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The Spanish-American war of 1898 enabled the United States to emerge as a world power by effectively jugulating the Spanish Empire. Presumably in order to assuage potentially lingering animosities and to foster amicable relations between the United States and Hispanic nations as well as to boost the general appreciation of Spanish culture, the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute held its annual Gold Medal Gala at 583 Park Avenue.
In the presence of Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain, roughly 400 guests—Carolina Herrara, Barbara Walters, and Anna Wintour among them—gathered to witness the awarding of gold medals to Spanish movie star Penélope Cruz and to American Ex-Commander-in-Chief Bill Clinton.
Chairman Oscar de la Renta rendered unnecessary any further attempts at handicapping the ’08 election by summarily introducing Bill Clinton as “the husband of the next President of the United States” (you read it here first!) before presenting the former leader of the free world with his medal. Although Mr. Clinton seemed a mite hazy as to the precise nature of his alleged contributions to Spanish-American relations, he put forth a plausible hypothesis: "It may be because even though I'm not of Spanish descent, I've seen every one of Penélope Cruz's movies—and I liked them all."
For the record, the movies in question include “Live Flesh”, “Blow”, and “Woman on Top”, and of all the things the actress could have donned for the evening, she had picked a blue dress. Beyond congenial socializing, however, it appears the president did not engage in any cross-cultural bonding with that woman, Ms. Cruz.
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