Tonight's State Dinner At The White House: The Missed Photo Opportunity Of The Century

Think of it!

Streisand showed up! Lots of Hollywood glitterati! Lang-Lang! Chris Botti!

And, damn, girl! Check out Michelle's dress! Whooo-weee!!! It's good being Queen! Did she buy it on her vacation in Spain? Did Oprah help her pick it out? She livin' large, gir'frieund!

All that champagne, lobster, beef, pastries, celebrity, entertainment, good feelings; and The Leader Free World, 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Barack Obama, hosting Chinese President Hu, with his special guest, the 2010 Nobel Peace prize Laureate, Liu Xiaobo. The dinner could even be in honor of yet another Peace Prize Laureate, Martin Luther King. It's his week, after all! What a public relations coup!

Think of it, two living laureates and the children of a third. What a great occasion, historic, unforgettable.

On the menu: d'anjou pear salad with farmstead goat cheese, poached Maine lobster, orange glazed carrots and black trumpet mushrooms, dry aged rib eye with buttermilk crisp onions, double-stuffed potatoes and creamed spinach. Dessert will be old-fashioned apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Sweet!

There's a slight problem, though. Liu Xiaobo languishes in a Chinese prison.

He sends greetings, though.

Here are his opening words:

In the course of my life, for more than half a century, June 1989 was the major turning point. Up to that point, I was a member of the first class to enter university when college entrance examinations were reinstated following the Cultural Revolution (Class of ‘'77). From BA to MA and on to PhD, my academic career was all smooth sailing. Upon receiving my degrees, I stayed on to teach at Beijing NormalUniversity. As a teacher, I was well received by the students.

At the same time, I was a public intellectual, writing articles and books that created quite a stir during the 1980s, frequently receiving invitations to give talks around the country, and going abroad as a visiting scholar upon invitation from Europe and America. What I demanded of myself was this: whether as a person or as a writer, I would lead a life of honesty, responsibility, and dignity. After that, because I had returned from the U.S. to take part in the 1989 Movement, I was thrown into prison for "the crime of counter‑revolutionary propaganda and incitement."

I also lost my beloved lectern and could no longer publish essays or give talks in China.

Merely for publishing different political views and taking part in a peaceful democracy movement, a teacher lost his lectern, a writer lost his right to publish, and a public intellectual lost the opportunity to give talks publicly. This is a tragedy, both for me personally and for a China that has already seen thirty years of Reform and Opening Up.

Bon appetit, ya'll!

(Wonder what was on Liu Xiaobo's plate for dinner? Was it served by a waiter in livery? Wonder what china pattern the prison uses? Did they starch the napkins?...)


All in all, very reminiscent of another State Dinner, held long ago and far away...