The EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: President Obama's 50th Birthday Blast (217 hits)
EXCLUSIVE -- The President's private 50th birthday bash, not listed on his public schedule: His gift to the press corps was a travel/photo lid shortly after 4 p.m., prompting what pooler Julie Mason called "general cheering in WH workspace." An hour later, the party started...
--... with dinner in the Rose Garden, accompanied by "The President's Own" United States Marine Band. Then the First Lady and his daughters presented POTUS with a cake, and everyone moved into the East Room for performances that included R&B singer Ledisi, and Herbie Hancock. Stevie Wonder came up at the end and sang a medley ending in "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours." DJ Cassidy played Motown, hip hop, and '70s and '80s R&B.
--The president asked everyone to dance -- and they did!
--DINNER: BBQ chicken, ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta, salad.
--DESSERT: apple, peach, huckleberry and cherry pies; chocolate cake.
--GUESTS : Al Sharpton, Patrick Gaspard, UBS Investment Bank President Robert Wolf, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski, Leader Nancy and Paul Pelosi, Secretary Tim Geithner, Secretary Arne Duncan, U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Rep./DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former Virginia Gov. and DNC Chair Tim Kaine, Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer, Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Valerie Jarrett, Michael Strautmanis, Pete Rouse, Bill Daley, Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco, Denis McDonough, John Brennan, Rahm Emanuel, Tina Tchen, White House chef Sam Kass, Julianna Smoot, Marty Nesbitt, Eric Whitaker, Linda Douglass, and many more.
--CELEBS: Jay-Z, Hill Harper, Chris Rock, Charles Barkley, Steve Harvey, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Grant Hill, Gayle King.
--Also present: Chicago pals, law-school friends, donors - and lots of kids of friends, who stole the show by doing dance routines to the hip-hop songs, in the center of the East Room.
