RSSUsing PayPal
White House Correspondents Dinner: Time Magazine Nabs Steinberg, Frankel, Mastromonaco, and DeParle
Share / Recommend - Comment - Print - Friday, May 08 2009, 2:11PM
CLOSE 
SOCIAL WEBSITES
http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2009/05/white_house_cor/&title=White House Correspondents Dinner: Time Magazine Nabs Steinberg, Frankel, Mastromonaco, and DeParle&topic=political_opinion" target="_blank">Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Facebook
Newsvine
Stumble UponEMAIL THIS ARTICLE
The Washington Note's publisher will not be at the WHCA Dinner this year as he'll be traveling, but the blog will be represented by others in the field.
But I just got a bit of an odd first. TIME Magazine has just sent out a promo email saying that it has secured Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg as a guest at TIME's table.
With an administration so picky about lobbying relationships and other potentially compromising relationships that might taint someone's public work and responsibilities (unless of course you are one of the many in the administration who worked for Goldman Sachs), it seems odd that some key Obama administration officials would agree to be part of a corporate promo effort. (yes, I know that they didn't agree -- and probably didn't know about the email -- but the White House screeners have been looking at every little perk the insiders get. . .even from think tanks.)
I suppose it's all part of the sizzle -- but still. . .it doesn't feel right. Administration officials do need to be hosted by someone -- but given the way that some corporate offices for publications are using this for marketing, I find it far more disconcerting than many of the nanny-gate and limo-gate controversies we've really had recently.
James Steinberg and others on the list though deserve an excellent night -- and I think that on the whole the team has many of the right foreign policy balls in the air.
Perhaps what is needed in this case is a little "reserve" about who is at what table.
TIME's table list includes:
Nancy-Ann DeParle, Counselor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Health Reform; Adam Frankel, Speechwriter; Kevin Johnson, Mayor of Sacramento, CA; Alyssa Mastromonaco, White House Director of Scheduling and Advance; Kal Penn; Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of the D.C. Public Schools system; Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw; James B. Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of State
Fortune's roster is:
Glenn Close; George Lucas; Mellody Hobson
Still, these would be interesting tables and would love to hear from Steinberg whether the administration is going to finally set parameters for an Israel-Palestine horizon, or whether we are going to move incrementally along as we have in the past eight years - confined by the misbehavior of players on both side of the divide.
-- Steve Clemons
« Previous Article - Germany, China & Japan» Next Article - Do Obama's Private Promises on Don't Ask Don't Tell Matter?
Reader Comments (5) - post a comment
Interesting to see Time has secured the attendance of Kal Penn, early frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic nomination. You can't start the sucking up too soon.
Maybe Wanda Sykes will speak out on same sex marriage at the dinner.
But the affair should be another rousing White House success. The only thing journalists care more about than a free press is a free dinner, and nothing can more assuredly calm the the savage pens of the fourth estate than a fourth round of vodka martinis and a fourth helping from the plate of Prosciutto Toscano and Oregano Brie.
"Still, these would be interesting tables and would love to hear from Steinberg whether the administration is going to finally set parameters for an Israel-Palestine horizon, or whether we are going to move incrementally along as we have in the past eight years - confined by the misbehavior of players on both side of the divide." posted by Steve Clemons
I'd like to recommend the two following links to those who will share the table with Mr. Steinberg.
The first, from JAMES G. ABOUREZK, former United States Senator:
Where is the Justice at the Justice Department?
The AIPAC Spy Case
http://www.counterpunch.org/abourezk05042009.html
And the second, from Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration:
The End of Free Speech?
Criminalizing Criticism of Israel
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts05072009.html
I read these two articles back to back and was stunned by the implications. Stunned!
I tell ya - the revolution can't come soon enough.
This show was a disappointment. It was not funny and Wanda Sykes was just plain awful.
The pres is not naturally funny---he seemed so aware of his surroundings, and his image. Isn't the whole premise supposed to be a skit..did someone not get the memo.
I feel soo wicked bad that I wasted 1.5-hours waiting to be entertained only to see a complete flop!
Au contraire, P.OOro,
Obama was on his game, and Wanda Sikes did what good political humorists do: she effectively and humously skewered the people who deserved skewering. I thoroughly enjoyed this White House press corps dinner. The last thing I remember enjoying relative to this event was Stephen Colbert's superb sendup of Bush's policies.
Leave a comment: