Obama's White House parties are under investigation

[Sweetie]

White House nightlife under investigation
'This party atmosphere sends the wrong message'
Posted: March 07, 2009
12:20 am Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily


An organization that serves as a watchdog on the U.S. government for American taxpayers has launched a campaign to uncover exactly how much tax money is being spent on parties at the Obama White House.



The president has shown a penchant for lavish galas, such as the huge assembly orchestrated in Denver when he accepted his party's nomination for president – an outdoor gathering for some 75,000 featuring a stage with Greek columns. He also held a multimillion-dollar victory celebration in Chicago, and his fancy inauguration cost an estimated $170 million, according to ABC News.




Now, Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch, told WND today he's seeking information about the partying in the White House since the Obamas moved in.



Freedom Watch is seeking information from the federal government on who had input into bailout legislation and whether they got anything in return. Klayman said the reports of the partying at the White House, "with the likes of Steve Wonder and other high priced entertainment[COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important][/COLOR][/COLOR]
stars," will be the focus of document requests being submitted to the General Services Administration. The requests will seek to determine how much taxpayer money is being used.



"Barack and Michelle Obama have been throwing taxpayer funded parties nearly every night with their 'friends' and supporters, with Michelle Obama even exhorting them not to 'break' White House property," Klayman's announcement said.
"This party atmosphere sends the wrong message to the American people. As the Obama-Clinton crowd party on, the American people are suffering greatly," Klayman said.
"It was right to criticize corporate execs for using taxpayer bailout money on bonuses and corporate junkets. In the face of this criticism, it is an outrage for Barack and Michelle Obama to party on, as Rome burns. It's like throwing a party at a funeral," he said.



According to a report by the news and commentary website Politico, many of the parties have been just that – parties, not political and government meetings.



"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[COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important][/COLOR][/COLOR] 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," the report said.



"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 ... ending many of their days past midnight," the report said.



"Most recently … 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."



The report quoted White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers saying the Obamas want to "replicate the same kind of environment[COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important][/COLOR][/COLOR] they had in Chicago."



"If there was a party or an event [in Chicago], they were there," the report quoted "a friend" saying.


But is anything of government value accomplished?
"You would have felt like a fool talking about politics at this party," said Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said after one major event. "I was surprised how much of a social event it was and how little of a political occasion it was."



Insiders said in the report that the Obama social schedule is busier than any other previous occupants of the White House.
"We haven't seen this kind of entertaining in a really long time," Dee Dee Myers, former White House press secretary to Bill Clinton, said in the report.
According to an ABC report, many of the parties have been on Wednesdays, and the report confirmed one featured a Stevie Wonder concert.


"This is a pretty big house, so we get lonely," the report said Obama announced. "It's hard for me to move around out there some times so I got to bring the world to me." Published reports said the Jonas Brothers were on hand in the White House for a special event for the Obama daughters, Sasha and Malia, on inauguration night.


Dinners have featured lavish menus including "Celery Soup, Wild Mushroom Crisps, Steelhead Salmon with Citrus sauce, Crispy Spinach, Toasted Saffron Couscous Pearls, Baby Iceberg lettuce with Maytag Bleu Cheese and Yogurt ranch dressing and for dessert, Milk Chocolate velvet cake" – all served on gold-rimmed china.



Klayman has taken on the establishment in Washington several times, including when the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee interviewed Sen. Hillary Clinton for her appointment by Obama as secretary of state.
The senators, however, ignored the shady parts of her background involving "Chinagate" and "Filegate," he said.


In the Chinagate scandal, documented on the website for Judicial Watch, which Klayman previously led, technology companies allegedly made donations of millions of dollars to various Democratic Party entities, including President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign, in return for permission to sell high-tech secrets to China.

"Filegate" developed when President Clinton and Hillary Clinton were accused of violating the privacy rights of their perceived political enemies by wrongly accessing and misusing the FBI files of staffers in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, among others.

White House nightlife under investigation

[kingcap72]

I like how the article avoids mentioning how Obama and Michelle manage to throw these lavish parties almost every night with no mention of them having young kids. But the article does spend a lot of time talking about the Clintons. Hmm.

And whenever the Obamas have a huge event it always get publicity, so why haven't we heard about all of these parties before now?

[Sweetie]

^ That's what granny is for.

[kingcap72]

^^Well, then maybe Granny can teach the writer about math. Because the article says that the Obamas are throwing parties almost every night, but then says they've hosted half a dozen parties (6). Six doesn't count as almost every night.

[Valley Doll]

Heck, I thought the investigation was about someone getting drunk at these parties. My money would be on Jill Biden, with her blabbing about WH secrets.

Dinners have featured lavish menus including "Celery Soup, Wild Mushroom Crisps, Steelhead Salmon with Citrus sauce, Crispy Spinach, Toasted Saffron Couscous Pearls, Baby Iceberg lettuce with Maytag Bleu Cheese and Yogurt ranch dressing and for dessert, Milk Chocolate velvet cake" – all served on gold-rimmed china.

That's the only item on the menu that sounds overly expensive, because saffron can be pricey. Everything sounds pretty normal to me. And I doubt Michelle will be hauling the china back to Chicago. Doesn't it usually stay at the WH or is given to the Smithsonian?

[Sweetie]

^^Well, then maybe Granny can teach the writer about math. Because the article says that the Obamas are throwing parties almost every night, but then says they've hosted half a dozen parties (6). Six doesn't count as almost every night.

They are held every Wednesday (the cocktail parties), but they have held many other gathering......in which Obama said is because he's trying to make the White House open to everyone. They first started reporting about them back in March.

BTW, check out the MADTv spook of their never ending Congo line.

[kingcap72]

They are held every Wednesday. They first started reporting about them back in March.

BTW, check out the MADTv spook of their never ending Congo line.

That's still not almost every night.

And what's a MadTv spook, which I'm assuming is a typo.

[Sweetie]

Spoof. sorry.

[cmmdee]

BTW, check out the MADTv spook of their never ending Congo line.

That sounds funny
It's funny to think the White House even has a nightlife.
Well the WH is open to the public. It's a home and a museum. I am sad to say I have never been inside eventhough I am local. Sad, right?
But then again it's not like I would have wanted to visit when the bush Error and his cronies were in office. Haha.





He's kind of nerdy but I like it

[Sweetie]

^haha, that 2nd pictures is too funny!

I really don't care what he does on his off time. Now I don't agree with taxpayers funding this every week, but if it will help to bring the two sides to a common ground, then have more of them.

[greysfang]

I'd be interested in seeing the numbers, but whoever wrote this article is an idiot. Every night for 100 days is 100 parties, not half a dozen. Sheesh.

ETA: Never mind, I see the fuzzy math jumped out at everyone else too.

[MohandasKGanja]

Larry Klayman is an equal-opportunity pain in the butt.

He used to be a long-time thorn in the side of the Clinton Administration, to the delight of Republicans. Then, we he turned on George Bush's administration, all of a sudden he wasn't so well loved.

[kingcap72]

That sounds funny
It's funny to think the White House even has a nightlife.
Well the WH is open to the public. It's a home and a museum. I am sad to say I have never been inside eventhough I am local. Sad, right?
But then again it's not like I would have wanted to visit when the bush Error and his cronies were in office. Haha.





He's kind of nerdy but I like it

Obama would've gotten laughed off of Soul Train.

Spoof. sorry.

No worries. I figured that's what it was.

[BBDSP]

That is really interesting, I mean, OK, not interesting. It just makes me think and wonder. I mean, how are WH social functions budgeted? You'd think there would be a budget for entertaining/recreation that people would stay within.

I wonder what other presidents have done? Is this something we should have been paying attention to all along? I don't know. My head hurts.

One thing's for sure...they are dogging his every step. It is reminiscent of the Clinton years. Yet somehow Bush managed to sneak in a whole illegitimate war and no one noticed.

[Valley Doll]

^^^Exactly. What's the fuss about some trivial war when someone is eating a fancy wine-infused risotto on a fancy dinner? Heads should roll with the butter on the side!