Withering Glance: White House invitation? Not really

By Rick Nelson and Claude Peck, Star Tribune

Last update: July 4, 2009 - 9:22 PM

RN: About 250 gay and lesbian power brokers met with President Obama at the White House last week. I'm thinking the Strib mailroom sent our invitation to Obits by mistake.

CP: You didn't get yours? I'm sorry. I could have gotten you in as my plus-one. The East Room was so impressive, and those Obama-tinis? Outstanding.

RN: Don't tell me: Vodka infused with herbs grown in the Maison Blanche organic garden, right? Naturally, when the gays congregate at 1600 Pennsylvania, it's for a cocktail party, honoring the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. I'm surprised it wasn't a brunch.

CP: I had hoped to get a word with the new prexie, but my credentials for Commander-in-Chief Access were flatly denied. What would you have asked, if only you could have gotten in?

RN: I would have started by demanding to meet Michelle, or, as my favorite fashion-obsessed bloggers at projectrungay.blogspot.com call her, "Shelley O."

CP: I searched the crowd in vain for some Stonewall-era drag queens in vintage Oleg Cassini. Mostly I saw suited Democrats indistinguishable from those at a prayer breakfast. The president wore his usual boxy dark suit. For this occasion, would a slim, summerweight Polo Black Label number have killed him?

RN: Lots of our people are peeved with Mr. Obama, thinking he's not acting like the "fierce advocate" for gay rights that he promised during the campaign.

CP: Hello. Candidate Obama was against gay marriage, so why be all surprised that his Justice Department sought to fend off attacks on the Defense of Marriage Act? Same time, I agree with those who say Obama seems to lose his legendary articulateness when it comes to the homos. About the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"? Don't wait.

RN: I'm basing this on absolutely nothing but a hunch, but I get the feeling that Mrs. Obama is the exact opposite. Maybe that's why I worship the water she walks on.

CP: During the campaign, Obama gave a terrific, beautifully nuanced speech on race relations. I'd love to see him give a similar stemwinder about the gays. And I think he needs to send a strong message to churches and the military that "fairness is in."

RN: I dunno. With two wars, an economic meltdown, a Supreme Court appointment and that new puppy, the prez has a lot on his plate. He's only been in office for five months. How about a little patience?

CP: OK, but the honeymoon's over.

E-mail: witheringglance@startribune.com. Become a friend of Withering Glance on facebook.com.

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