Photo by Stephen Crowley/NYT

The Obamas dyed the White House fountain green for St. Patrick's Day, thus making their mark as the administration of Nouveau Kitsch.

Meanwhile, White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers is actually claiming credit for the idea. She told MSNBC  "she and the first lady discussed turning the fountain green, and Michelle Obama liked the idea."

"Coming from Chicago, we thought it would be a great way to pull the two towns together," she said. "In Chicago we annually dye the Chicago River green, so why not the White House fountain?"

Who knew? Of course, Chicago style has a different connotation for some people. Outraged over the Obama administration's partisan-by-definition plans to ram massive healthcare and energy spending through the Senate without GOP input, GOP Sen. Judd Gregg came up with this:

"That would be the Chicago approach to governing: Strong-arm it through," said  Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who briefly considered joining the Obama administration as commerce secretary. "You're talking about the exact opposite of bipartisan. You're talking about running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago River."

A metaphor as vivid as an emerald green fountain. (Almost as vivid as when Bill Clinton was reported to have described Candidate O as a "chicago thug.") Just for the record, my idea of "Chicago Style" is by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen as sung by these characters: