Just a quick question on a very curious decision by one of our elected leaders.

John Boehner, Speaker of the House and third in succession for the Presidency declined an invitation to tonight's State Dinner honoring Chinese president Hu Jintao at the White House. Boehner said he "had another meeting".

No one seems to have a reasonable explanation for what appears to be a gigantic diplomatic faux pas. Why wouldn't one of the handful of most powerful elected politicians in the U.S. decide that he wouldn't want to meet with the head of our greatest economic competitor, the country which by all projections could surpass us as a world power within a decade, and a country which for all intents and purposes finances our government?

I sure don't have an answer for Boehner's decision. This is not a political event, if there's anything that's bi-partisan and national in scope, it's a state dinner. Attendance doesn't honor any domestic political opponent, it's meant to honor a visiting statesman. Former secretaries of state will be in attendance and have said it may be one of the more important diplomatic events in years.

Why?