White House Correspondents Dinner Wrap-Up
The White House Correspondents Association Dinner was the event of a lifetime for me. Sure, seeing Natalie Portman, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, Eva Longoria, Donatella Versace, Tom Cruise, et cetera ad nauseum was interesting. It was nice to be at a party with the celeberities and have a conversation about how excited we were to meet some of the people that just caused me to be awestruck. I actually had a conversation with Collin Powell and Madeline Albright. I talked with the head of the OMB and the man that owns the Washington Post Company. I met senior cabinet officials and shared a laugh with them. I was struck by the enormous size of Newt Gingrich’s head. Seriously, it’s like a giant pumpkin. Plus, he felt up the women around him. Creepster.
I stood in line to shake Captain Sullenberger’s hand. I genuinely was in awe to meet him. I fly a lot and meeting him was truly an honor. I’d like to hope that if I were ever on a plane in trouble my pilot could be that cool under pressure. He was humble and seemed to understand that it was important for people to shake his hand.
I do remember thinking that Barbara Walters shuffles along like my grandmother did in her last few years. I just remember being wide-eyed at all of the powerful people in one room and how friendly everyone was.
I never did get to see Whoopi, but the list of celeberities, TV News personalties, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalists and powerful political leaders I did see is a list so long I will never remember all of it, but will reflect on it for a while!