White House Arrival Ceremony, Fife & Drum Corps

White House Insider returns to the White House South Lawn on Wednesday, for the Obamas’ second State Visit Arrival Ceremony – for President Calderon of Mexico. This will be the first time I experience this event as a guest, rather than as the organizer. I’m the ONLY person, other than Presidents and First Ladies, with eight years of participation in these events, so I know all the behind the scenes scrambling that goes on that morning. And, there’s some nice symmetry, since I now LIVE in Mexico, so I’m more familiar with Mr. Calderon than most Americans.

The White House Visitors Office coordinates with the Social Office and the Military District of Washington to arrange all the details – and there are plenty. Arrival Ceremonies are highly choreographed diplomatic welcomes hosted by one Head of State for another. At precisely 9:25 a.m. the visiting dignitary and spouse step into a limo – you know, the kind with the little country flags on the front bumper – at Blair House, the President’s guest house, across Pennsylvania Ave from the North Front of the White House. The moment they depart, the Blair House manager calls the White House and alerts them. Precisely five minutes later they arrive at the South West Gate, and the limo rolls slowly up the driveway.

The President and First Lady step out of the South Door of the White House, above them on the Truman Balcony the herald trumpets play a fanfare, and the car arrives. Secret Service officers from the Dignitary Protective Division open the doors, the guests step out and there are handshakes all around. The President gestures for the head of state to step with him to a low platform with a lectern. The First Lady and guest spouse step to an area near them on the Lawn. All around are personal guests of the President, members of the Head of State entourage and security, Members of Congress, the press, and on the South part of the Lawn, thousands of invited guests stand in the sunlight taking photos of the pageantry.

In the Clinton years, the first Arrival Ceremonies we did had the press riser directly in front of the platform. Then the President asked us to add in an area for his friends in front of them. He said if he had to look at somebody, he’d rather be looking at friends when he spoke. Made sense to me! We called this area the “gold rope” area, because we never wanted to use the term “VIP.” I thought everyone who came to the White House was a VIP and we didn’t want any guest to feel less special than another. We used to put little sticky dots (from the office supply store) on their lapels so we could quickly identify them.
The two Heads of State make brief speeches. Your country and the USA, yada yada yada, long time friends, yada yada yada, Thomas Jefferson and our country, yada yada yada, Abraham Lincoln, yada yada yada … you could play buzz word BINGO from the predictability of these speeches!

Then everyone watches the President’s Own Fife and Drum Corps march in colonial style uniforms, and play colonial era music. Very colorful! The heads of state step down, the President invites his guest to join him in reviewing the troops assembled on the Lawn. And that’s about it. All the dignitaries step into the Diplomatic Reception Room and the President has a meeting with his counterpart in the Oval Office while the First Lady hosts a coffee in the Residence (top two floors) for spouse and a few others. In less than an hour they’re out the door and on their way.

The guest couple will spend the day in ceremonial activities, addressing Congress, visiting schools or hospitals or museums … when I was at the National Gallery of Art in the 1980s, it was a big deal that Raisa Gorbachev came to visit our Georgia O’Keefe exhibit. We called her security detail “Mikhail’s Navy.”

And then that night is Washington’s most important and high-profile event, the White House State Dinner – our equivalent of the Academy Awards. Remember the old saying? “Politics is show business for ugly people”? Well, this is the night all the political and diplomatic people get to show up in the limelight and shine. Just watch them walk past the press on their way in to the dinner – you’ll see some funny distinctions. The political people all scurry past, heads down, eyes averted. God forbid they get trapped into talking to the press! But the movie stars, musicians and athletes who make the dinner interesting aren’t afraid of the press – they LIVE for the press. So they stroll in, smiling and happy to chat with reporters.

This is a great opportunity for all White House fanatics. We’ll all be watching to see who’s on the guest list, what the ladies wear, and what’s on the menu. I like to see how the tables are decorated – which china is used, the Reagan red or Hillary Clinton yellow? What do the flowers look like? There’s a new florist in the White House since Nancy Clark retired after 25 years. He’s got a more modern take on flower arrangements, and clearly Mrs. Obama likes his unusual arrangements (I do too.) You may think flowers are frivolous, but they’re NOT. During the cold war when Soviet leaders stayed in Blair House, the florists were instructed to change the flowers in every room EVERY time the guests moved to another room. EVERY time. The idea was to make the point that America is a country of limitless riches and resources. With flowers!

Well, I’m really looking forward to being on the Lawn on Wednesday. I hope the Obamas get the same great weather for outdoor events we always did – except for poor Tony Blair who came in an ice storm … and regardless of weather, it’s always an honor to be at the White House!

Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House

I know exactly what happened to her, as I’ve seen it many times. Washington just hates anyone who is too obvious about being stylish and successful – especially if that person is “staff”. It’s moronic, it’s sometimes vicious, but it’s very predictable. Ms. Rogers thought her participation in fashion and the performing arts were an asset to White House entertaining. In the real world, the world of results, most sane people would have agreed. But in Washington, as Vince Foster famously said, “destroying people is a sport.”

With her brilliance, style and femininity, she drew attention to herself, rather than the Obamas, and in that she committed what Washington views as an unforgivable sin: “Thou shalt not stand out.” Just watch the news and see how the truly powerful women present themselves. Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Senators Blanche Lincoln and Kay Bailey Hutchison? The highest fashion statement allowed is a nice St. John suit, preferably black, but cherry red allowed for festive occasions. Bonus points – it doesn’t wrinkle. And on their feet, sensible pumps. You never see a ruffled violet blouse, or a pretty skirt and jacket that don’t match. The height of jewelry style is the ubiquitous eagle-on-a-pearl pin. It’s a uniform, and every woman in power is supposed to adopt it, if she wants to be taken seriously.

In New York and Los Angeles successful women get to express themselves with their individual taste and observers enjoy it. In fact, who will even believe you’re successful if you don’t flaunt it? In Washington, God forbid you draw attention to yourself for your femininity or fashion sense. The old boys’ club doesn’t like being reminded that it’s no longer just an “old boys” club. Remember Hillary and her black pant suits? She did that to make people take her seriously – and it worked. Ms. Rogers didn’t understand that as STAFF, she’s not supposed to be in the news. She’s supposed to be behind the scenes and as invisible as she can make herself. Interviews with Vanity Fair, Vogue and the WSJ are simply not part of that program. She stuck her neck out, probably because her many successes in Chicago and her longtime friendship with both Obamas made her feel secure. But she’s not their only friend, and apparently Axelrod and Jarrett and some of the rest of them also didn’t like her prominent public image. So, off with her head (metaphorically speaking.)

That’s Washington’s sad reality.

We happened to arrive at the beginning of the biggest blizzard in Washington in 90 years, but I remember one just about this wild, in 1993. We knew it was coming, so my assistant and I stayed in the office until midnight, cranking out letters to Members of Congress. We had no idea when we’d be able to get back in – and that was days later. The White House is amazing in EVERY kind of weather.

The House looks beautiful, as always. I like the changes Mrs. Bush made, moving the Georgia O’Keefe painting from the Green Room to the Library. It’s so completely 20th century in that 19th century room. I was struck by how extraordinary the flower arrangements are. The new chief florist has a very different, contemporary vision and expresses it in tall glass vases with twigs tied around the outside with twine, and flowering quince branches spreading out. Some vases are covered in wavy Magnolia leaves – like the pleating on a Fortuny dress. Exquisite! The White House has always had gorgeous flowers, but now they reflect the youth and style of the current First Family. I remember once coming back from a trip to London. I rushed to the flower shop to tell the chief florist that the White House has WAY better flowers than the Queen does at Buckingham Palace

I connected with US Secret Service Uniform Division officers who remembered me, and household staff – some of whom have been there 20 years or more. Gave out some books, with a wink, and told them they’d remember a lot of these stories. A Congressman in the room rushed over and said, “Melinda! Oh my gosh! I heard your voice and knew it had to be you! How nice to see you, and what a great time we had in the Clinton years…”

It was a very emotional visit for me. Walking past the East Wing doorway to our office suite, seeing the ramp I had built for mobility-impaired guests, walking through these familiar spaces, remembering events from press conferences to holiday balls, arranging lunch for PM Begin and Arafat in the Library, sweeping up the stairs to the East Room in a ball gown, standing out on the South Lawn in the freezing dawn, waiting for Marine One (the President’s helicopter) to arrive, wilting out there in 100 degree heat and humidity during an Arrival Ceremony … I tell some GREAT stories about all this in my book (click above to buy!)

The Secret Service and Visitors Office very kindly let me contribute to the special tour for the group I brought, so it felt just like old times. How I loved my time there, and how I miss being in the heart of the most important place in America. And here’s a little secret no one else will tell you: It’s a LOT of fun to be important, and a little hard to let that all go when it’s time!

Yes, I’m heading back to Washington on February 5 for a trip to the Oval Office – my first time there since January 19, 2001, when I said my goodbyes to President Clinton.  Can’t wait to see the changes there, and, of course, can’t WAIT to see President Obama!

