The State Dinner, or Obama Singhs for His Supper

A state dinner is supposed to be the epitome of elegant international diplomacy. It is more an occasion for world leaders to pretend that politics is not merely show business for the ugly. They get to play dress up and socialize with people they hardly know. However, the gossip writers who pass for journalists these days made quite a deal out of Tuesday's dinner with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. The décor, Mrs. Obama's dress and the menu took up more space in the papers than the intricacies of US-Indian relations. In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, this journal will play along, reluctantly.

First off, the guest list exceeded the number who can comfortably dine in the White House. Technically, that isn't true, but it wouldn't do to have some of the invitees sit on folding chairs near the White House basketball court balancing their petits fours on a paper plate on their knees. Very few invitees spent enough time having spaghetti dinners in the fellowship hall of their local Lutheran church to have developed the highly specialized skills needed to execute such dining with anything resembling poise and elegance.

So, the do was held in a big tent on the White House lawn. Under chandeliers, the china came from the Eisenhower, Clinton and Bush II administrations because each had hosted a state dinner for the leaders of India. Fortunately, India is a democracy, and therefore, the leader is different. Consequently, he wouldn't notice that the china wasn't new. This cannot be said of Queen Elizabeth or many of the more odious world dictators who seem to always be in office.

Then, there is the dress Mrs. Obama wore. It took three weeks to make by hand, and during these tough economic times, some conservative critics carped that it was inappropriate. Perhaps that is so. By the same token, had she turned up in blue jeans and a Chicago White Sox T-shirt they would have groused as well. The truth is she has the height to carry off most snazzy, snooty garb, and she's wise enough to know that a woman in her forties who has had two children can't dress the way her daughters might without drawing even more criticism.

Finally, the menu raised an eyebrow or two. It was largely vegan in deference to Mr. Singh's beliefs. It included green curry prawns with collard greens and coconut aged basmati saerved with "2007 Granache, Beckmen Vineyards, Santa Ynez, California." Wine snob and UCLA Law Professor Stephen Bainbridge suggested this was wrong. True, it's spelled "grenache," but he added, that the curry will go badly with the high alcohol red. Worse,

then we add prawns to the mix. Red wine is almost never a good match for shrimp or any other shellfish. True, a bunch of chefs in the nouvelle cuisine tradition insist on trying it, but it almost never works out very well. A high alcohol, high tannins wine with earthy flavors is NOT what I would want to drink with a delicate food like prawns.