President sends video greeting; live tweeting is over the topHigh-profile journalists dressed up as vegetables is its own particular form of commentary, and that's what was going on Saturday night at the exclusive Gridiron Club and Foundation's annual Spring gala.
The highlight of the annual white-tie dinner, thrown by an exclusive cabal of journalists, is song and dance numbers that lampoon the Washington political scene. This year's skitfest featured a hilarious send-up of First Lady Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden. President Bill Clinton was the guest of honor, and the dinner was attended by many politicos.
This year also marked the first time that the entire show was tweeted by numerous Twitter addict journos, in particular CNN's Ed Henry and Time magazine's Jay Newton-Small. Neither President Obama nor Mrs. Obama attended, however. (Above: Clinton being greeted by journos at the Gridiron dinner, after he arrived late...Henry tweeted the photo, and the info)
For Mrs. Obama's spoofy song, a gang of journos, dressed as veggies, danced to "First Lady's Garden," set to the tune of the Beatles song "Octopus' Garden," accompanied by the Gridiron house band. The club is invite-only, and has a membership that is made up of well-known journos from print, TV, magazine, and new media. Saturday marked the club's 125th anniversary. Lynn Sweet, Washington Bureau Chief for Chicago Sun-Times, is a member of the club, and she's posted the lyrics for Mrs. Obama's song on her blog, as well as other fun details about the evening. The song is a spoofy series of double entendre about lettuce, obesity...and Obama policy. And the song's catchy phrase "I'd like to be her broccoli" is an amusing new entry in the lexicon of Mrs. Obama homage....
The Gridiron Club was founded in 1885, and all sitting presidents since have showed up to the annual dinner to mock and be mocked in the musical skits--except for Grover Cleveland--and President Obama. His decision to hit Camp David last year instead of the Gridiron dinner got much ink in DC; he sent Vice President Joe Biden instead. This year, President Obama didn't attend either, as noted above, but he sent in a video hello, according to Newton-Small's tweets. The President said "Greetings from America's second black president," and added "he's sorry he's not there...he's following a process of utmost importance: If Kansas gets knocked out his brackets are screwed."
White House senior advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett did attend, and were seated on the dais with President Clinton. Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel got a loving skewering from President Clinton, according to Sweet's recap, and Clinton also joked about Mrs. Obama's child obesity campaign, Let's Move!
"I think it is wonderful that we have two sets of dramatically different perspectives on this obesity problem," Clinton joked. "She is young, vibrant, thin and fit and then there is me."
Clinton has his own foundation to work on child obesity issues, Alliance For A Healthier Generation.
*There was some talk of the Twitterers being "disciplined" by the Gridiron for outing the private activities, but that seems to have been dropped. All the journos who attend routinely write up the festivities after the event, anyway. Henry tweets at (@edhenrycnn) and Newton-Small is (@jnsmall). Obama Foodorama is @obamafoodorama, and if you're not following, you should; there's lots of blog background info on Twitter.
"The Octopus' Garden" was written for the Beatles by Ringo; here it is on YouTube, in case you've never heard it.
The highlight of the annual white-tie dinner, thrown by an exclusive cabal of journalists, is song and dance numbers that lampoon the Washington political scene. This year's skitfest featured a hilarious send-up of First Lady Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden. President Bill Clinton was the guest of honor, and the dinner was attended by many politicos.
This year also marked the first time that the entire show was tweeted by numerous Twitter addict journos, in particular CNN's Ed Henry and Time magazine's Jay Newton-Small. Neither President Obama nor Mrs. Obama attended, however. (Above: Clinton being greeted by journos at the Gridiron dinner, after he arrived late...Henry tweeted the photo, and the info)
For Mrs. Obama's spoofy song, a gang of journos, dressed as veggies, danced to "First Lady's Garden," set to the tune of the Beatles song "Octopus' Garden," accompanied by the Gridiron house band. The club is invite-only, and has a membership that is made up of well-known journos from print, TV, magazine, and new media. Saturday marked the club's 125th anniversary. Lynn Sweet, Washington Bureau Chief for Chicago Sun-Times, is a member of the club, and she's posted the lyrics for Mrs. Obama's song on her blog, as well as other fun details about the evening. The song is a spoofy series of double entendre about lettuce, obesity...and Obama policy. And the song's catchy phrase "I'd like to be her broccoli" is an amusing new entry in the lexicon of Mrs. Obama homage....
FIRST LADY'S GARDEN
I'd rather be... just broc--coli
In Michelle Obama's garden on the lawn
Things aren't so grand.... in West Wing land
But Michelle Obama's garden's going strong
Her lettuce is so loverl-y-e-e-
Too bad we got none at treasury
I'd rather be a celery
Than the poster boy for saving A-I-G
That's her diet Ooh-ooh
We should try it Ooh-ooh
Ev'n our budget is obese Budget is obese
We pass up leaf Ooh-ooh
Eat hunks of beef Ooh-ooh
Just like this meaty Gridiron feast. Meaty Gridiron feast
We could be so happy and so trim
She'd be there to tell us what to do
I'd like to be her broccoli
In Michelle Obama's garden with you.
In Michelle Obama's garden with you.
In Michelle Obama's garden with you.
The Gridiron Club was founded in 1885, and all sitting presidents since have showed up to the annual dinner to mock and be mocked in the musical skits--except for Grover Cleveland--and President Obama. His decision to hit Camp David last year instead of the Gridiron dinner got much ink in DC; he sent Vice President Joe Biden instead. This year, President Obama didn't attend either, as noted above, but he sent in a video hello, according to Newton-Small's tweets. The President said "Greetings from America's second black president," and added "he's sorry he's not there...he's following a process of utmost importance: If Kansas gets knocked out his brackets are screwed."
White House senior advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett did attend, and were seated on the dais with President Clinton. Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel got a loving skewering from President Clinton, according to Sweet's recap, and Clinton also joked about Mrs. Obama's child obesity campaign, Let's Move!
"I think it is wonderful that we have two sets of dramatically different perspectives on this obesity problem," Clinton joked. "She is young, vibrant, thin and fit and then there is me."
Clinton has his own foundation to work on child obesity issues, Alliance For A Healthier Generation.
*There was some talk of the Twitterers being "disciplined" by the Gridiron for outing the private activities, but that seems to have been dropped. All the journos who attend routinely write up the festivities after the event, anyway. Henry tweets at (@edhenrycnn) and Newton-Small is (@jnsmall). Obama Foodorama is @obamafoodorama, and if you're not following, you should; there's lots of blog background info on Twitter.
"The Octopus' Garden" was written for the Beatles by Ringo; here it is on YouTube, in case you've never heard it.
