Check out photos from the event below:

WHC Insider Event Coverage, Washington Events Bill Clinton, Chris Edwards, Dan Meyers, Dan Quayle, Jeff Harris, Junelle Cavero, Junior Statesman of America, Kevin Latek, Michelle Obama, Mike McCurry, Newt Gingrich, Rich Galen, Susan Sher

Sons of Italy NELA Gala 2010 from whcinsider on Vimeo.

Lots of laughter and amore in the air as President Bill Clinton and Quincy Jones joined Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano and Washington favorite Franco Nuschese at the Sons of Italy Foundation’s 22nd annual National Education & Leadership Awards gala in Washington, D.C. on May 26.

Clinton was honored with a lifetime achievement award for his career in public service and used the occasion to promote his new passion: bringing the FIFA World Cup to the U.S., which received a rousing round of applause (Italy is the defending champion heading into the 2010 World Cup games). Clinton was recently named the Honorary Chairman of the USA Bid to bring the games to the United States in 2018 or 2022.

The event, emceed by actor Joe Mantegna, also honored Capt. Anthony Odierno, (U.S. Army, Ret.), who was severely wounded in Iraq; and Lewis Merletti, former director of the U.S. Secret Service. National scholarships were also handed out to 11 young Italian Americans heading off to college.

On hand for the festivities were numerous notables ranging from the worlds of government to entertainment, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House; Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq; NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, Sons of Italy Foundation President Vincent Sarno, and tenor Michael Amante.

WHC Insider Washington Bill Clinton, Capt. Anthony Odierno, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Franco Nuschese, Gen. Raymond Odierno, Giorgio Napolitano, Joe Mantegna, Lewis Merletti, Michael Amante, Nancy Pelosi, Quincy Jones, Sons of Italy, Vincent Sarno, World Cup

Former Washingtonian and Washington Post reporter Lloyd Grove has picked up the attack against White House correspondents launched by Ana Marie Cox last year.  Ana Marie, did you spend anytime with Lloyd at Michael’s when you visited your new GQ editors in NYC? Grove’s Daily Beast blog recently harrumphed against the hardworking, hard tweeting members of the most exclusive club in Washington journalism – the ones who report to work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

While I enjoy Michael’s like the next media maven, what’s so wrong with covering the leader of the free world 30 feet from his office and home? Grove’s complaint about Robert Gibbs tweeting reminds of when we began putting Ross Perot and President Bush and a former governor by the name of Bill Clinton on Larry King Live in 1992.  Our newsroom colleagues lamented the end of journalism, but social media didn’t just start on the Internet; interactivity has always been an important part of journalism.

Ask Dan Pfeiffer, the president’s communications director, how much his press shop likes responding to the five reporters who call with follows on each White House reporters’ tweet.  Take a quick look at the stories and interviews done by NBC’s Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie as well as ABC’s Jake Tapper; you want them to pull back and tweet from Café Milano?

Tell WHC Insider what you think after reading Lloyd Grove’s column.

thaddad Correspondents, News Media Ana Marie Cox, Bill Clinton, Cafe Milano, Chuck Todd, Dan Pfeiffer, George H. W. Bush, Jake Tapper, lloyd grove, Michael's, Robert Gibbs, Ross Perot, Savannah Guthrie

President Bill Clinton gives First Lady Michelle Obama a thumbs up on her anti-obesity campaign.  The William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association created the Alliance for a Healthier Generation in May 2005.  Watch what he tells Newsweek’s editor Jon Meacham.

Clinton Anti-Childhood Obesity Campaign from whcinsider on Vimeo.

gtruong Washington Events Bill Clinton

By tradition, the president is the guest of honor at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and the guest of honor addresses the audience of roughly 2,000 at some point during the evening.

It’s usually a light-hearted, often funny speech, very much in keeping with the chummy spirit of the occasion. But for the jokes to work, delivery is everything.

“I’d tell Barack Obama to treat the jokes, the whole thing, as seriously as the State of the Union speech,” Phil Rosenthal tells WHCInsider. “He should deliver it with the same gravity and seriousness.”

Rosenthal, the creator and executive producer of the hit comedy “Everyone Loves Raymond,” wrote material for all WHCDs that Bill Clinton attended as president and also directed “The Final Days,” the famous video of President Clinton at his last WHCD. Considered one of the funniest presidential comedy routines, the short spoof featured President Clinton riding a bike through the White House and later running to give First Lady Hillary Clinton her lunch before she went off to work in a limo. Read more…

BTriplett Washington Events Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Phil Rosenthal, State of the Union, The Final Days

If there’s a single instance in the recent history that encapsulates what the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has become in staid, old Washington, it would have to be the “Ozzy moment.” The year was 2002 and the unified spirit that enveloped Washington in the wake of the 9/11 attacks still lingered as the elite masses gathered at the Washington Hilton hotel for the annual dinner. President Bush was on hand, riding a wave of political popularity. Cabinet members like Colin Powell were also present, as well as the upper echelons of official Washington.

Comedian Drew Carey was the featured entertainment (after the president, of course), and the requisite celebrities were on hand as well – Harrison Ford, Christie Brinkley, etc. But it was heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne (invited by Fox News host Greta Van Susteren) everyone was clamoring to see. His MTV reality show “The Osbournes” had become a cultural phenomenon and the muttering poster boy of rock ‘n roll excess was more famous than he had ever been in his head-banging heyday. Even the president couldn’t resist the pull of America’s sudden and most unlikely celebrity. “The thing about Ozzy is he’s made a lot of big hit recordings,” Bush said as he gave the singer a shout-out during his remarks. “’Party With Animals,’ ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,’ ‘Face in Hell,’ ‘Black Skies’ and ‘Bloodbath in Paradise’ … Ozzy, mom loves your stuff.” Osbourne responded by standing on his chair, arms raised and shouting as the audience howled and applauded.

Read more…

vververs Uncategorized Bill Clinton, Christie Brinkley, David Gregory, Dick Cheney, Don Imus, Greta Van Susteren, Harrison Ford, Helen Thomas, Karl Rove, Laura Bush, Lynne Cheney, Ozzy Osbourne, Rich Little, Stephen Colbert