Opinion
D.C. VIPs ponder life under Obama
By: Jeff Dufour
Editor at Large/Columnist, "Yeas & Nays"
01/21/09 12:05 AM EST
Hoops for hopeAlthough The Huffington Post’s party may have been the place to be Monday night for the young and restless, a more refined, elite crowd gathered at the Fairfax on Embassy Row hotel for an A-list occasion thrown by notable Washingtonians Vernon and Ann Jordan, Buffy and Bill Cafritz, Kelly and Robert Day, and Phyllis George.
The high-class affair was an occasion for various VIPs to ponder life under President Barack Obama, who would become the leader of the free world in less than 24 hours.
Obama backers Sen. Hillary Clinton and Vernon Jordan were excited for the Obama administration, but they weren’t about to start sharpening their basketball games in order to fit in well with the baller in chief.
“No, I don’t think so,” Clinton told us when asked whether she’s been working on her free throws. “That’s not my thing.”
“I’m much more of a golfer,” Jordan said.
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman — a Bush loyalist — had some positive things to say about the incoming regime.
“I’m actually really excited,” said Mehlman, adding that he’d attend the inauguration. “I’m hopeful that some positive things will take place, and it’s an exciting time.”
But the event’s Cinderella was incoming White House Social Secretary Desiree Rodgers, who has been busy meeting folks eager to get invited to the White House’s top soirees.
“I’ve been really busy,” Rodgers told us. And how many brown-nosers have you met? Diplomatically, she laughed the question aside and said “I’ve been taking it nice and slow but everyone’s been very nice. … We’ve got a lot of work to do and I’m just getting acquainted with everything.”
Rodgers has already warmed — literally — to one aspect of Washington (despite recent cold spells): “Amazingly, it’s actually warmer here than from where I’m coming from in Chicago.”
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