See, America, Obama is done with the corporate giveaways.
Politico: But even for powerful CEOs, there’s no such thing as a free lunch: White House staffers collected credit card numbers for each executive and carefully billed them for the cost of the meal with the president.
The White House defended the unusual move as a way to avoid conflicts of interest. But the Bush administration didn’t charge presidential guests for meals, one former official said, and at least one etiquette expert found the whole thing unseemly – suggesting it was a serious breach of protocol.
If we recall, Jimmy Carter pulled a similar move with White House guests.
No word on whether Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates had to pay for their own beer.
译文:
奥巴马让在白宫就餐的总裁们掏钱买单
瞧，在美国，奥巴马也开始对买单政策下手了。
政客: 即使对那些有权势的总裁们，天下也不该有免费的午餐：白宫工作人员下载开始记录每个总裁的信用卡号，仔细地记录着总裁们与总统每次就餐的费用。
而白宫则将其一反常态的做法归结为这是避免利害冲突的一种方法。然而，在布什总统执政期间，白宫一直为总统客人提供免费的午餐。一位前官员称这种做法有违常理，至少有一个宴会专家也曾经提出过此类观点。
如果我们回忆一下，当年卡特总统也给过白宫客人类似的“待遇”。
还没有任何消息表明警官克劳利中士和盖茨教授是否为他们的啤酒买单了。