In what be more an indication of just how much distance there normally is not just geographically but psychically between the People's House of Congress and, say, Buckingham Palace, Speaker John Boehner is sending an aide to etiquette school at taxpayer expense.

It's not that big an expense in the scheme of things, mind you. According to news reports, the Northern Virginia etiquette course will cost taxpayers $5,800. The speaker's office got a $500 discount by registering early for the May session.

 Boehner's critics will no doubt see this kind of spending as, at best, frivolous and, at worst, hypocritical, coming at a time when Republicans are calling for deep spending cuts.

But it is true that while the White House can rely on the State Department's protocol chief to assist on trickier matters of etiquette when dealing with foreign officials Congress, in contrast, has no similar resource.