

 

Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. The inspiration for many of Mo’s fashion accessories.

Grace Bumbry, like Lady M, has a very individual sense of style.

Although hers also serves a practical purpose: a portable projection chamber:

Big Guy had a lot of fun looking down on the little people.

Here is a shot of BO and his DooWa’s and here is a pic of MO without her hoo-ha’s:

But the night was magical, and peppered with huge celebrities.

   Aretha

 

Nancy and hubby, straight from Madame Tussaud’s

 

 

 

 

 

Sting and Trudy

 

 

Jack Black and Tanya Hayden

 

 

 

 

It’s almost enough to make you forget about health care and global warming, isn’t it?

Sunday in the Beltway

While Big Guy heads up to the Hill today to play kissy-face with Dems in hopes of persuading them to get his healthcare bill rammed down everyone’s throat passed in time for Christmas, Lady M will be working on her wardrobe for our trip across the pond. The options this time are simply breathtaking, but you’ll have to wait a bit on them, as I’m under strict orders to keep this under wraps.

But I wanted to check in just to let you know that Santa’s big shiny black belt was in no danger of being purloined the other night, as some of you feared.

So as you can see, MO wore her own Santa sash.  

 

 

which is one of her favorites:

 

 

Besides, look at the size of that pathetic Santa. Do you honestly think we could fit into his belt?

“Diva” is a Big Important Job

Boy, what do we have to do to get Desiree off the front page? It’s not like she isn’t the little media hound, but apparently she doesn’t subscribe to the “any publicity is good publicity” principal.  FOX  (we hate them) is still yelping that the gate-crashers were her fault.

We had to claim executive privilege to keep her away from the snarling R-words up on Capitol Hill. Then they claimed she’s a social secretary and has nothing to do with national security and therefore is not eligible for the executive privilege card. So which is it guys? Is gate-crashing a national security issue or not? Sheeze, politicians.

As Robin Givhan, the fashion critic of The Washington Post, tartly wrote after Crashergate broke, Ms Rogers "arrived in Washington this year to great fanfare, no small amount of it of her own making".

Besides, if you think that just because she’s our social secretary that she’s not really, really important, well, just take a look at what Gibbsy said yesterday:

"The president, the first lady and the entire White House staff are grateful for the job that she does and thinks she has done a terrific and wonderful job pulling off a lot of big and important jobs here at the White House," 

Hear that? “big and important jobs” so case closed. Just because she put herself on the guest list, rather than the “working” list for the first official State Dinner of the O’s administration does not mean she wasn’t working the room. And today, in explaining why she will not be made available for Congressional testimony, Gibbsy further explained:

"There's, I think, a pretty long history of ensuring that White House staff can provide advice to the president and do so confidentially,"

I guess that he’s referring to her advice not to station anyone (certainly not herself) at the gate with the Secret Service for the State Dinner, thereby allowing rude intruders in who could have meant to do great bodily harm to someone in attendance.

So let’s face it, she’s a FOBO and FOMO and she’s not going anywhere.

So put that down as another job saved. And it’s a really important job (which means lots of $$$), so it offsets the 3 Secret Service guys who had to take the fall for the security breach.

 

 

I know you’ve all been clamoring for a rear view of the, ah, unique gown that the diva  selected for the state dinner.

But unfortunately, it didn’t look that good and Desi made me scrub all of the images from my hard drive.

But I do have a shot of the original as conceived as a runway creation, front and back:

Rather disturbing that someone exhibiting this kind of judgment is responsible for a “lot of big and important jobs” around here, isn’t it?

Jobs Summit Saves Christmas

Yes, I know, I know. There’s been a lot of big news around here. But we need to start at the end and work our way backwards. Big Guy’s big jobs summit: How do you know it was big? Well, anytime Tom Friedman and Paul Krugman show up for the same event, you know it’s big. Apparently the Chamber of Commerce wasn’t invited, which makes sense, since they didn’t get any of the stimulus cash to create or save jobs.

