Who Cares That Alfalfa Dinner Honors Confederate General Robert E. Lee?

As I reported yesterday, President Obama and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be speaking at the Alfalfa Dinner tomorrow night. The annual dinner is private, very exclusive, and is a chummy roast-a-thon among the elitest of elites.

Here's the thing. Every news account from prior years included the fact that the dinner is in honor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's birthday. This year, however, that information seems to have been omitted from whatever press releases were made. Since I began reporting this yesterday morning, the reference has turned up in a few places, but only in an offhand way. For example, in a 3 page story on the dinner, The Daily Beast has only this:

Founded in 1913 by four Southern gentlemen, who, for some unknown reason, decided to celebrate the birthday of General Robert E. Lee, the Alfalfa Club's annual dinner is the most prestigious of the city's innumerable comedic events.

For some unknown reason? Hmmm. If only there were someone whose job it was to find stuff like this out and, um, report it.

Since yesterday, I've talked with everyone from media figures to political ones, including the White House press office. Every one of them expressed surprise, some even outrage, yet nobody else is really reporting on it beyond what's available in Wikipedia.

One influential blog, however, has picked up on the story. From JackandJillPolitics.com:

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Look I know it's hard to move to a new city and make new friends. But dammit, Obama is the president now. We all know the code under which this shindig was first enshrined. Black people should no longer have to endure parties dedicated to people who worked really hard to keep us enslaved and dine with people like Palin who publicly encouraged followers to call a black candidate a racist terrorist criminal. Period. So, I'm hoping that Obama chooses not to go. Or if he does, that he pricks the conscience of those attending who smugly think it's cool to celebrate a loser confederate. I hate to think of a bunch of retrogrades snickering at Obama behind his back and behind their own cheese-eating smiles.

By the way, Jill also quotes a generous source that says the club began admitting black members in "the 70's." It was in 1979.

Now, a reporter friend of mine pointed out to me that, as Confederates go, Lee is considered a good guy. I'm willing to listen to that argument, but I am stupefied at the utter lack of attention on this.

Robert Gibbs was asked about the dinner today. The Press Office didn't know about Lee when I called them yesterday, but they sure do now. Here's what Gibbs had to say: (via email)

Saturday, the only thing I have right now on the President's schedule -- and I will double-check this -- is he will attend the Alfalfa Dinner. Nothing says change like the Alfalfa Dinner. (Laughter.)

Q Will he be speaking? - Q What would he like to say to Sarah Palin? (Laughter.) - Q Will he be speaking there?

MR. GIBBS: He will speak there.

Q What's the coverage on that?

MR. GIBBS: And I think I just took his first joke.

In 2007, a Washington Post reporter did ask some attendees about the Confederate connection, and got pretty much the reaction I've been getting: (subscription)

But let's digress a bit. Not everything Alfalfan is funny. Some of its oddities are downright vexing. It was founded in 1913, for instance, by a quartet of Southern gentlemen, at least one of whom was a Confederate veteran. Perhaps this is why the annual dinners are timed, even now, to roughly coincide with the Jan. 19 birth date of that Confederate general, Robert E. Lee.

It is such an obscure factoid that an informal poll of some of last night's revelers produced none who'd ever known this to be true -- and who apparently would rather not have been asked, judging by the defensiveness that ensued.

"I don't think that has any meaning today," Sen. Norm Coleman (R- Minn.) said of the Confederate connection. "I will be sitting across the table from Kenneth Chenault, the African American chair of American Express."

Jack Kemp hadn't heard of the Confederate connection either.

See, here's what aggravates me. I already can't stand the cutesy way the club poses itself and its arrogance. Like Jill says, there's gotta be a better way to make friends in town. But the fact that American Presidents have been attending this thing for almost a hundred years, and most of them don't know that it's in honor of a man, good dude or not, who killed Americans in defense of slavery, and the ones that do know get all huffy that you're trying to spoil their fun, pisses me off. If you've got a valid defense, say it. If you want to issue a statement hitting the reset button, do that. But don't just look away from it.

Besides that, there's the further issue of the club's treatment of women. When they finally did admit women, it was with churlish, feigned chagrin, and before that, they thought it was funny to offer to induct women posthumously. That was in 1990! Not 1950, but 1990.

I get that Barack Obama is invested in showing he has a thick skin here (I still think he should say something). What I don't get is how the media ignores this, year after year, when they'll gladly tar and feather a guy for having the wrong position on the display of the Confederate flag?

My reporter friend hit the nail on the head. Most of them don't know, and when they find out, they don't want to be the one to ruin the fun. I've called several Alfalfans today, and the White House, and none have commented yet.

Well, I have a comment. Unless some attempt at an explanation is made, I don't want my President attending a yukfest in honor of General Robert E. Lee. But let me also go on record as saying that I don't care if George Carlin comes floating down off of his rooftop to write the jokes, I will not be amused by this (bipartisan) group of rich a-holes partying it up while we try to keep our houses out of foreclosure. Lee or no Lee.

I will keep you posted if I learn anything more on this.

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