A lot has been made (positive and negative) about the White House state dinner recently. It was a big event that happened amid a catastrophic domestic economy, overseas wars, and the like. All of this is very true. People have suggested that this should not have happened amid such circumstances. Well...
-State dinners are not domestic affairs, they are for bridging/celebrating international relationships
-One might suggest that India is a little bit worse off than the US economically, and we might be doing good will in helping them and building a stronger tie
-Probably no state dinner goes without the sincere objection by the public for dressing up fancifully and eating food that's way better than left-over pork chops.
At the end of the day, there have always been issues that cause us to (rightly) question the pomp and circumstance of such an occasion. But it is a traditional occasion that has yielded "good feelings" for the involved countries for a very long time. One can criticize the expense, but don't stop there... criticize that all Presidents have lived in a big fancy house, with attendants, fly on their own plane, have a chef, amid other things that will add up to much more than one nice dinner with a few hundred friends. While homeless veterans live in squalor a mile away.
This is not unique to President Obama, it is an aspect of our (and every) society.
It is my hope that we ALL do more to alleviate that.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment