The Obama administration was hopelessly trying to control the optic and maintain the false guise of humility.   Meanwhile in reality it was the tea party the Obamas’ just couldn’t resist throwing……  Reading about the truth to their indulgent attitudes it really does make the trips to Target seem, well, brutally silly in comparison.  A person can only imagine the absolute media thrashing any Republican would have taken with such extravagant over the top indulgent parties while the nation suffers the deepest economic recession EVER.

(New York Post) A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and  Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was  never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times,  according to a new tell-all.

“The Obamas,” by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, tells of the first  Halloween party the first couple feted at the White House in 2009. It was so  over the top that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca  to mingle with invited guests.

The book reveals how any official announcement of the glittering affair — coming at a time when Tea Party activists and voters furious over the lagging  economy, 10-percent unemployment rate, bank bailouts and Obama’s health-care  plan were staging protests — quickly vanished down the rabbit hole.

“White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque  party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress,  who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly  and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” the book says.

However, the White House made certain that more humble Halloween festivities  earlier that day — for thousands of Washington-area schoolkids — were well  reported by the press corps.

Then the Obamas went inside, where an invitation-only affair for children of  military personnel and White House administrators unfolded in the East Room.

Unbeknownst to reporters, the State Dining Room had also been transformed  into a secretive White House Wonderland.

Tim Burton decorated it “in his signature creepy-comic style. His film  version was about to be released, and he had turned the room into the Mad  Hatter’s tea party, with a long table set with antique-looking linens, enormous  stuffed animals in chairs, and tiered serving plates with treats like  bone-shaped meringue cookies,” reports the book, which The Post purchased at a  Manhattan bookstore.

“Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar. Burton’s own Mad Hatter,  the actor Johnny Depp, presided over the scene in full costume, standing up on a  table to welcome everyone in character.”

The Obamas’ daughters, Malia and Sasha, then 11 and 8 respectively, “sat at  the table, surrounded by a gaggle of their friends, and then proceeded to the next delight, a magic show in the East Room.”  (read more)