White House Correspondents’ Weekend

“Yes, the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is decadent and depraved. It is elitist and shallow, smug and insidery, a three-day orgy of corporate preening and celebrity suck-up so far removed from its earnest D.C. journalism roots as to be completely meaningless.  But you can’t fight it. You can’t change it. So, relax. Surrender. Just try to make the best of it, okay?”

This is the Super Bowl of politics, where Hollywood takes over Washington.  It’s a brief triumph over the joke that Washington is Hollywood for ugly people.  I know a lot about this connection between Hollywood and Washington.  I lived in Washington, D.C. for nine years (1986-1995) and have lived in the vicinity of Hollywood (Thirty Mile Zone or “TMZ”) since 2000.  If Washington is Hollywood for ugly people, then one might observe that Hollywood is Washington for dumb people.  That’s a very coarse observation, but the premium in Hollywood is sex appeal and physical appearance, while the premium in Washington is smarts and advanced degrees.  Hollywood types like George Clooney are able to cover both bases; he has sex appeal but also is well versed on human rights abuses in Africa.  There are still many Americans who disdain both Hollywood and Washington, Hollywood for its decadence and Washington for its overspending.