The New York Times' Peter Baker reports that it was an injury to the son of Eric Whitaker, one of the Obamas friends from Chicago, who sparked the rush back to his home.

Andrew Breitbart's star-spangled cranky-blog, Big Government, reports an "EXCLUSIVE: Transvestites, Mao and Obama Ornaments Decorate White House Christmas Tree" featuring an indictment of Doonan and snapshots of the Blue Room's ornaments. One of which has the image and signature of crème de la drag queens Hedda Lettuce:

Hedda's blog explains that Doonan didn't exactly contrive to get her on the tree. Rather, the White House sent boxes of plain bulbs to schools and charities, including a gay community center at which Hedda volunteers, for creative decoupaging. Hedda decorated her bulb as any self-respecting star of stage and reality television guest spots would, by festooning it with images of herself. Hedda's account of discovering her ornament made the tree:

I may never get equal rights, I may never be blond and pencil thin, I may never see Lady Gaga in concert this winter at Madison Square Garden (I could not get a ticket) but one of my balls is hanging in the White House with my name for all to see.

Big Government's post does, however, raise an interesting question: Did anyone screen these balls? Or was it more of a State Dinner "come one come all" thing, because this bulb featuring an image of Mao Tse-Tung strikes me as a bit, um, off:

I get that Warhol's Mao subverts the icon or whatever, but, does it really make sense to put a tyrannical communist leader's visage on the American president's Christmas tree? On the other hand, an ornament that shellacks Barry's face onto Mount Rushmore...

...is just tacky. It's in the guy's living room, for crying out loud.

[BigGov] [HeddaLettuce] [Caucus]

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine was a guest today on a WTOP radio show in Washington, D.C., so Obama called in to wish him a Merry Christmas. He's got plenty of time to kill—according to the latest White House pool report, Obama just announced in the Roosevelt Room that he's not leaving for his Hawaiian holiday until the Senate passes a healthcare bill on Christmas Eve. "My attitude is if they are making these sacrifices to provide health care to all Americans, the least I can do is be around." Which means plenty of time to kill til then. Also, contrary to our report yesterday, the White House press corps won't have it any better than their counterparts on the Hill after all.

Congress has scheduled a Christmas Eve vote, and if the past is any guide it will probably happen at maybe midnight and there will be a blizzard, too, and an army of "patriots" pretending to die in the hallways. Meanwhile, the Obamas will be in Hawaii, and the White House press corps got this e-mail a couple weeks ago from the travel office:

We've asked around if any vigilant White House correspondents were dedicated enough to follow the Obamas hither and yon this December, but haven't gotten any answers. Either way, as you gather with your loved ones this Christmas Eve, please don't forget to think of the less fortunate ones stuck in the Capitol transcribing the ravings of idiots.

Via the New York Times, our president announced that there had been an "unprecedented breakthrough" on climate change, negotiated between five major nations last night after taking matters into his own hands. Forget that the negotiation didn't mean much ("bare minimum"). When addressing all of this, Obama appeared to have been dusting himself off from dispatching with some bullshit-bullshit. Some Chinese bullshit:

Mr. Obama's announcement came late in a day that began with his 11-minute address to world leaders shortly after noon, and that was filled with brinksmanship and 11th-hour negotiations. Mr. Obama, whose speech included remarks that appeared pointed at China's resistance to mechanisms for monitoring emissions reductions, met privately with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao afterward. But Mr. Wen did not attend two smaller, impromptu meetings during the day that Mr. Obama and United States officials conducted with the leaders of other world powers, an apparent snub that infuriated administration officials and their European counterparts.

Right? Who do they think they are? Or rather, who the hell do they think they're trying to pull a fast one on? If you don't know, now you know, China:

The deal eventually came together after a dramatic moment in which Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton burst into a meeting of the Chinese, Indian and Brazilian leaders, according to senior administration officials. Mr. Obama said he did not want them negotiating in secret.

The intrusion led to new talks that cemented central terms of the deal, American officials said.

For those who can't picture it, a dramatic reenactment:

Do not try to get one past us, or The U.S., sneaky people. We will kick in your doors and then your faces in order to reduce everyone's long-term greenhouse gas emissions. Sayonara, mothafuckas. Music, please:

[Photo via Getty Images, Tip via Ant DeRosa.]

The Christian Science Monitor's Linda Feldmann sets the scene in her pool report:

Pool spray pre-bilateral between Obama and Wen is a mess

The Chinese press corps shoved their way into the small room where POTUS and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao were about to meet, preventing most of the American press pool from entering.

Robert Gibbs said something to the effect of "my people" (meaning American press corps) have to get into the room, "or we're leaving." A few American media were able to get in, but your pooler and other non-broadcast reporters could not get in.

This photo of Wen's goons muscling our first amendment heroes is positively chilling. Still, we have to admire Robert Gibb's courage, here, standing up for the rights of people he is paid to lie to constantly.

According to Helene Cooper of the New York Times, who managed to actually make it into the meeting for the photo spray and file to the pool: "White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs and NSC chief of staff Denis McDonough both got roughed up a bit trying to get into the room."

And, and this is how Obama makes an entrance, now?

Mr. Obama and the American delegation were the last to arrive, with Mr. Obama walking into the room and calling out from the door, "Mr. Premier, are you ready to see me? Are you ready?"

This guy! So ashamed of his country! American Presidents don't ask if other people are ready to see them, Obama. They bust through the fucking wall and shout "OH, YEAAAHH!!!" At least that's how Reagan did it.

[Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images]

The Miami Sound Machine singer opened up her presidential interview with some hard-hitting questions about White House security:

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
It's very beautiful. And by the way, I have a very important question to start off this interview, which chimney will Santa be coming down?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:
Well, we think that he's going to be coming down into the Yellow Room, which is right at the middle of the Residence. So, that's where we are going to set the cookies and the milk, because after working all night, giving the gifts….

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
And something for the reindeers…

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:
And the reindeers, we'll have a little reindeer snack out there…

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
That's wonderful…..

Now, I understand the interview was for a Christmas special called Nuestra Navidad—but, he's the President of the United States. You don't have a single political question for him? A compilation of Gloria's Obama interview utterances—which Ben Smith cleverly thought to isolate here—reads like an Emily Post guide on How to Make Polite Small Talk at a Cocktail Party. A sample:

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
How does it feel having your mother-in-law at the White House?

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
That's wonderful. I loved my mother-in-law as well.

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
Lets move on to the great honor of interviewing you…

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
Without a doubt, there are angels among us who help their neighbors....

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
Mr. President, would you be able to send holiday greeting to all the Hispanics watching? Did you practice your Spanish?

GLORIA ESTEFAN:
That's great.

And you thought the Oprah interview was going to be easy. Then again, Barry totally has a soft spot for Spanish-language pop stars—like the time Thalia convinced him to dance the salsa at a White House dinner—so maybe Univision was trying to take advantage of that.

[Full Obama-Estefan transcript at Politico]

It is perversely humbling that humanity-altering processes like nuclear disarmament and anti-missile defense can hinge on the contents of a single letter, typed and printed on a piece of paper, signed by a left-handed man from Hawaii.

Much like a middle school romance, Obama sent his friends to talk to Kim before penning a note to be passed through a chain of hands across the Pacific Ocean.

President Barack Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as part of an intense effort to draw the reclusive nation back to nuclear disarmament talks, a senior State Department official said Tuesday. The letter was delivered to North Korean officials last week by Obama's special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth

Also like middle school, everyone stayed up late obsessing over whether he'd say "Dear Kim" or "To Kim"; and "From Barry with Love" or "Yours Truly, Barry." And would he send it during first period or second? Right after the bell, or near the end?

Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also sent personal letters to Kim, although not as early in their terms as did Obama. ... [Clinton-era] Ambassador-at-Large Robert Gallucci told reporters the letter was addressed "To The Supreme Leader of the DPRK" - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The Post said efforts early in Bush's term to send a letter were stymied by an intense debate over whether to use an honorific such as "his excellency" to address Kim.

Bush's mistake (in addition to the whole "axis of evil" thing) was that he accidentally applied the middle school dance's logic stateside, too, letting his teenage boy bravado over stupid stuff like honorifics get in the way of his communiques. (Incidentally, this is the same grandstanding logic that holds that bowing to Japan's emperor is akin to treason and that ending a war is a war crime.) Obama doesn't actually transcend this, but he is pretty good at avoiding it at opportune moments. (Side benefit of keeping the content of Kim's letter "closely guarded": Nobody finds out he called him Snookums.)

