I don't understand the point of a state dinner.

Granted, I don't understand a LOT of things people do. I don't decorate the house for holidays. I don't understand why reality TV is so popular. I don't care which celebrity is dating which other celebrity. But the state dinner really seems to be something archaic and essentially pointless in the modern age, something woefully outdated and of no real utility.

If you want diplomacy? Just sit down and talk. You don't need tuxedos and three-course dinners that cost more than some people pay on their mortgage each month. Fancy shit like that just gets in the way. It's another layer of cruft that needs to be cut through before anything can actually get done, not to mention it's just one more thing the Republicans can seize upon to harp on constantly.

Just so we're clear, I'm not getting on Obama's case about this, because he's hardly the only president to do this. I just don't understand the point of it in the modern era, and since everyone seems to be talking about it, I thought I'd ask. It just seems like a colossal waste of time for nothing more than a chance to wear something ridiculous and expensive, and to act like you're more important than other people because you got invited to such an event. And that just strikes me as asinine. One prom night should be more than enough for anyone to be sick of it, IMHO.

Am I being excessively utilitarian here? Can someone explain to me why the hell anyone indulges in this stuff anymore?

It feels like I'm watching something that hasn't had a purpose since we came up with universal suffrage and representative democracy.

But then I tend to assume that traditions are kind of pointless unless proven to have some sort of value anyway, and I just don't see what value state dinners have in a modern context. Anything that gets done at one could be done for a lot less money and time spent. I freely admit that I'm a weird person. I just don't get the thought process that goes into this sort of thing.

until the BIG crash, that is. Then a State Dinner is gonna be a burrito and a beer.

Explain please. Arbitrary definitions of progress irritate me.

Sometimes I think we are too hasty to throw away traditions. Other world leaders have thrown events for US Presidents too maybe it's reaching out and maybe it's international protocol. Who knows...

I think it's okay and during the process of the Obama adminstration trying to rebuild or strengthen international ties the event seems to have it's role. Even Bobby Jindell showed up....

What's the saying that many a business deal has occurred on a golf course....I think the same type of concept could work here....Do many international decisions get made at these events? probably not but they can set the stage for future positive engagements...

prime minister is not my idea of fun.

The whole building international ties. That is something we need a lot of after the last 8 years. Maybe it's just the choice of a stat dinner that confuses me. I mean, a round of golf would be a lot less expensive and at least you got to play golf. I just can't imagine that these state dinners are terribly fun (or comfortable, given the dress code).

no, have never been at a state dinner, but have been to plenty of ceremonial dinners where dress code was quite strict, can be fun as a social watching event.

The last few were Sub Bowls... and I suspect a state dinner does not quite go down hill that way... others were dinners to honor government people and to formalize mutual aid agreements. They are a people watchers paradise... especially if you like to look for who's who in the zoo. It also helps to be a "nobody" to notice these things.

Which means me: I had to google it. Never heard of the term.

I think you're wrong. We need a little pomp every once in a while. And it's a tradition. I'd rather watch the goings on at a state dinner than, say, a football game or American Idol.
Get a little dressed up some night and go to the symphony or opera. It doesn't cost much, and it makes you feel civilized and connected to a tradition.
And then go to a jazz club or an alternative music club, whatever: it's all good.

whe would like as friends, or at least pretend to, are honored with a State Dinner. I realize it's no big deal to you, but it really does promote diplomacy around the world and think thats a good thing.

I can dig that it accomplishes things, and I'm all for that, I just think that things around the world would be a lot smoother if we dispensed with the over-the-top, ritualized context that things like diplomacy are treated with, especially since I imagine that, in the end, private talks between leaders are probably a lot less formal than they would like us to believe.

On another level, it sort of bothers me because it emphasizes a divide between the ruling class and everybody else, but I know that not everyone here will agree with me on my crazy socialist ramblings. :v

to realize that Presidents, Prime Ministers, and whatever other rulers are called, are extremely egotistic! I honestly don't thing anyone without an big ego could ever get elected to anything! I know I couldn't. Sometimes you just gotta to play to that.

