Security stepped up for US state dinner
Source: Agencies |
May 21, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE White House promised tighter security for Wednesday's state dinner - and it delivered.
Among the hundreds who lined up to get in, at least one woman was turned away for lack of proper ID.
Kathryne Mudge said her husband, Arturo Valenzuela, an assistant secretary of state, was supposed to bring the necessary identification.
"We tried to be extra careful, but my husband is the absent-minded professor," Mudge said.
Their evening wasn't spoiled, however. They returned about an hour later and were allowed into the affair that President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama held for their Mexican counterparts, Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala.
The White House promised to improve security after Obama's first state dinner was overshadowed by an uninvited husband-and-wife couple who slipped through security and got close enough to the president to shake his hand.
As about 200 guests streamed in through one door of the White House, the Obamas greeted Mexico's first couple on the North Portico. Mrs Obama wore a one-shoulder, cobalt blue floor-length gown, with a wide silver belt and dangling silvery earrings. Zavala wore a plum-colored, sleeveless gown with an Aztec-inspired border around the square neckline.
Among those with coveted invitations for the four-course dinner in the East Room were a celebrity contingent that included Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Longoria Parker, George Lopez and Olympic speedskater Shani Davis.
Goldberg said it felt like she was "coming home after a long drought." She said she'd been a frequent visitor during Bill Clinton's years, but not at all during George W. Bush's presidency. "I wasn't here," she said.
Lopez, a comedian, joked when asked about the security. "The guy with the glove was nice," he said.
Obama and Calderon launched the dinner with a toast to the friendship between their nations. Obama, in toasting Mexico's contributions to the world, singled out "some very good food, including the food of the gods - chocolate." Calderon, for his part, congratulated the American people "for having a president like Barack Obama," and Obama "for having a wife and first lady like Michelle Obama."
Among the hundreds who lined up to get in, at least one woman was turned away for lack of proper ID.
Kathryne Mudge said her husband, Arturo Valenzuela, an assistant secretary of state, was supposed to bring the necessary identification.
"We tried to be extra careful, but my husband is the absent-minded professor," Mudge said.
Their evening wasn't spoiled, however. They returned about an hour later and were allowed into the affair that President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama held for their Mexican counterparts, Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala.
The White House promised to improve security after Obama's first state dinner was overshadowed by an uninvited husband-and-wife couple who slipped through security and got close enough to the president to shake his hand.
As about 200 guests streamed in through one door of the White House, the Obamas greeted Mexico's first couple on the North Portico. Mrs Obama wore a one-shoulder, cobalt blue floor-length gown, with a wide silver belt and dangling silvery earrings. Zavala wore a plum-colored, sleeveless gown with an Aztec-inspired border around the square neckline.
Among those with coveted invitations for the four-course dinner in the East Room were a celebrity contingent that included Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Longoria Parker, George Lopez and Olympic speedskater Shani Davis.
Goldberg said it felt like she was "coming home after a long drought." She said she'd been a frequent visitor during Bill Clinton's years, but not at all during George W. Bush's presidency. "I wasn't here," she said.
Lopez, a comedian, joked when asked about the security. "The guy with the glove was nice," he said.
Obama and Calderon launched the dinner with a toast to the friendship between their nations. Obama, in toasting Mexico's contributions to the world, singled out "some very good food, including the food of the gods - chocolate." Calderon, for his part, congratulated the American people "for having a president like Barack Obama," and Obama "for having a wife and first lady like Michelle Obama."
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