Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren Had one followed the commotion around the White House’s approach to the Easter holiday over the weekend, they might have expected Monday’s Easter Egg Roll to take the form of a Drag Queen Story Hour where eggs with satanic symbols drawn on them were thrown against a cross. It was not that. But it wasn’t entirely what it was designed to be, either. A higher power, Mother Nature herself, intervened, transforming what has always been one of the — errr — fluffier days at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into a wet mess. A decidedly powerless President JOE BIDEN was left to shrug at the best laid plans gone awry. “We did everything, but we couldn’t control the weather,” Biden joked when he began his remarks from the Truman Balcony. “Although, Al Roker told me this morning it was going to get sunny.” As far as problems go, a bit of rain ranks fairly low on the White House list. For the past two days, DONALD TRUMP allies have accused the administration of degrading the Easter holiday by announcing the Transgender Day of Visibility to coincide with it and for demanding that overtly religious symbols not be painted on the White House ceremonial eggs. Neither is accurate. The National Transgender Day of Visibility falls on March 31 every year (unlike Easter) and every recent White House has had the same egg decorating guidelines in place. But, still, the White House was pressed on these matters. Even the days meant for the lightest of fare can’t escape the controversy-industrial complex. “He’s thoroughly uninformed,” the president said of Speaker MIKE JOHNSON, who had accused him of a form of blasphemy. But while the histrionics of some of Washington’s most powerful adults further clouded the day, the event itself was defined by the sheer eagerness of Washington’s parent class. Despite the clap of thunder that awakened the city before 6 a.m., scores of them got their kids dressed in pastel shades and gingham and risked their own heels and espadrilles in the mud. They were getting that damn photo. In all, more than 50,000 people requested to attend this year’s event on the South Lawn. Around 40,000 were offered invitations for a specific time slot, making this year’s event the biggest ever. Those who got the coveted morning time slot were able to see the president and first lady JILL BIDEN standing up there alongside two Easter bunnies. As for those bunnies, several staffers drew the assignment of donning one of four furry costumes and posing for photos with attendees. The early shift went to NBC’s AL ROKER and YEMISI EGBEWOLE, chief of staff for the press office. The bunny suit, Egbewole told West Wing Playbook, “was very sweaty when I got out of it. Godspeed to the rest of the folks with the later shifts.” Out on the soggy grass, kids took part in a tradition that goes back 150 years, rolling hard-boiled eggs with wooden spoons down lanes marked with orange rope. Parents struggled with their cameras while trying to explain the rules as children opted to pick up and carry the eggs. “You gotta roll it!” one dad shouted. At one point, a toddler just took off running down the egg lane, prompting Vice President KAMALA HARRIS to ask her to wait for the starting whistle. At another, Biden bent down to console a girl who was crying and aided her in the rolling of an egg. The first lady, seeing one contestant without the necessary utensil, shouted to any aides in earshot: “We need a spoon!” It was, at times, a losing battle. One girl, using her pink spoon like a pitching wedge, took a whack at her egg on the grass, smashing it into bits. A staffer scurried over quickly to clean up the mess. It was our politics in an eggshell. MESSAGE US — Are you RACHEL PATTERSON, director of disability policy? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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