As a follow up to a previous post of mine regarding Rachel Maddow's hissy fit over the Obama family having to endure staying at the fancy Hay-Adams Hotel, the mainstream media jumped into the mystery machine and gave themselves a bunch of Scooby snacks for finding this all important scoop.
It seems word has gotten out to the blogosphere as to who bumped the Obama family from taking temporary residence at Blair House until the all important move to the White House.
According to the Washington Post, former Australian prime minister John Howard will be at Blair House this week (emphasis mine throughout):
The veil is lifted. We now know who is booked at Blair House, kicking President-elect Barack Obama and his family to the waiting list and across Lafayette Park to the Hay-Adams Hotel.
The only overnight visitor at the presidential guest manse is none other than John Howard, a former Australian prime minister and leading member of President Bush's coalition of the willing in Iraq.
Howard and his entourage will be bunking at Blair House on Jan. 12, the night before he, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe are to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bush, said Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush. The three current and former heads of state are longtime political allies of Bush, and Blair and Howard were key partners in the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Blair and Uribe also were invited to stay at Blair House, but declined Bush's invitation, a second White House official said today. Blair, who traditionally stays at the British Embassy, and Uribe apparently found other accommodations, said the second White House official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
Ooohh....the super seceret society of "President Bush's coalition of the willing in Iraq" is staying at Blair House! The Washington Post probably believes Howard and the White House would have gotten away with it all... if it hadn't been for their nosey kids at WaPo!
The Australian press (h/t Hot Air's Ed Morrissey) is reporting "we" are "miffed", "outraged", and protesting the decision to host the former Australian prime minister at Blair House over the Obama family.
Outraged American taxpayers are demanding the former Australian prime minister book a hotel or stay at the Australian embassy.
The story is also a hot topic on US radio and TV talk shows.
For weeks the name of the occupant booked at Blair House on January 12 was a mystery.
President-elect Barack Obama and his family asked to stay at Blair House before taking the keys to the White House but were told it was already booked.
It forced Obama, his wife Michelle and young daughters, Malia and Sasha, to stay at a DC hotel, the Hay-Adams.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post broke the news that Howard and his wife Janette were the mystery boarders.
"Let the former prime minister John Howard stay at the Hay-Adams," Jeffrey Toobin, the senior political analyst for US news TV network CNN, said in a discussion on the topic on Wednesday.
US President George W Bush offered Howard Blair House weeks ago when he invited him to DC to receive the Medal of Freedom for his support of the US in the war on terror.
The only outrage that is going on over this non-issue is from liberal media talking heads. As NB commenter monotonousboy mentioned from my earlier post, both Bill Clinton and President Bush had not arrived in Washington, D.C. until January 17th of their respective years that each were first inaugurated.
In fact, the MSNBC article states Clinton was still in Arkansas two weeks before the inauguration. Here are two snippets:
On January 7 [1993], just under two weeks before inaugural day, Clinton had sat down with his new economic team in his Little Rock living room for a budget tutorial. The meeting lasted six hours—long enough for Clinton to confront the contradictions in his own program.
The article also cites Clinton's arrival in Washington.:
At 6 p.m. on January 17, 1993, just after the president-elect crossed Memorial Bridge over the Potomac and into Washington, citizens of the Republic were invited to let loose with chimes. Orbiting above the earth, astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavour were encouraged to do the same.
According to CNN, President Bush made his arrival in Washington on January 17th, 2001.:
On the eve of the first of three days of inauguration ceremonies, President-elect George W. Bush arrived in Washington on Wednesday evening, after a presidential sendoff in his boyhood hometown of Midland, Texas.
With all the brouhaha being made in the press over this, one would think that Barack Obama had not already established himself in the Washington, DC area as a U.S. Senator.
While Obama had to move his family from Illinois to Washington, Clinton and Bush were quite literally moving their entire lives as well.
The Blair House has been traditionally blocked off for the President-elect until after January 15th anyway, so once again, I ask,where is the scandal?
