President Obama invited business leaders to the White House for lunch. No doubt to bully them, or otherwise entice them, into signing on to his socialization of America. Business leaders don’t mind a little corporatism as long as it’s their corporations at the top of the food chain. The White House wanted to make it look like it was all on the up and up, so they handed the business leaders bills for the lunch.
But even for powerful CEOs, there’s no such thing as a free lunch: White House staffers collected credit card numbers for each executive and carefully billed them for the cost of the meal with the president.
The White House defended the unusual move as a way to avoid conflicts of interest. But the Bush administration didn’t charge presidential guests for meals, one former official said, and at least one etiquette expert found the whole thing unseemly – suggesting it was a serious breach of protocol.
“I’m sure they have their political reasons for doing that, but I think it’s not what quote, hospitality, unquote is all about,” said Letitia Baldrige, who headed Jacqueline Kennedy’s White House staff in the early 1960s. “We’ve got to relax about this. To have people to the White House and worry about the price of things is laughable.”
“I don’t know what the menu was, but I’m sure it wasn’t braised pheasant,” she said.
The White House did not say what was served for lunch or how much the attendees were charged. A spokeswoman said White House staff collected the credit card numbers separately from the event.
Heh, heh. They better check their statements. The Obama White House is certainly not to be trusted with a credit card.
I wonder if Wagyu beef was on the menu. Or is that $125.oo per pound delicacy reserved for special guests of the White House? You know, the ones for whom we pick up the tab?
“They better check their statements. The Obama White House is certainly not to be trusted with a credit card.”
That’s funny…and probably true.
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