All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

The White House has announced new rules on guests (PDF) in the wake of revelations that Tareq and Michaele Salahi gained entry to the White House during the Obama administration's first state dinner despite not having been invited.

In a memo, Jim Messina, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, writes that "it is clear that the White House did not do everything we could have done to assist the United States Secret Service in ensuring that only invited guests enter the complex."

"White House staff were walking back and forth outside between the check points helping guests and were available to the Secret Service throughout the evening, but clearly we can do more, and we will do more," writes Messina.

He laid out the following new procedures for official White House events in the future:

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The White House has announced its 2009 holiday theme: "Reflect, rejoice, and renew."

The earth-friendly theme means the use of recycled ornaments, natural materials and energy-saving lighting for their 18.5-foot Douglas fir Christmas tree. The tree, which stands in the Blue Room, was purchased from a farm in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, the Washington Post reports.

Among the decorations are a gingerbread model of the White House (pictured below) - which includes Bo, the family dog, standing guard out front - and First Lady Michelle Obama's vegetable garden. The tree is festooned with golden ribbons, red bulbs and smaller white lights. Some of the ornaments were used by Mr. Obama's predecessors.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

** Bipartisan support needed to fund buildup could hard for Obama to find...

** Senators target seniors and women with first health care amendments...

** White House crashers have some explaining to do after e-mails are revealed...

AFGHANISTAN: Following his highly-anticipated Afghanistan war speech last night, President Obama will let Congress mull over his plan today as he stays at the White House with no public events scheduled.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen will testify about the plan to the Senate Armed Services and the House Foreign Affairs Committees today.

Meantime, "A barrage of instant criticism blasting President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan strategy from across the political spectrum signaled the challenges ahead in selling the plan to a skeptical public and Congress," reports the Wall Street Journal's Peter Wallsten.

"Some of Mr. Obama's most loyal supporters among liberal grass-roots groups denounced the 30,000-troop escalation—despite a newly revealed plan for a quick drawdown that White House officials had hoped would mollify the left.

"Many Republicans, while supporting the troop increase, were quick to charge that the timetable for withdrawal would embolden U.S. adversaries. Arizona Sen. John McCain warned that Mr. Obama risked telling the enemy 'that you're coming and you're leaving.'"

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The Northern Viriginia couple that "crashed" the White House's recent state dinner is now accused of sneaking into another event that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended.

Michaele and Tareq Salahi first came under scrutiny last week for gaining access to portions of the state dinner on Tuesday without proper White House or Secret Service clearance. Now, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is reportedly saying the couple attended a September CBC Foundation awards dinner without an invitation.

"I don't want to say it's like a kid getting his hand caught in the cookie jar, but in essence, that's pretty much what it was," Lance Jones, a communications official with the CBC foundation, told WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington. "I had a sheet in front of me that said who was sitting at what table, and they weren't on that list."

Jones said he asked the couple for their identification and tickets, but they could not produce any tickets. He escorted the couple outside and told security guards they were not to be allowed back in. WTTG-TV reports the couple gained access to the party through an entrance for bus boys and caterers. The television network Bravo, which has been filming the Salahis, requested access to the CBC dinner but were denied entry.

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Congressional lawmakers are expecting to hear this week directly from the head of the Secret Service, as well as from the Northern Virginia couple who "crashed" the White House State Dinner last week, as to how exactly the couple gained access to the White House uninvited.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) announced this morning that the House Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on the matter this Thursday. The committee plans to invite testimony from Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the couple who managed to attend portions of the State Dinner on Tuesday without proper White House and Secret Service clearance. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, who is responsible for the safety of Secret Service protectees, will also be invited to testify.

"This is a time for answers, recognition of security deficiencies past and present, and remedies to ensure the strength of the Secret Service and the safety of those under its protection," Thompson said in a statement. "The intent of this Administration may be openness and transparency, but a security breakdown that allowed anyone who looked the part to walk off the street into a State Dinner is a slap in the face to the Secret Service employees who put their lives on the line to protect our form of government and its leaders."

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Former U.S. Chief of Protocol Donald Ensenat, who served in that post for most of President Bush's 8 years in office, says "the Secret Service is being made the scapegoat" in the party crasher incident.

Ensenat is seen at left with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004.

In an e-mail to CBS News, Ensenat blames the Office of the White House Social Secretary for not having staffers with the invitation list at each of the access checkpoints for guests. Ensenat thinks it's the Social Secretary's job to have refused entry to anyone not on the guest list.

