白宫办奢华派对遭披露

《纽约时报》记者坎特日前在新书《奥巴马家庭》中揭露，美国第一夫人米歇尔在2009年万圣节期间，邀请《艾丽斯梦游仙境》演员 强尼·戴普及导演提姆波顿，出席为美军及幕僚家庭在白宫举行的主题派对，奢华活动的照片在美国经济衰退期间，显得十分刺眼。

白宫发言人卡尔尼称，“这些书籍通常过度渲染事件并与事实脱节。如果白宫真要搞秘密派对，为何会邀请记者联合采访并实时发放相片。”卡尔尼进一步解释，“派对是为军人家庭及儿童举行，并非全程对外公开的宣传活动，有记者在场，照片也对外公开，哪些人在场根本不是秘密；如果白宫有意隐瞒事实，看来效果很糟。”

A new book reports that the Obama White House hosted an extravagant "Alice in Wonderland" party in the fall of 2009, designed by director Tim Burton and featuring actor Johnny Depp.

In "The Obamas," New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor writes that the White House decided to downplay the expensive Halloween party over fears of a public backlash, since it was taking place during the height of the recession.

"White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton's and Depp's contributions went unacknowledged," Kantor writes.

The party itself was designed by director Tim Burton, who helped transform the East Room and State Dining Room into a "White House Wonderland." More from the book:

"[Burton's] film version was about to be released, and he had turned the room into the Mad Hatter's tea party, with a long table set with antique-looking linens, enormous stuffed animals in chairs, and tiered serving plates with treats like bone-shaped meringue cookies."

"Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar. Burton's own Mad Hatter, the actor Johnny Depp, presided over the scene in full costume, standing up on a table to welcome everyone in character."

And though he had nothing to do with "Alice in Wonderland," Star Wars creator George Lucas reportedly sent along an actor playing Chewbacca to attend the party.

That was followed by a magic show for children of White House staff and military families.

White House spokesman Eric Shultz disputed Kantor's take, saying the event was not covered up for fear of public backlash. "This was an event for local school children from the Washington DC area and for hundreds of military families," Shultz said in a statement released to Politico. "If we wanted this event to be a secret, we probably wouldn't have invited the press corps to cover it, release photos of it to Flickr, or post a video from it on the White House website," he said.