The Obama's to Host Weekly Social Gatherings at the White House..
via Politico
Who could 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.
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