Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via bbc)

"OPRAH isn't shy about her love for Barack Obama, but she's trying to keep secret the party she's throwing in honor of his inauguration. An insider told us: 'Oprah is planning a lavish bash at TenPenh,' a swanky Asian-fusion restaurant in DC. 'She's being extremely secretive about it,' said our source. 'But there will definitely be a ton of A-listers there.' She will also be hosting her show from Washington next week. A rep for Oprah insisted, 'She is not having a party.'" (PageSix)

"Much of Washington’s business is conducted at social gatherings, and that is particularly true at this Inauguration, as diplomats and locals look for ways to meet members of the new administration. 'The parties are an opportunity for people who want to become instant Washington insiders,' said Annie Boutin King, director of social catering at the Ritz-Carlton. But the parties are equally about diplomats getting information back to their countries, said Ann Stock, vice president for institutional affairs at the Kennedy Center and former White House social secretary for the Clintons. 'The excitement about the new president is worldwide,' she said. Only the British and Kuwaitis seem to do much socializing with the locals these days, but embassies suddenly may become as important as they were during the Kennedy administration. And Reema al-Sabah, wife of Kuwaiti Ambassador Sheikh Salem al-Sabah, is reputed to be an expert at snagging the guests everyone wants to know. The al-Sabahs will co-host a cocktail buffet for 300 on Jan. 18, along with Mayor Adrian Fenty and his wife, Michelle, and Donald Graham of The Washington Post. 'We’ve been overwhelmed with acceptances to meet new members of administration,' said Reema al-Sabah. 'We have invited prominent Obama supporters, Washington and New York movers and shakers, celebrities from the media and the entertainment industry.'" (Politico)

"Last night at dinner we were talking about the business of The Bonus. That seven or eight (or nine) figure bonus that Wall Streeters have been paying out to themselves for the last couple of decades. That bonus that in the past seven or eight years has run into the scores of billions (for a few thousand people) annually. Many of us know Wall Street people – men and women – who have been pulling down multimillion dollar annual incomes because of the bonus system. I was telling my dinner partners about a young woman I know who is in her thirties and got a five million dollar bonus one year. She was outraged that it wasn’t bigger and went in to her boss to protest. She came out with an $8 million bonus ..Because of this, my dinner partner explained, in his opinion, people began to think nothing of paying $8 million dollars for a three-bedroom apartment." (NYSocialDiary)

"Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a potential damper on Leon Panetta's potential nomination as CIA director, said Wednesday that 'all systems are go' now. The California Democrat, who has been friends for decades with the former home-state congressman and White House aide, had been irked at not being consulted earlier as chairman of the Intelligence Committee about his possible selection. Panetta's presumed nomination has been criticized for his lack of background in intelligence gathering. But Feinstein said that, after speaking Tuesday with President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden, who each called her, that they agreed on the goal for unvarnished intelligence. She said there was an oversight in not being consulted earlier, but that that is all behind her." (CQPolitics)