Why am I going?  Well, since last September I’ve been working with the White House to arrange a visit for the Park View Little League world championship team.  This is a great group of boys from Chula Vista, a suburb of San Diego just north of where I live in Baja.  A friend asked me to get involved after they won, and the Vice President told them the President would enjoy meeting them.  Since I still had a White House phone book, I knew how to reach the right office, and I still speak White House, so that was helpful.

It’s been a very interesting experience, working on this trip from the visitor side, when all my experience was on the inside side, making the arrangements for the celebrity or worthwhile cause du jour.  The White House Office of Public Engagement has been gracious, kind, professional, and fun to work with.  The White House Visitors Office will set up the tour (just as we always did), and then the boys will meet the President and have a picture taken they’ll treasure all their lives.

I’m trying to imagine what it will feel like to be on that tour.  To walk those rooms that were almost like home to me for eight amazing years, now as an outsider come to visit.  It’s creeping into my dreams these days, as I get ready to pack up the winter clothes and head East for the first time in a year.

I’ve been back to the White House several times since all us Clintonites left in 2001, once as the guest of the George Bushes, for the unveiling of the Bill and Hillary Clinton portraits, and once 18 months ago, just to say hello to old friends who still work there.  But going on a tour, instead of GIVING the tour, may feel very strange.  Maybe the Secret Service tour officers will let me tell some of my funny stories that are not part of the “official” history of the White House.  I’m pretty sure they won’t let me wander on back to “my” office in the East Wing, but maybe the current Director will welcome me for a brief visit.

I can’t wait to see how everything looks.  I noticed on my last visit that the House looked exceptionally beautiful.  Laura Bush was a very good steward of America’s House.  I’m sure the Obamas are too.

The answer to that question is the part of the story that’s most shocking, because it’s inconceivable there would be a social event of any kind – much less a State Dinner, the most important event of all – without any staff from the Social Office there to welcome and check in every guest.  And yet, that’s what happened.  No one from the Social Office at the gate, and now the Social Secretary saying that apparently they need to do that.  Gee, you think?

OF COURSE there should be Social Office staff at the gate!  They’re the ones who create the lists, know the names, know who’s important to the President and First Lady – just in case a real guest name has been left off a list.  They manage all the last minute changes from cancellations and additions.  And they’re the ones who should decide if a person should be added to a list at the gate – not the Secret Service!  If they say so, then the guest’s name, date of birth and social security number are put into the clearance system, they wait for approval, and the guest gets to enter.  That’s how it’s supposed to work, anyway.

I am speechless at the idea that the Social Secretary didn’t think this process was necessary.  Actually, I was already shocked to see Desiree Rogers arriving as a GUEST (in a very strange dress) rather than running around behind the scenes to ensure every little detail was perfect.  You can’t delegate these things, at least not at the White House, and you can never assume things will go the way you planned – at least not at the White House!  Your plans may be brilliant – probably were brilliant -  but nothing important goes off without some little problem. Apparently the Omaba team believes all the hype about their exceptionalism.  Big mistake.  They may be different, may actually BE the smartest people in the room, but that doesn’t change the White House, a place that eats smart people for lunch.

I know the Secret Service, by nature, will tell White House staff they can handle anything – are happy to handle anything.  But that doesn’t mean they should.  And White House staff who have been in place almost a year now should know that.

Melinda Bates in the Rose Garden with one of the Thanksgiving turkeys the President pardons every year.

That’s me in the picture there, and you may wonder why I’m petting a turkey.  Good question!  (‘Cause, you know, who does that?  Not to mention, isn’t that the biggest turkey you’ve ever seen?)  Well, that’s not just ANY turkey.  That’s the official, White House turkey!  You’ve probably seen a video clip of a President smiling, laying his hand on a humongous white bird and officially “pardoning” it, as the beginning of Thanksgiving.  This happens every year in the White House Rose Garden, and there I am, just before President Bill Clinton steps out of the Oval Office (far left corner) to honor this tradition.

Why am I there?  That’s another good question.  I’m there because my office, for all eight years of the Clinton administration, was just across the House in the East Wing.  Every morning I’d see the President’s schedule for official events.  So, when the President was doing something fun and interesting, I’d walk on over to watch.  Just one of the incredible perks of being a Special Assistant to the President and Director, White House Visitors Office – and of being a lifelong friend of Bill.

