Obama White House Plays Grinch: No Receiving Line At Press Christmas Party, Some Don't Get Invitations, Possible Payback For Asking Tough Questions?

Big Hollywood has a link to a story from Politico about this year's "Holiday" (Christmas) Party for the White House Press Corps (this coming Monday and Tuesday), "Hopey Change" style.

For reporters covering President Obama, there’s only one party in town that matters: The White House Holiday Party. It’s a rare opportunity to walk around parts of the White House and meet the president and first lady. In the past, the highlight of the event has been the chance to get your picture taken with the president in the receiving line.

This year, however, the White House seems to be doing things a little differently. The invites went out late – and didn’t include journalists who have been invited in the past. And those who have been invited seem likely to be denied the traditional receiving-line photo.

At a party last week for Democratic political types and some donors, former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers watched Obama speak briefly behind a podium, welcoming party-goers to White House. Then, she looked on as Obama worked the room for a few minutes, shaking hands and posing for candid pictures — not taken by the White House photographer — before leaving the party.

But the party she attended did not have a receiving line, where the photos of the president and guest would normally be taken. And if that format is followed for the upcoming media parties, journalists won’t get their formal presidential pictures either.

...“It’s always been a big deal,” said Myers, who served as press secretary to former President Bill Clinton. “It’s exhausting [for the president] but it’s the one time when reporters feel like they’re treated like human beings and not just some guy behind the rope line. It’s the one time they can actually say hello.”

What a surprise! You'd think that, as many of the reporters in the press corps act more like stenographers instead of journalists, Barack Hussein Obama and Michelle would show a little more appreciation during the holidays.

I'd love to find out who got invites as well, as I'm suspecting an agenda on the part of Obama, Rahm Emmanuel and that one man Beavis & Butt-head named Robert Gibbs, behind who was and wasn't invited. How do I know? I have some sources from where I've heard that one long-time member of the WH Press Corps, who has been invitied by every President since Gerald Ford, was left off the list this year. This person also is one of the rare journalists who dares to ask Gibbs some of the more critical questions during the Press Briefings.

Is no invitiation to the White House for Christmas payback for doing your job as a journalist?

I'd love to see who else was not invited, and who came in their place (Huffington Post? Daily Kos?)