While in the Swamp visiting the Smithsonian, to see how pickled it still is in fad woke pieties — very much so — I decided on a lark to take a public tour of the White House. Ragtag and bobtail like me need to start with our representatives or a senator, name a date, and wait for word from on high.
My appointed time, the last Saturday in August at 8 in the morning, when the doors opened, was among the last tours for a while. Starting September 1, they’re paused for reconfiguration given the start of construction on the new State Ballroom. Entrance and exit points are issues. I have nothing against a new ballroom. Yes, I know, John Travolta and Princess Diana danced to a medley of tunes from Grease and Saturday Night Fever in 1985, but that was in the White House Entrance Hall. Reconfiguration of the tours — as many as 10,000 every week — should have been in place before construction began. The public comes first, and certainly first before a party space for the privileged.
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