MSM Kept Obama's Lavish Halloween Party a Secret In Depths of Recession in 2009

MSM Kept Obama’s Lavish Halloween Party a Secret In Depths of Recession in 2009  

After it was revealed that the Obamas hosted a lavish Halloween party in 2009 during a low point of the recession, people are now questioning how the event was kept a secret for two years. 

The White House maintains that they were never dishonest and did, in fact, mention the party, though they chose to keep the role of Hollywood heavyweights Johnny Depp and Tim Burton to a minimum. 

‘This was an event for local school children from the Washington DC area and for hundreds of military families. If we wanted this event to be a secret, we probably wouldn’t have invited the press corps to cover it, release photos of it to Flickr, or post a video from it on the White House website,’ White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement.

In spite of Mr Schultz’s assertions, no members of the White House press pool reported on the party at the time of the event. 

Only two sources made note of the attendance of two Academy Award nominees at the party: the Nashville Tennessean and a fan site called JohnnyDeppNews.com. 

‘Even Johnny Depp’s fans knew about it and posted on their website. Just goes to show you can’t believe everything you read in books these days,’ Mr Schultz continued. 

The New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor who exposed the party in her new book, The Obamas, maintained that the reason why it was kept so quiet at the time was because the administration was aware that it would be in poor form for them to host an extravagant party when so many were suffering financially. 

‘If you look at the text of the book, the sort of outside trick-or-treating was public with press. The inside party, which was the more lavish party, was kept very quiet,’ Ms Kantor said on the Today show.

The Alice in Wonderland themed Halloween party was held in the State Dining room and was complete with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Tim Burton-arranged decorations.

They even talked to Star Wars director George Lucas and convinced him to lend them the original Chewbacca costume for the entertainment of their guests.

‘White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,’ recounts Jodi Kantor in her book, ‘The Obamas’.

As is tradition, the Obamas handed out treats to Washington, D.C. school children earlier in the day, and while that event was covered heavily by the press, their later festivities were very actively kept secret.

Instead of chowing down on the presidential M&Ms, sugar cookies, and dried fruit that Mrs Obama traditionally hands out in her trick-or-treat bags, the guests at the invitation-only party had bone-shaped meringue cookies and fruit punch served in blood vials. 

In keeping with her dedication to military families, the invitees were the children of military service men and women along with the children of White House employees.

Mrs Obama has invited the children of military families to many of the events she has hosted while first lady, including more recent Halloween trick-or-treating sessions and the unveiling of the White House Christmas decorations- which even had  a Gold Star Families tree dedicated to the group.

The Halloween party took place five months before Mr Burton’s Alice in Wonderland film was released, so the kids served as informal taste-testers and gave an indication of how his spooky take on the Disney classic would be received.

As the children walked into the State Dining Room, they were greeted by a fully-costumed Johnny Depp standing on a table decorated with vintage-inspired table cloths and surrounded by giant stuffed animals.

First daughters Malia and Sasha, who were respectively 11 and 8 at the time, were able to invite their close friends to share in the activities, which also included a magic show in the East Room.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083831/Obamas-held-secret-Alice-Wonderland-themed-party-White-House-depths-recession-2009.html#ixzz1j4ZcTjb6

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