For this particular event, the turkey farmer selected brings a van with not one, but two of these huge birds.  Why two?  Because 1) the birds are so darn top-heavy you never know if or when they might just topple over and lie there with their little feet in the air (NOT a great visual for TV) and 2) you also never know when they might keel over from the sheer excitement and stress of the moment, and then you’d have a DEAD turkey for the shot, and that would be horrible!  So there’s always a back-up turkey.  Just in case.  And POTUS pardons it, and it goes off to live in a petting zoo somewhere.  Probably just as well.  I always thought there could be no natural way to grow a turkey that size.

And that’s it for the official celebration of Thanksgiving at the White House.  The actual day and family feast is private, just the First Family and friends, gathered either at the White House or Camp David – a really nice place for everyone to relax, get together, play games or sports and enjoy some quiet time together.  The Clintons used to celebrate the day before by going, all by themselves, to a Washington soup kitchen to prepare and serve meals to the homeless.  I well remember the first year they did this, 1993, and how hard some Members of Congress pressed to get to go with them, and how hard the press pushed for major coverage.  But for Bill and Hillary this was a private moment of personal charity, something they’d been doing for years, and they didn’t want to turn it into a press, photo-op moment – so they pushed back just as hard!

There was also an earlier (FAR earlier) Thanksgiving I shared with Bill Clinton when we were both freshmen at Georgetown, but you should read about it in my book, White House Story, a Democratic Memoir!

It’s a long way from the White House and Washington DC to Calafia Paradise Resort in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, where I now happily live.  Instead of chilly, overcast weather we enjoy days of brilliant, warm sunshine, cool breezes and crystal blue skies.  We’ll probably have our Thanksgiving feast outside, gathering our friends on the patio, looking past the flowers in my garden to the dolphins fishing just off shore.  Maybe a whale, a forerunner of the pods to come in December, will cruise by, showing us a spout, or slapping a fin on the water.  Maybe we’ll take a dip in one of the pools after dinner to burn off some calories, and for sure we’ll walk the dogs along the cliff edge, or take them for a run on the beach – these are NEW traditions for us, and we love them.

The food will be even better than it was back home, because here we can get fresher produce, at the organic farmers’ market, richer cream, and just about all the traditional ingredients.  And what’s not available here we can easily get right across the border in San Diego – at Costco or Vons.  So, cooks have the best of both worlds!  And that proximity to San Diego means it’s easy for family and friends to fly or drive here for the holidays and share them with us.

So, yes, it’s a long way from “home,” but THIS is now home, and we couldn’t be happier.  We believe we’ve come to the perfect spot in a wonderful, welcoming country, with a much lower cost of living, security and amenities we could only dream of back in the U.S.  We’d be very happy to welcome YOU as new neighbors and friends, so please come take a look at Calafia Paradise Resort!

I was all set to provide the expert commentary on the event on C-SPAN tonight, but the President’s toast was 45 minutes late and it took away  my 10 minutes!  Next time please be more punctual, Mr. President!

The dinner looked beautiful.  apple green table cloths, violet roses and orchids in low, gold bowls, violet stemware and THREE different Presidential chinas: the Eisenhower base plates with the wide gold band on the rim, the Hillary Clinton china with pale yellow and gold rims, and a china I don’t know, from George and Laura Bush.

Three hundred twenty guests dined in a tent set up on the South Lawn, which is something we did a LOT for the Clintons.  I carefully noted they installed a floor.  ONE time we didn’t do that, and it rained, and the guests had to step through mud and soggy grass to get to their tables – a lot of expensive gowns and shoes were ruined, and it was awful.  I guess that lesson is carefully settled with the White House Ushers, and they’ll never do that again!

I am surprised that the President, who I greatly admire, seems not to be well advised on protocol and etiquette.  Last week he bowed to the Emperor of Japan while holding out his hand to shake – a very awkward and silly move.  You may have seen the smile on the Emperor’s face, the polite Japanese equivalent of rolling on the floor laughing.  How did that happen?  The Chief of Protocol, Capricia Marshall, was Social Secretary to the Clintons and is a very smart and capable woman.  Surely she advised the President to simply shake hands?  Americans DO NOT BOW to foreign leaders.  We fought a revolution that pretty much settled that!

And then, at the State Dinner, the Indian PM offered his toast, in honor of the President, Mrs. Obama and the American people, and the President took a glass and drank!  No. No NO!  You never drink to yourself!  Someone toasts in your honor and you smile and nod while everyone else sips!  No.

But that’s a miniscule thing to criticize when the rest of this important and high-profile event went so well.  Congratulations to the White House Visitors Office and Social Office for pulling off their first – and therefore most difficult and stressful – State Visit.