Frankly, I think the world could be done a lot of good by putting a few wallflowers in charge. But, as a wallflower myself, I'm probably somewhat biased. ;)

granted they lack some of the drama they had at one point. I mean Mark Anthony and Cleopatra signified their political union in bed... yes sex... but they go as far back as tribes.

They hold a function, and important one, They allow a leader of in the modern sense, a state, to show the best of his as a host.

They can be dramatic in the sense that around the dinner table, there are actual diplomatic negotiations and probes going on.

So they are not just for show.

can lead to things being discussed that may not get the chance to be discussed through normal diplomatic channels a little social lubrication can be cost effective in the end.

"ah shucks" might work in your commune.

but on the world stage? not so much.

"to act like you're more important than other people..." again, i hate to break it to you, but some people are more important. president obama is pretty much as important as you can get. i can't think of another more important.

so, when dude entertains, he does so in a manner befitting the occasion. as it should be.

They're the people that Obama works for.

I don't want to be an ass about this, and I know that I'm probably just as much in the minority on this as I am about state dinners being weird and pointless, but if we want to be serious about what this country is ostensibly supposed to be all about, I think it follows that being elected to represent your fellow citizens in the act of self-governance should not entitle one to some sort of exalted status above and beyond everyone else.

nothing weird and pointless about the doings of tonight. its how things get done. that's how the world works.

obama is more important than you. many people are more important than you.

until you run for president and get elected, that is just so.

be an ass about it. don't understand it. complain about it. whatever.

things work how they work. if you don't get it? so sad...



i guess you could continue to complain about it with the handful of others that don't get it either.

but leave obama out of it. he gets it, and is working it.

thank god for that...

besides, it's good bizness

but the state dinner is a holdover from the age of kings, when they'd hold lavish feasts to impress envoys from enemy kings.

The state dinner softens the head honcho up a bit even today, especially when great attention to detail is paid like it was today with the color scheme.

Unfortunately, the real negotiations take place among functionaries who never get to go to the lavish feasts.

Over and over again and many gave their lives for this and other corporate interests then it is time the government end this traditional horse shit.

It is nothing other than a kiss ass event for the well off but it won't change a damn thing for the people. Once they are done they go home and take off all the fancy expensive clothes, they had a party on the peoples dime and their wars will go on and people will go on without healthcare and poor countries will still be poor.

In times like these one would think they would have a conscience about this yet they don't but if anyone of them were suffering and I doubt if any knows what that feels like then they would quit this insane show and get real just for once.

Kim Jong Il and Ahmedinijad don't get state dinners at the White House.

they want the bouncy-house, the pony rides, the big fancy cake, and a chance to invite all their "bestest-in-the-whole-world" friends.

Kids who get invited, feel very special, and have a great time.

sometimes a birthday party is just a box mix-cake , hotdogs & immediate family, but every so often, there's a really nice one..

To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

In a democracy that is in deep peril, I think it is wrong to display great excess no matter the occasion, no matter the attendees.

I love Michelle Obama. Her dress was made by forty people working three weeks in a workroom in India; family members of the designer. Made from the finest silk, woven by hand and embroidered by hand for the occasion. It was beyond beautiful. Fit for a queen.

But fit for the spouse of a Democrat in America? A man elected to bring help and change that can only happen if he forces the wealthy to rein in their greed so that the "American Dream" will not die -- so that children will not hunger and parents will have work and everyone will afford health care?

Perception is everything. And there's a deep growling out there from those who can't sleep at night and fear the future -- a dangerous growling that can be exacerbated by symbols like a soiree and a silk dress.

Well stated.

Wat

And da fuck with that. The people starving all over the world should throw their own state dinner. Limey bastards.

"Am I being excessively utilitarian here?"

YES

meeting and greeting to encourage good relations with the other nations we share this world with. :-)