Even if Sarah Palin couldn't make it, the Barbara Bush "Celebration of Reading" on Thursday night was a huge success on all counts, bringing in $1.9 million for literacy programs. And, besides, President Barack Obama was there.

Well, not really. But it was almost the real thing.

Impressionist Steve Bridges delivered such a convincing Obama presentation that, for a moment, many in the audience at the Hobby Center were stunned. Bridges is the same actor who bowled over the "Celebration of Reading" crowd a few years ago with his portrayal of W.

This "Obama" sighting was the surprise finale that has added a note of intrigue to each "Celebration of Reading" through the years, sometimes upstaging the line-up of leading authors who are hand-selected by Barbara Bush and former President George H.W. Bush.

Credit three full hours in the make-up chair for creating an Obama likeness better than anything in a wax museum. Plus, the man is incredible with body language, syntax, accent and even dress. He gets it all down to perfection.

It was a wash Thursday night between "Obama" and the authors, with A.J. Jacobs, Mary Karr, Kathryn Stockett and Greg Kincaid delivering entertaining and humorous insights into their writing before reading from their most recent works. The record, sell-out crowd of 1,950 ate it up.

Only the tiniest wave of disappointment washed across the audience when Barbara Bush announced that Palin had a courtroom appearance in Tennessee that kept her away. The show must go on and, honestly, it didn't miss a beat without the charismatic politico.

In a change from previous years when Barbara Bush did the honors of introducing the authors, younger family members took over the gentle task. Doro Bush Koch in from Maryland stepped in to do the honors as did Mandy Bush, married to George P. Bush, son of Jeb Bush; Noelle Bush, daughter of Jeb; and Neil Bush, as we all know, son of the senior Bushes.

The program began with a presentation from Cats by HITS Theatre, a reference to an essay contest sponsored by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and HITS. The foundation and the Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy are beneficiaries of the Celebration of Reading.

The evening concluded, as is tradition, with a bountiful cold supper provided by Jackson & Co. Among the notables sitting down at tables scattered from the Hobby Center lobby to the stages were Shahla and Hushang Ansary, Sue and Lester Smith, Charlene and Phil Carroll, Terri and John Havens, Lily and Charles Foster, Alice and Keith Mosing, Kay Onstead and June and Virgil Waggoner.