By Sarah Carlson, Arts Editor

I Am The Enemy

Prez’s parties set wrong precedent

“Celebrating Freedom, Honoring Service” is the official theme for President Bush’s inauguration, an event with nine extravagant balls, heightened security and a price tag of $40 million-making it the most expensive inauguration in history.

While the Commander in Chief ball honored about 2,000 of those who either have served or are about to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq, the rest of the balls cater to the business elite. Special donors and corporate sponsors who contributed anywhere from $100,000 to $250,000 will have prime seats at exclusive balls, such as a candlelight dinner attended by the president and the vice president.

Inaugurations always have been a time of pageantry, except in 1917 for Woodrow Wilson before World War I and in 1945 for Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. According to a CNN.com interview with Jim Bendat, author of Democracy’s Big Day: The Inauguration of Our President, Wilson’s inauguration was a solemn event that kept the parade but canceled the balls, while Roosevelt’s quiet inauguration took place on a balcony of the White House with no parade or balls.

In a time of war in Iraq and against terror, an unstable economy and devastating natural disasters, one would think the GOP would want to scale down the event in keeping a level perspective on what is appropriate. You know, maybe six balls instead of nine.

If they want to honor individuals for their dedicated service or selfless actions, why not make a donation to an organization instead of dressing up in their finest to celebrate the general idea of something they consider noteworthy?

In a Jan. 2 interview with The New York Times, Jeanne L. Phillips, chairwoman of the 55th annual Presidential Inaugural Committee and longtime friend of the Bush family, was asked this very question. The reporter asked if she or the president had ever considered canceling the nine balls and using the $40 million to purchase better equipment for the troops as an alternative way of honoring them. Phillips said they wanted to have a traditional set of events that would focus on honoring people serving the country, such as policemen, teachers and community volunteers.

“How do any of them benefit from the inaugural balls?” the reporter asked. “I’m not sure that they do benefit from them,” Phillips said. The reporter then asked how, exactly, they are honoring them, to which Phillips said, “Honoring service is what our theme is about.”

Lip service in the time of war and destruction doesn’t cut it. The companies could have donated to organizations or charities in the president’s name. More money could have been donated for the tsunami relief, the death toll of which has risen to more than 212,000. And, while it is admirable that 2,000 soldiers were honored at the ball, money for equipment could have been sent to the 150,000 troops who are serving in Iraq and the 17,900 in Afghanistan.

For the president to honor those fighting his war, it should require more than a ribbon worn or nice words said; it should require actions.