So much for democracy-elitists will also have their day. In effect, the Inaugural team must mount the ultimate Washington dinner party. A very big party. For some very big egos. Emanuel spends much of each 15-hour day assuaging hurt feelings, mediating disputes and stroking the powerful. Some funny things that have happened on the way to the White House:
Hollywood rallied around Clinton early on. Now even those who didn’t work for the candidate expect star treatment. Singer-dancer Paula Abdul wants to perform at the Presidential Gala. But since the lineup is already booked-Barbra Streisand will be singing-Clinton’s team has asked Abdul to appear instead at the Salute to Youth. Her response so far: it’s all or nothing.
Last week the Inaugural committee announced the names of the 50 “ordinary Americans” Clinton met along the campaign trail who will attend the celebrations. The news had barely gone out before a prominent Democratic senator went into a snit, because none of the “Faces of Hope” hailed from his home state. “You mean there are no heroes in — ?” he demanded.
Congress presides over the actual swearing-in ceremonies, and thus over seat assignments. Clinton and Gore get a piddling 3,000 places for friends, family and supporters-compared with 15,000 for members of Congress to mete out. For a while, it looked like EPA chief-designate Carol Browner would be in the peanut gallery. A Democratic senator from a pollution-producing state was resisting Clinton’s order to seat Browner with members of the cabinet.
Memorabilia at the 1985 and 1989 Inaugurations actually lost money, but Clinton and Gore cups and cuff links seem recession proof. The committee wouldn’t sanction a two-foot-long Bowie knife-adorned with the presidential seal and the inscription THE OFFICIAL TOOTHPICK OF ARKANSAS-peddled by one entrepreneur. But an atrocious saxophone-playing donkey pin-equally deadly in its way-will be on sale. The pin was designed by the wife of a powerful Democratic senator, who insisted the committee buy 1,000. The Inauguration may be the first of its kind, but some things never change.