Speaking of teenagers and fronting: Kim's sunglasses are back in style, no? [AP]

It was Nov. 11th, a brisk, beautiful day at the nation's capital. 67 year-old Harvey Darden and his wife, Paula, had come up to DC from tiny Hogansville, Ga for some sight-seeing. High on their list was the White House, home to President Barack Obama and his beautiful family. The Dardens had voted for Obama, so they made sure to schedule a tour with their congressman before they left Georgia.

The Dardens were excited. So excited, in fact, that they showed up for the tour an entire day early. There was no tour that day! Imagine how crestfallen they would have been to be turned away at the last moment after driving all the way up from Georgia! Harvey would have looked at Paula with a sad, forced smile. They would have driven silently home, a shade descending permanently over Harvey's life; even the handmade rocking chairs that had been his passion since retiring as a pharmacist would seem somehow cheap. Empty.

Instead, something strange and magical happened to the Dardens that day. First, they were subjected to a Secret Service screening. (The Dardens had already received a background check in advance of their visit the next day.) Then, according to the AP:

...they were ushered into the East Room, offered a buffet spread and told they'd be meeting the president.

The president!? Of... of America?

"The further we got into the White House, the more surprised we were," Darden told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "My wife looked at me and I looked at her, and I said, 'You know, I don't know if we're in the right place.'"...

The Dardens approached an aide who was mingling with guests.

"I told him, 'I don't think this is part of the White House tour,'" Darden said. "He said, 'No it's not. It's an invitation event for veterans.'"

A White House spokesman later said staff had allowed the Dardens to 'crash' the Veterans lunch, as "a nice gesture." Since Harvey was a veteran, it seemed doubly appropriate.

The East Room was magnificent, dotted with shimmering chandeliers, curtains that cascaded like gold waterfalls and paintings as big as the Dardens' living room wall back home in Georgia. We would like to imagine that a faint bark issued from behind one of the the heavy closed doors. Bo?

Perhaps the Dardens then noticed a fragrance filling the room: a subtle mix of pine, lavender and olive oil. The scent of the Obamas:

Shortly thereafter, Barack and Michelle Obama arrived and began talking and getting photographs with guests at each table. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, also stopped by.

Darden said it was "quite a treat" to meet the Obamas and the Bidens... The couple's only regret, Darden said, is that they haven't received a copy of that picture taken with the Obamas.

The Dardens returned to Georgia, filled with wonder. They had met The Obamas! (Oh... and, also the Bidens?) And everyone lived happily ever after until the mean Salahis showed up two weeks later and ruined crashing the White House for everyone.

The White House Holiday Party (print journalism edition)

First up: The controversial White House holiday party for print journalists! (Well, "controversial" among print journalists, because, as Politico reports, Gasp! There may not be a receiving line where members of the press can go up to the Obamas for a gentle scratch on the back of the neck and a treat.)

Judging from her snapshot of the White House gingerbread house, Arianna Huffington needs a new camera with which to iBrag about chilling with the first family:

One visitor, Jonathan Schleifler (senior policy adviser to Congressman Anthony Weiner) is not impressed with the White House's chosen rendition of a traditional Hanukkah song:

And the proprietor of the blog Last Night's Mixtapes snapped a couple pics which suggest there was, indeed, a receiving line. He must have gotten all of two seconds with the First Couple:

So, that looks like a lot of fun. Tomorrow night is the shindig for broadcast journalists, and on the 16th is the even more controversial Hanukkah party! Out of all the duties of the presidency we would not want, high among that list is dealing with angry Jews and/or journalists three nights in a row.

Vogue
The Vogue holiday party is notoriously hush-hush. But we're pretty sure we found a loose-lipped Twitterer who sank that ship. John Wellington, who in his bio describes himself as a "producer, stylist, performer, Dandy" let slip this revealing tweet earlier today:

We're guessing you're not going to get any champagne with Andre Leon Talley, Vogue editor-at-large, because he's going to kick your ass for spoiling his super secret party. (Anyone want to fill us in on the glittering goings-on? Does Anna Wintour get down after a few or what!?)

