Regardless of the party’s size, Obama should be warned that Jewish visitors to the White House often live up to the old maxim that “Gentiles leave without saying goodbye, while Jews say goodbye and never leave.”
I have seen this phenomenon myself. After one particularly late-night social event at the White House, then-Chief of Staff Josh Bolten joked to Bush’s senior staff that the White House military aides – who staff official events in full ceremonial garb – almost had to unsheathe their swords in order to get Chanukah celebrants to exit the White House residence by the party’s 8 p.m. close.
A smaller group may make this particular problem easier to handle, but neither it nor a nagging sense that there may be a studied callousness at work here is going away.