So maybe we can stop getting our panties in a bundle over the strangely lethargic West Point speech and just focus on something a little more positive: Christmas in and around the Big White. That’s right, you read correctly. The polls are in, and after 2 months of focus groups and deliberating, we are now officially permitted to refer to it as “Christmas”. Besides, the non-controlling legal opinions came in, indicating that “Christmas” was a designated federal holiday. And it appears that there is not sufficient support in Congress to change it’s name to the “Official Federal Winter Holiday”. Nancy and Harry both said they could muster the votes if necessary, but it would cost another $500 million. And, like everyone else, we’re cutting back this year, so “Christmas” it is.

So here’s the run down so far: we kicked off Wednesday with a “preview” party. I just love this administration! Pre-party parties! I understand we’re doing “previews” for all future State Dinners too, just to iron out any wrinkles.

 

The centerpiece of it all is in the Blue Room: an 18 1/2-by-13-foot Douglas fir that was delivered last Friday and is lit with environmentally sound LED lights, decorated with huge gold ribbons and bows and more than 650 ornaments from prior administrations, and is tied to the ceiling. (kind of like GM, AIG, BoA etc. Only they’re tied to the floor.)

 

The White House is celebrating Christmas with recycled ornaments, natural materials and, of course, a gingerbread White House. The 390-pound work of culinary art is covered in white chocolate and has a marzipan replica of family dog, Bo. The staff spent 6 weeks creating this impressive gingerbread house.

Check out the marzipan veggie garden! Sweet!

 

 

How cute is little Bo? He took our own Ace of Cakes 8 hours to make. Oh oh! You can’t do that in the WH organic veggie patch, Bo! 

 

For the occasion Lady M dressed up as a giant green elf: get it? Organic veggie garden?

 

Then next morning, Big Guy held his jobs summit, where he announced that the White House had just created or saved 2000 jobs just in setting up for the big up-coming holiday Christmas parties. The gingerbread house alone saved 50 jobs.

Then last night, we lit the giant Christmas tree.

How many O’s does it take to pull the trigger? Ha,ha. Only Won.

 

 

 

And finally, we have this:

 

Big Guy with the only other person on earth that gives away more stuff. (I sure hope Santa makes it out of there with that big shiny black belt.)

Josephine, Meet Your Inner Napoleon

I was desperately concerned that someone was going to notice this because - let’s face it – it was obvious enough to make it fair game.And sure enough, not only did Mrs. P. go on the record with before and after pictures, but she had the audacity to include a picture of a perfect Josephine, just to make her point.

We’ve been struggling for 11 months now, trying to soften Lady M’s hard stare and shore up Big Guy’s machismo. Just exactly how does this kind of commentary help?

“It figures that if one of the Obamas was going to grow a pair, it'd be the wife.”

Next, I suppose you’re going to want MO to address the War College?

But for the record: These are not falsies. Simply body “accessories” that have been artfully rearranged through the miracle of lycra (and Moi, of course.)

H/T Patum Peperium

West Point? Eeyore Called. He Said He’s Not the Only Ass Around Here.

Whew! Tough night up at West Point. MO couldn’t go, because she… because…well, to be honest, she just didn’t want to.

And what a shame. Look at that sea of grey: a little jewel toned number like this would have really stood out and made quite a fashion statement.

But maybe she, like Chris Matthews, understood this to be the “enemy camp” and she just didn’t wish to expose her flanks. MO’s already feeling a little beat up over the grief she’s getting about Diva Desiree’s cavalier attitude towards security. And to be honest, it’s not like she’s getting paid for any of this. Well, by way of a paycheck with her name on it anyway.

Which is kind of a sore point around here, because up till now MO has always made more money than BO. Now that she doesn’t have that going for her, it’s a little harder to get Big Guy to see things her way all the time. And if she ever catches him casting that imperial gaze down his nose at her again, well, let’s just say I hope someone has properly stored the presidential golf clubs.

