Byron York on the White House as a Night Club

At the Washington Examiner, Byron York writes about the Night Club-esque transformation which occurred during the Mexican President's visit:

Wednesday night’s White House state dinner for Mexican President Felipe Calderon was, as far as the dinner itself was concerned, a fairly routine, if sumptuous, affair.  The East Room was a grand setting, and First Lady Michelle Obama brought in a favored Chicago chef to put together a complex and expensive menu.  “The main course of Oregon wagyu beef came with a Oaxacan black mole sauce with more than 20 ingredients that takes days to come together,” reported the Associated Press.

Of course state dinners are supposed to be special.  But where the Obama/Calderon affair really hit the heights was in the festivities after the dinner, which took place in a huge tent — the word “tent” doesn’t quite do it justice — set up on the South lawn.  As the AP reported:

R&B diva Beyonce topped the entertainment bill for the dinner, taking place in the East Room of the White House, with the action later moving to a luxury marquee on the South Lawn of the presidential mansion. The marquee, the size of two-thirds of a football field, decked out in elaborate black decor and nightclub-style lighting, featured a stage and baskets of flowers and models of Monarch butterflies dangling from the ceiling.

It was a scene the most ostentatious party-giver would have envied: the White House turned into a luxurious, high-dollar nightclub. (Club 1600, perhaps?) But there’s no need for further description, because the White House photographer has posted several pictures of the action on the White House Flickr photostream, and they tell the story best.

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