"The Secret Service are not bouncers," writes Ensenat. "Their job is security which they perform superbly putting their life on the line everyday."

In prior administrations, it has been standard practice for staffers from the Social Office to be physically present at access checkpoints to provide guidance to the Secret Service.

But ultimately, it's the responsibility of the Secret Service to ensure that individuals not on the guest list are not permitted entry to the White House. And Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan acknowledged this in his public statement last Friday.

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"You know, there are certain days that remind me of why I ran for this office," President Obama exclaimed today. "And then there are moments like this, where I pardon a turkey and send it to Disneyland."

With a light tone and his daughters in tow, Mr. Obama participated in a relatively recent tradition on the day before Thanksgiving: The presidential turkey pardon. Though he eventually raised his hand over "Courage," the bird in question, to offer a pardon, the president suggested he was somewhat reticent to do so.

"That's a good looking bird," Mr. Obama said, later stating that his daughters convinced him to go through with the pardon. "Thanks to the intervention of Malia and Sasha, because I was planning to eat this sucker, Courage will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate."

While turkeys have been coming to the White House for more than 50 years, they have only been pardoned for the last couple decades. Mr. Obama noted that both Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson ate the turkeys presented to them, while President Kennedy's turkey came with a sign that said, "Good Eatin', Mr. President" around its neck.

(Check out CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller's history of the presidential turkey pardon here.)

Courage, this year's lucky bird, will be the grand marshal of a parade at Disneyland tomorrow; he will then live out the rest of his days at the theme park. A backup turkey, "Carolina," was also spared, in case Courage cannot fulfill his duties.

Sasha and Malia Obama took the opportunity to pet the turkey, which was donated by the National Turkey Federation, following the pardon. One of the girls could be heard saying, "he is like a large chicken."

As Knoller points out, the turkey pardon today was moved from the White House Rose Garden to the North Portico today – because, ahem, of "fowl weather."

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Nothing a president does lends itself more easily to a punch line – deliberate or inadvertent - than the annual pardon of a Thanksgiving turkey.

"I think it's kind of funny, and it's an annual ritual," said President Clinton at his first turkey pardon ceremony in 1993.

He said the pardon was easy for him "because I've been around turkeys all my life." Upon realizing the double meaning of his statement, Mr. Clinton was quick to add: "I didn't mean it like that."

At the turkey pardon in 2001, President George W. Bush observed that "our guest of honor looks a little nervous. Nobody's told him yet that I'm going to give him a pardon."

In 1990, then-President George H. W. Bush sought to allay the fears of his audience that a "terrible fate" awaited the turkey presented him.
"We've decided to spare him. He will not be subjected to questions from the Washington press corps after this ceremony."

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CBS News has confirmed that President Obama will attend the United Nations climate change summit next month in Copenhagen, according to senior administration officials.

Mr. Obama will be in Denmark on December 9 for the summit, which is expected to have at least 65 world leaders, according to the Associated Press. It was unknown until now whether Mr. Obama would attend the meeting, which is designed to create a new global treaty on climate change.

The president's visit to Copenhagen comes just before he heads to Oslo, Norway, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize the following day.

The White House has released the guest list for tonight's state dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This is the first state dinner of Mr. Obama's presidency, and the guest list includes politicians, entertainers and journalists, among others. The list also includes the Indian Prime Minister's daughter, Amrit Singh, who works for the American Civil Liberties Union in New York.

Below is the full list of expected attendees, as provided by the White House:

The President & First Lady Michelle Obama

Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, India & Ms. Gursharan Kaur

The Honorable (Rep) Gary Ackerman, United States Representative
Mr. Sant Singh Chatwal (Guest)

His Excellency Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Republic of India, Indian Delegation

Mr. Mukesh D Ambani

Mr. Tim Dutta (Spouse of Ms. Pia Awal)

The Honorable (Mr.) David Axelrod, White House Communications
Mrs. Susan Axelrod

Ms. Preeta Bansal, OMB - General Counsel

The Honorable (Ms.) Melody Barnes, Domestic Policy Council
Mr. Marland E. Buckner

The Honorable (Rep.) Howard Berman, United States Representative (D/California)
Mrs. Jane Berman, Spouse of United States Representative (D/California)

Mr. Om Prakash Bhatt

Mr. Hunter Biden
Mrs. Kathleen Biden

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