A Very Special Xmas Wonk'd: Condi's 'Messiah'
A singer in the chorus for Handel's Messiah at the Kennedy Center sent in this very merry sighting of our beloved Secretary of State:
As we were lined up waiting to file on stage tonight [12/22], Condi and her security brushed by us. Staring out in to the audience, it was easy to see a fuss being made over her seating in one of the balconies -- and how she was whisked away whenever the house lights came up so she wouldn't be recognized. Didn't public figures used to wave from balconies so they could be adulated?
Anyway, I had to wonder...
... was she thinking of her boss while the alto lamented "He was Despised, and Rejected of Men"?
... was she taking notes as the baritone rumbled "Why do the Nations so Furiously Rage Together?"
and why oh why did she LEAVE after the Hallelujah chorus, thus missing the whole Resurrection-themed third half? Is she getting a head-start on the War on Easter? Sure, leave after the grisly death -- it's like she just wanted to see a snuff-oratorio.
I mean, she missed some great 18th-century tips on spinning the war. If she announced tomorrow that "Death is swallowed up in Victory", it would make at least as much sense as "surge".
Little known fact: "Death is Swallowed Up in Victory" was the provisional theme of this year's BarneyCam.