But I digress: the point is everyone around here has been a little testy today because the big read up at West Point didn’t go over quite as well as we’d hoped. Apparently equivocation with conviction doesn’t sell as well at the military academy as it always did in the Senate. You know, where you get to vote for something before you vote against it, or, alternatively, simply vote “present” ? Up till now, “present” was always sufficient for Big Guy. As long as he was there, the MSM would do the rest.

Minimally, we all thought that after the Indian State Dinner where we pulled out all the stops (other than checking the guest list for rude intruders) that at least the Indians would be our friends. So how do you explain Tunku Varadarajan calling Big Guy’s speech “Obama’s Eeyore Act”? Wow, we can’t even buy a break around here anymore!

I’m afraid the O’s are just starting to figure out that this job is “really hard” (where have I heard that before?). And I’m afraid it’s starting to show on their faces, which is a no-no. Even watching brother Craig's team defeat the opposition doesn’t seem to do the trick anymore. The O’s and grandma look like they’ve been sucking on pickles, and the Secret Service guys look like they wish they were sucking on arsenic.

But come on! Suck it up guys! It’s not like our team is losing or anything. Are they?

H/T Rational Jingo

Invitations? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Invitations!

Ever since the break-in at the Indian State Dinner, the O’s have been very jumpy. They get up in the middle of the night and check to make sure the burglar alarm is set, and the back door is locked.

Big Guy and Lady M are both really, really steamed about this security breach, and you can be sure someone will be falling on the sword any day now (If by “falling on the sword” you mean “being stabbed in the back”). In the mean time, Secret Service announced some changes in security screening policy:

A government official familiar with the plans says from now on, a staff member from the White House social office will work with the Secret Service at the gates where people check in to attend official events at the president's residence.

Which is kind of funny, because that’s how we used to do it in all of the previous administrations. But when Diva Desiree arrived, I guess the Secret Service decided she wouldn’t be that much help anyway.

 

 

 

So – because I don’t want you getting upset if you see this somewhere else -I’m going to let you in on this top-secret tid-bit: I know I can trust you, but please, for any number of reasons, I implore you not to pass it on. Until such time as we are all comfortable with the new security measures, this is MO’s undercover disguise, and her code name will be “Zapata”. I’m sure she’ll be safe, so don’t worry. And as soon as Desiree figures out how to make out an official guest list while her nails are drying, we can all get back to normal around here.

H/T Vanderleun

Quelle Surprise!

So, don’t tell me that having an in-house public relations staff doesn’t pay off! Look at the booty we just pulled in:

---

BEST DRESSED 2009, VOTEZ POUR VOTRE PRÉFÉRÉE !

Yes! The votes are in, and once again Obama wins!

The French couture Bible, Elle magazine, honored Lady M as the winner in the "political chic" category of their best dressed list. Wow! Once again, a well oiled campaign and staffers who are willing to do whatever it takes to win have paid off big. MO even edged out the home-town fav, France’s own first lady, Carla Bruni Sarkozy!!! Sweet! Or should I say “douceur de vivre “?

   

The magazine said it focused on bold style this year, noting, “Mrs. Obama resembles no one else. Her style is unique, and she encourages young designers.”

Elle also praised Obama for adding a new item to the classic first lady’s wardrobe: the cardigan sweater. “She has succeeded in imposing the waisted cardigan as official dress.”

How clever of the French fashionistas to find the two categories that Lady M positively OWNS: bold and “wasted waisted” cardigans!

Here we see both “bold” and “unique” in one outfit.

 

 

 

 

Big Guy still has some matches from a campaign swing through Park City, UT back in ’08 (I think you all know by now that BO smokes, right? I’m not letting the cat out of the bag am I?). They’re from a little French Bistro called “Easy Street” ( BO’s theme song), and are imprinted with the bistro’s motto  “We’re so French we hate ourselves."  Well, I guess.

I hope Carla doesn’t feel too bad about the snub. At least she came in second. I, on the other hand didn’t even get an honorable mention. I rather thought the editors at Elle might have given a little nod to my trompe-l’oeil work.

Frogs: they’re just silly little people who think they’re better than everyone else. But you get used to it after awhile.

H/T Breeze, who has her own name now!