Barack Obama snubs Gridiron Club dinner

Barack Obama has upset a group of distinguished American journalists by becoming the first US president since Grover Cleveland in the 1880s to turn down an invitation to the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club in his first year in office. The hacks are insulted - and the word among them is that Michelle Obama is to blame.

The official White House line is that Obama plans to be at Camp David where his daughters Malia and Sasha will be on their spring break - their first school holiday since the Inauguration

One anonymous senior member of the 124-year-old establishment told Politico that he suspected the First Lady had put her foot down. "We got the impression... that Mrs Obama had made the decision about the family's spring break and no one on the senior staff was about to challenge that."
 
The White House has denied the allegation but Gridiron members are unimpressed nonetheless. "People feel uncommonly saddened, miffed and burned," said Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page. "I don't think he understands the implications of not coming to the club in the first year. It's not your ordinary state dinner. I think it would be helpful for him and his relations with the Washington establishment to come to the club."
 
There has also been some speculation that Obama may be frightened of giving the customary presidential remarks without the help of his beloved teleprompter. He certainly has a tough act to follow: at last year's dinner, President George Bush got up and sang a surprisingly tuneful The Green Green Grass of Home (see video below). ·