Prom Night in DC

The inaugural balls in DC were doubtlessly populated by people who never even went to their own high school proms.
Geeks, policy nerds, science geeks and the occasional vice student council speaker were instead there in swarms. NY and LA no doubt had a good laugh as the uncool kids celebrated the inauguration as someone way out of their bureaucratic social league took power.
David Brooks has said that society could be explained by the table one ate at in their high school cafeteria. Geeks, nerds, jocks, gearheads, stoners, skaters etc.
But then there is revenge. In a recent (and terrible) movie it is the nerds who are at the top of the social pile.
A wealthy alum has donated a Spanish-style mansion for them, complete with pool and jacuzzi. The girls flock to them, knowing that the guys will be obscenely rich after graduation. It truly is Revenge of the Nerds.
But for DC, it is a short vacation from the demands of their world. What so shocked Thomas Frank, from Kansas and Chicago, was Washington's permanent wealth. Four of the 10 wealthiest counties in the nation are around DC. It is white-collar to the bone, never having had a manufacturing sector and never having even a real large port.
Instead it has expensive lobbyist steak houses. Enjoy your dinner, Mr. Obama.