We started thinking about crashing the Vogue soiree, but didn't know where to go. Thank you, John Wellington, for telling us a few hours later:

That would be the Amnesia bar in Chelsea, we're assuming.

What are you guys waiting for? Make like the Salahis and crash that shit now. It's totally still raging:

Daily News

Daily News freelancer Jamie Locher tweeted this a couple hours ago:

Looking forward to reading that piece, Jamie! Here's hoping Locher sits down to finish her draft tonight after a few too many nogs; the Daily News' prose could definitely use a little boozy kick. (I mean, those incredible Post headlines can't be the products of a sober mind, right?)

Anyway, you probably know where this is going: As you stumble your way through the height of holiday party season these next few weeks we'd love to hear about the parties being thrown by notable media and non-media folk alike. Including: Upcoming party dates and venues; invitation scans; Any funny/dumb/outrageous/boring occurrences at said parties; noticeable "In This Economy?"™ cutbacks; whatever! Email us. With your help, we can make this the most cheerful and panoptic holiday season ever.

Obama met with 10 top banking executives, or "fat cats" as he's taken to calling them these days, to yell at them for not lending enough money and generally being horrible people. But the worst of them, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein, is among the three that are participating via conference call because fog made it impossible for them to deploy the billions of dollars under their control in service of transporting them bodily to Washington, D.C. this morning.

According to Joyce Jones, the Black Enterprise reporter doing White House pool duty today, Obama "thanked them for calling in and said he's sorry their flights got held up." We're hoping that the audio of the meeting is released, because we expect Obama's voice to be dripping with saracasm.

As you can see from the above photo, taken from the roof of Gawker HQ, there was no problem getting off the ground in New York this morning. There were indeed traffic management systems put in place this morning at Dulles International Airport and Reagan National due to fog, and many flights between New York and D.C. were delayed or canceled. But these are powerful men, with access to private planes. They really couldn't squeeze in a landing ahead of the losers who fly commercial? For a sense of just how debilitating the fog is in D.C., here's a live shot from a traffic camera about a mile from Reagan Washington:

Not to mention Baltimore-Washington International Airport, just a quick limo drive from the White House, which wasn't experiencing any delays this morning:

Also, there are trains that travel between Washington and New York. Nine of them arrived at Washington's Union Station before the 11:09 a.m. start-time of the meeting with Obama.

UPDATE: The meeting is over, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just offered a readout to the press corps. He described the meeting as genteel, and when he quoted one banker saying, "You've caused us to look more broadly" at our lending, everybody laughed at him.

No one really remembers Nobel Prize acceptance speeches. Not even King's, which Obama quoted a couple times. And this one probably won't go down in history, but it was terribly smart and occasionally lovely, and we're inclined to agree with James Fallows that it "will probably seem better, on re-reading and with the passage of time...." Reading the transcript is probably more edifying than watching it.

So. The humble bit sounded genuine. The defensive bit was funny.

But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 42 other countries — including Norway — in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.

"Including Norway" is not quite as bizarrely memorable a piece of odd Presidential justification as "you forgot Poland," but we will make an effort to quote it mockingly in our foreign policy coverage from now on. Even NORWAY, people!

Here is the president laying out the incredibly unrealistic conditions of a "just war":

The concept of a "just war" emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when it meets certain preconditions: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the forced used is proportional, and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.

Yeah those are all kinda impossible to meet to everyone's satisfaction.

Because George W. Bush so brazenly co-opted the utopian rhetoric of liberal internationalists, no current politician can speak of the courage and heroism of those who protest oppressive regimes without unintentionally evoking that jackass in all his smirky vainglory. Though Bush only ever talked about the nations he was actively interested in messing around with for strategic reasons. Obama brought up Burma and Somalia and Zimbabwe. (And, look at that, climate change.)

The crazier right-wing critics are basically grasping at straws in their attempts to find fault (it was a "lecture," he didn't count the GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR as one of the wars he is waging, actual psychopath John Bolton is mad that he said he "prohibited torture") but that is to be expected.

Not-great video of the speech is on Youtube if you'd like to watch it.

[Pic: Getty]