Pres. Obama learning to dance the Washington Pretzel

I call it the Washington Pretzel due to the intricacies of the steps, the agile positioning of the body and inordinate pressures on one’s memory banks while executing this courtly circle dance accompanied by the harpsichord and a few wind instruments.

There are few I have seen execute this dance as perfectly as "Madame Secretary" herself, Ms. Madeleine Albright. Her grace and majesty has been the envy of the Beltway society for decades.

In my opinion, Sec. Hillary Clinton never mastered the dance due to the fact she inserts what some say are “…. awkward steps, perhaps reminiscent of her days in Arkansas!”

One’s ability to dance the Washington Pretzel is the only ticket to inside Washington, Georgetown and nearby Virginia. There is no substitute.
Observers are kind when they spot Alan Greenspan on the ballroom floor dancing the dance wherein one may also bare witness to men finding lint to pull off their sleeves and women quietly reading the beads on their bracelets.

So it appears Pres. Obama has presented his credentials and abandoned the dance he danced on the Ellen Degeneres Show last year putting his dancing future in the hands of dancing master, Rahm Emanuel. Walking the halls of the White House early on a Saturday morning, the music has stopped and one may, quite by accident, observe loud “discussions” from the rehearsal room; it seems Pres. Obama refuses to add Hora steps to the Washington Pretzel dance, insisted on by Rahm.

The President gets quiet when Rahm tells him Henry Kissinger incorporates the Hora steps when he dances the dance but alas, Obama wants to be a purist. He insists on perfecting the original dance “..as he wonders if Rahm is the best teacher for him to learn such a crucially important Washington insider dance.” The President does get Rahm to admit Ronald Ragan also perfected the dance without inserting Hora steps. The President often fantasizes seeing Madeleine and Ronald dancing the Washington Pretzel together. He wipes his brow, walks to the middle of the floor to continues his rehearsal. The music begins. Rahm smiles.

UPDATED: Candidate Obama DID Campaign On The Public Option!
by slinkerwink
Excerpt:
This revisionist history has to stop. Back then, what we call the public option was called the public plan, and it was a major mark of his health care plan and his speeches, including his campaign stops such as this one in front of Planned Parenthood in 2007. Yes, you read that right, 2007.
And
For starters, Obama's proposal would require that all children have coverage. He would expand the tax-funded children's health-insurance program to make sure that those unable to join private plans were covered. Although Obama would not require adults to have insurance, he would mandate that large businesses either provide coverage to their employees or pay into a new public plan through which anyone without coverage could buy it. Small-business owners would be exempt and would get a 50 percent health-care tax credit to help ease their cost of employee coverage. People without coverage could buy insurance through new public and private plans. Key to Obama's plan is creation of a National Health Insurance Exchange in which private insurers would offer coverage as generous as the government's plan, with new regulations requiring them to accept and not penalize anyone regardless of pre-existing conditions, Tanden said. [Columbus Dispatch, 9/23/08, via Lexis]
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/22/818186/-UPDATED:-Candidate-Obama-DID-Campaign-On-The-Public-Option!

As always,
BB