Dance, Dance, Dance Obama Will Have 10 Parties.

[elleng]

Source: NYTimes

President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, will twirl their way through 10 official inaugural balls on Jan. 20.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee said Wednesday that the Obamas would attend 10 official balls, one more than President George W. Bush and Laura Bush attended in 2005.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/24/arts/AP-Inaugural-Balls.html

[BlooInBloo]

1. My grandma... she's 95... she keeps on dancin, she's still alive!

:rofl:

[elleng]

4. My dad is 95;

not sure if he's dancing still.

[CTyankee]

2. They are going to wear their feet out! Hope the girls will be sent home early

and grandma will tuck them into bed!

[elleng]

3. We'll see if and how many the girls attend!

.

[PSPS]

5. Hmmm, I don't know about this.

I'm still hopeful about his presidency and all, but isn't this kind of, um, excessive? As bad as things are now, I think it's safe to assume they will only be worse a month from now. And hearing about Obama attending "ten balls" reminds me of the vulgar excess of the Reagan era.

[bluestateguy]

6. No.

We worked hard for this. We earned it, and we are entitled to one night of partying before the real hard work begins.

[davidinalameda]

10. how much are tickets?

and can the average person afford them?

[saracat]

15. I read that they are $50,000. I have a friend who gave the max and they told

her that she had to give lots more to even be considered for an inviatation and she had also volunteered tons of time and her husband maxed out in donations as well.She was really insulted to be told to give more money.So I am guessing the answer is no the average person can't afford them.

[davidinalameda]

17. nice

this is just a vulgar display by these people; I'd expect it from repugs who don't give a shit about the working class but these are democrats!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

22. Hold on thar, Pard!

I went to a party with a lot of people way out of my social and earning class this past weekend. Most of them can afford such expenditures. Easily. Most of them gave lots to Obama. All that I spoke to find shocking and disgusting the same things we rail at, every day, right here. Some of them are white-shoe lawyers, some refugees of conscience from Wall Street, who left big paychecks because they could no longer stand being associated with the things they saw going on around them.

Now, I give no ground to anyone with my disgust over the last eight years and I still think that there are quite a number of rich folks who deserve our undying enmity and terrible, gory fates. That said, there are still some of them out there who have fought long and hard to keep and maintain their humanity and don't deserve our enmity and ill wishes. Many of them will be attending these balls.

I learned something very important this weekend. You can too.

[davidinalameda]

26. as someone in this thread said

this money could be going to help charities or the like

do they really need ten balls?

the economy is in the toilet; people are losing their jobs left and right; people are depending on food banks and the like more and more and these people are spending their money on balls?

I'm just waiting for someone to say let them eat cake

[saracat]

30. I actually wasn't judging any of the attendees. I was answering the post about cost.

All I know is what I read and the email I read from my friends "bundler". The "average person", even the average wealthy person doesn't seem likely to be able to attend.I guess I never before realized that the balls cost that much to attend. I also read Bush's was $150 K pp . Go figure.

[bluestateguy]

27. You know, I don't know.

Nor is that issue on my radar screen.

But I enjoyed the 1993 and 1997 inaugurals by watching them on television.

As DC's mayor said, this inauguration is providing much economic activity for his city.

[Sparky 1]

20. Agreed! We will be partying all over this nation! We have a lot to hoot and holler about! n/t

[Tanuki]

7. I don't see it as a "vulgar excess" at all.

I think there are so many people celebrating, they can't all attend the same function, and Obama wants to put in an appearance at as many places as he can to express his appreciation of their support and to be a part of their excitement and happiness. :toast:

[elleng]

8. I agree!

The People want to celebrate, and most of these are in public places:

'Six of the official balls will be held at the Washington Convention Center, with others at Union Station, the Washington Hilton, the National Building Museum and the DC Armory.'

[gblady]

9. before we lay yet another.....

blame at the feet of Obama...
I did a little google about the balls...

it appears there are 10 sponsored by the Inaugural Committee....
which will be the one's Barack and Michelle will make an appearance...

as well as...depending on the website...

50 - 80....(yep that's right)...
50-80 unofficial balls during the 4 ceremonial days...
sponsored by a whole host of organizations and states.

It seems that lots of folks want to party hardy...
and I wish them the best...and hope they have a blast.

[elleng]

16. Thanks for doing that.

'WHO' is the Inaugural Committee?

Dem Party? U.S. Govt? ??

[gblady]

28. here are a couple of links....

that have info on committees

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/11/13/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-attending-president-elect-obamas-inauguration.html

more specific info...
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/inauguration-watch/2008/11/presidential_inaugural_committ.html

[firedupdem]

11. Disagree! We deserve an Inauguration as much as any other

President. It's ours...think of it that way.

By the way, they waltz in and out of those ballrooms and never dance an entire song. For the shit he's walking into they need to have 20.

[originalpckelly]

12. Oh come on, it's not like the money could be spent somewhere...

those homeless people don't need houses/food/medicine! They're used to going without!

[DollyM]

14. I generally think that way too . . .

but I am reminded of when Jesus was being critisized by one of the disciples because a woman was annointing his feet with an expensive oil after they had a long journey. I think it was Judas actually that commented on how that could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus commented "the poor you will have with your always, but me you will not have with you always." This woman has sacrificed and done this out of love for me, and since my time is short, let her have her time of showing her love for me. (that is a loose paraphrase but that is how I understand it.) I think it is similar, we cannot erase poverty by not having one ball or 10 but for one night, the people who have worked and sacrificed to get Obama to this place, will have the opportunity to share their hope for the future with the person they hope will make a difference for our country. If there is one thing we need right now in this country, it is a sense of hope. If anything we need a small diversion from all the pain and despair that is around us. For one night we can pretend everything is fine and talk about what Michelle is wearing and the A list of stars and so forth and it will give us something to think about besides high unemployment and an economy going down in flames. My husband and I have both lost jobs recently and doing know where the money is going to come from to live past January but I don't begrudge the Obama's one night of parties. It shows me that the world goes on and he has hope that things will return to normal.

[davidinalameda]

18. don't try to make sense

it just confuses people

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

23. One of the people at the party I attended...

Is chairperson of the board of directors for a very successful non-profit that buys and re-develops properties at risk into supervised housing for various at-risk populations in the general community. They have given life stability to a lot of folks that didn't have it and need it. She is a rock-ribbed Dem, and she is rich. While she is not attending any of the balls, a lot of her friends are.

Are people like her worthy of our enmity and disgust?

[snot]

13. REC if you like to party!

Any scoop on the mix?

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

19. Rec! nt.

[PittPoliSci]

21. which one is bad brains playing?

i want to go to that one.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

24. The...

Really, Really Good One. I wanna see the pictures of the Obamas mixing it up in the pit.

[RCinBrooklyn]

25. The Gay one will be the best party in town and he should be UNINVITED!

[snot]

29. another reason to like him!