Variety today dares to look beyond panic in the economy for a detailed sketch of one of the most critical policy decisions facing the next presidential administration: Where's the party? The word is synonymous with way more than just one's affiliation in 2008, says one Washington social guru, who can't wait for her calendar to blossom once more with boldface Hollywood names beating a path to an Obama White House:

Karen Feld, [a] longtime observer of the D.C. social scene, doesn't see the JFK comparison — "I'm old enough to remember the Kennedy administration," she said — but she acknowledged that an Obama administration "would definitely attract a lot of Hollywood types because Democrats always do. So you're definitely going to see that type of glamour around here that you haven't seen with the Bush administration." The Bush administration has been short on most things socially. White House screening invites are far and few between. "He's dull," Feld said of the current president. "He doesn't drink, he goes to bed by 9 p.m., and he and his wife are not partygoers." They aren't big party-throwers, either. "They've had maybe a half-dozen state dinners in eight years," Feld said. "No big entertainment events, no A-list guest lists."

MPAA boss Dan Glickman, meanwhile, gushed over the potential for a youth movement in Barack Obama's D.C. while also cautioning the administration against any kind of egregious glitz blitz: "If he wins, Obama would be best advised not to turn Washington into a hub for the entertainment world." The same advice stands for John McCain; America has suffered enough this year without having to hear about Victoria Jackson drinking William Baldwin under the table at the Inaugural Ball.