The Atlantic’s viewing party of President Obama’s State of the Union address at the Monkey Bar nearly lurched into disaster when the TV monitors malfunctioned, leaving a host of politicos in a state of near-panic.
Steve Clemons, The Atlantic’s Washington editor at large, managed to calm the clamoring crowd during the blackout by reading the president’s speech from his iPhone. One attendee joked, “Steve did a good job, but some of it was lost in translation.”
The dinner was hosted by Boykin Curry and Celerie Kemble, with a discussion led by The Atlantic national correspondent and former State of the Union speechwriter Jim Fallows.
Guests included political adviser Dan Senor; Mark Katz, a speechwriter during the Clinton administration; Don Baer, a former senior adviser to Bill Clinton; Robert George; MSNBC’s Ari Melber; Alan and Susan Patricof, Robert Zimmerman, Debbie Bancroft, Nicole Miller, and Gov. William Weld.
Thankfully, 20 minutes into Obama’s speech, they got the TV running again.