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Warhol-like art elevates the cool factor for White House wonks
There was a time not long ago when a job title like director of the Office of Management and Budget would have set off the nerd alert. But Peter Orszag, the man who bears that title in the Obama administration, found out at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner that he’s now cool enough for an Andy Warhol-like painting of his likeness.
Guests at the Atlantic Media/ABC pre-dinner cocktail reception mingled among several oversized, two- and three-toned portraits hung around the room’s perimeter. The famous Marilyn Monroe block portrait, however, was nowhere in sight. Instead, painting subjects were Orszag and a few of his White House colleagues: press secretary Robert Gibbs, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett (all of whom were at the dinner, by the way).
Or at least that’s what Emanuel thinks of Orszag, telling The New York Times earlier this year, “He’s made nerdy sexy.”
Orszag, meanwhile, refers to himself as a “supernerd.”
Alert! This is just a test!
The U.S. Capitol Police took no chances on Monday in the wake of the Air Force One photo-op debacle in Manhattan.
An e-mail sent out from Capitol Police let congressional offices know that they should not be worried about aircraft hovering around the Capitol.
The e-mail stated, “As part of the Police Week ceremonies, there will be a flight of eight helicopters that will traverse the airspace near the Capitol Complex today between 1100 AM and 1200 PM. These will be low flying, low speed aircraft, and may be seen together in formation, or spaced out in 30 second increments. These aircraft pose no danger to the Capitol Complex. Capitol Police will monitor this air event from start to finish.”
The New York photo shoot, which cost taxpayers $357,000 and triggered panic in the streets, led to the resignation of Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office.
Media-friendly LaHood dodges press — or does he?
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the former House Republican member from Illinois who has always been accessible to the media, is speaking to the National Retail Federation this week, but his office initially insisted it be closed to the press.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) are also speaking to the group, but those addresses are not secret.
The National Retail Federation put out a statement on Monday noting LaHood’s preference and stating it is “beyond our control.” But, in the interest of full disclosure, the group “wanted to let you know about it in case you hear about it somewhere else.
But Maureen Knightly, a spokeswoman for LaHood, said LaHood’s speech is “absolutely” open to the press, citing a miscommunication that triggered confusion on the issue.
GOP rhetoric is ‘Back to the Future’
With cap-and-trade legislation expected to move in the House soon, Republicans are gearing up for a fight. And they don’t want to be bullied like Marty McFly was in 1985’s “Back to the Future.”
When a group of House Republicans unveiled their energy alternative to Democrats’ cap-and-trade legislation last week, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) invoked the 24-year-old flick and its sequels.
Bishop initially compared the situation to the Robert Frost poem “The Two Woods,” then pivoted to the McFly world comparison.
“What we’re saying is the Democrat road is simply saying, ‘It can’t work; we’re not even going to do it.’ Our road is saying we have the ideas; now is the time to do it … Remember those sequels to ‘Back to the Future’ where there were the two worlds? Our world is the one where the McFly family is happy. The Democrat version is the one where Biff runs everything.”
Lobbyists in love
Paul Kangas, a lobbyist at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, and Liz Furey, director of grassroots advocacy at the Credit Union National Association, just got engaged.
Kangas didn’t just get down on one knee in some local eatery. No, sir. He popped the question in Iceland and she said yes (would’ve been a long ride home if she hadn’t!).
Burgergate lives on
Sean Hannity caused the liberal blogosphere to explode last week when he mocked President Obama’s use of condiments after the president and Vice President Biden dined at Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington, Va.
Noting that Obama asked for Dijon mustard on his burger, Hannity showed a clip from an old Grey Poupon commercial, adding, “I hope you enjoyed that fancy burger, Mr. President.”
ITK couldn’t resist asking MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, a Hannity-hater, what he thought of Hannity’s take, following the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
“I’m pro-choice on condiments,” a smiling Olbermann said.
The Hamilton connections
Former Rep. Lee Hamilton may no longer be a power player on Capitol Hill, where he once chaired the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. But he definitely has clout at the White House.
The Indiana Democrat, who retired in 1999 after 34 years in Congress and now heads the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was one of Barack Obama’s early supporters and key advisers during the 2008 campaign. He also hosted a dinner for the president-elect with Wilson Center foreign policy specialists in January.
But his influence on Obama’s national security apparatus is extensive as well, as an article in the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine points out. The article notes that four top aides to National Security Adviser James Jones have one thing in common, which is that they once worked for Hamilton.
The four NSC aides are Denis McDonough, director of strategic communications; Donald Shapiro, senior director for the Middle East; Dan Restrepo, senior director for the Western Hemisphere; and Ben Rhodes, chief speechwriter. The first three worked for Hamilton on the Foreign Affairs Committee staff (it was called the International Relations Committee from 1995 to 2007), while Rhodes worked for Hamilton when he was vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission and co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group after leaving the House.
The ex-Hamilton staffers are among a trusted circle of White House advisers who are “helping Obama execute the most sweeping reorientation of U.S. national security policy since the end of World War II,” the magazine declared.
While the magazine doesn’t say so, Hamilton’s close ties to Obama and extensive foreign policy and national security credentials could reunite him with his former aides if Obama turns to him, as some insiders expect, to take on a special mission, such as he did with the 9/11 Commission and Iraq Study Group.
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