Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Posted on 11/28/2009 6:15:30 PM PST by kristinn
While much attention is being focused on the Secret Service for allowing uninvited socialites Tareq and Michaele Salahi to crash the state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House last week, the person responsible for all facets of the dinner has so far been given a pass by her friends in the media.
White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, a Chicago pal of the Obamas, failed to follow the previous administration's practice of staffing the Secret Service-guarded entrances for dinner guests with someone from her office that could handle any problem with invitees.
The AP quoted Rogers directly acknowledging her failure:
White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, asked by the AP on Thursday whether personnel from her office were at the checkpoint said, "We were not."
The media will be loathe to criticize Rogers, given their love affair with her. Fawning profiles by the media are filled with language that wll come back to haunt Rogers as attention turns to her failure to flag the interlopers from the moment they tried to crash the dinner at the gate, through their introduction in the East Wing, their shaking hands with the president and Indian prime minister in the receiving line and their presence in the dinner tent on the South Lawn where they met Vice President Biden and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
The Chicago Tribune slobbered its praise of Rogers back in March, highlighting her experience in helping the little people get lucky:
Desiree Rogers once made millionaires of a lucky few everyday people. Now she plans to give Americans dinner invitations to the White House.
Rogers, a svelte, stylish Chicago business executive and socialite—and a former Illinois lottery director—is turning again to Lady Luck in her new role as social secretary for a White House that hopes to balance glamor, history and an urban sensibility with plenty of populism.
...Whatever epithet ultimately sticks to the Obama White House, Rogers will be its impresario. And she, for one, rejects comparisons with Camelot: "This is not necessarily a presidency that duplicates, or copies. The Obamas have their own style," she said in an interview.
That style is livelier than the Bushes, more hip than the Reagans, more multicultural than the Clintons and more accessible than the Kennedys.
Well, Rogers certainly made Obama more accessible.
In February, Vanity Fair asked, Can Desiree Rogers Make Washington Fun Again?:
No previous White House Social Secretary has had a Harvard M.B.A. Nor have any talked openly about “branding” the Presidency. But Desirée Rogers, the glamorous Chicago businesswoman, social figure, and friend of the Obamas’, is a change agent. As she told me two days after the inauguration, she wants to be the producer of an inclusive show-and-tell from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Wall Street Journal did its share of slobbering over Rogers in April:
Desirée Glapion Rogers is the descendant of a Creole voodoo priestess named Marie Laveau Glapion. The first time I meet her, she welcomes me into her East Wing lair—a rhythm and blues tune plays on a white iPod, a potted white orchid perches between two windows, fresh flowers sit on a heavy wooden desk. This is a woman who never sees a wilted bloom. The 49-year-old turns on just enough Southern charm to camouflage an aura of self-assuredness typically reserved for runway models or first ladies. Wearing a crisp white shirt, black patent flats and high-waisted navy slacks that would look terrible on almost anyone else, Rogers talks about her job as White House social secretary.
...Rogers, who calls herself the “eyes and ears” of Mrs. Obama, has known the first lady for nearly two decades. They met through Rogers’ ex-husband, John Rogers Jr., who played basketball at Princeton with Mrs. Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson. They have an easy way together, elbowing and joking, chatting about their daughters and smiling widely at each other, the way only old girlfriends do. Mrs. Obama pops her head in Rogers’ office to chat like someone who is still surprised that she works down the hall from her friend. Friendships with all the right people may be one of the reasons that Obama chose Rogers for the job of planning every social event that takes place at the White House—from black-tie dinners to pickup basketball games, press conferences, movie nights and birthday parties.
Summing up what she does for a living, Rogers says she plans events that “promote the Obama presidency” and make sure “the White House asset is reflective of who they [the Obamas] are.” In keeping with her corporate background and her Harvard M.B.A., Rogers uses words like “strategic plan” and “brand” when she describes how a constant string of lunches, parties and concerts can help her mission. “You have to think about it [the social secretary job], in my mind, almost like a business. Otherwise, you never get there. You get caught in linen hell and flower hell, list hell,” Rogers says as she reflects on the first series of high-profile events.
It looks like Rogers is going to end up in (lack of) security hell.
But at least she impressed the press that night:
"Desiree Rogers arrived at about 6:53 pm and stopped briefly to chat. Rogers said "We are very excited...everything looks great."
Robin "show off" Givhan, who is standing next to your pooler asked what everyone wanted to ask: "Are you wearing Comme Des Garcons?"
"Of course," Rogers replied."
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd L) greets Michaele Salahi (C) and her husband Tareq (R) during a state dinner for India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (L) at the White House in this official White House photo taken November 24, 2009 and released November 27, 2009. REUTERS/Samantha Appleton-The White House/Handout
Desiree Rogers failed to work effectively with the Secret Service to keep uninvited people out of the White House and then she and her staff failed to spot the intruders at various high profile spots during the course of the evening.
It's difficult to fire friends, but the security and reputation of the presidency takes precedence over friendships, at least in a normal presidency.
Obama should throw Rogers under the bus for this, but will he?
Somehow I knew that an affirmative action Friend of Barack would be involved in this.
“White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, a Chicago pal of the Obamas”
This explains A LOT! They should throw this gal under the bus and find some willing REPUBLICAN or former Clintonista to manage stuff for them.
There were never screw ups like the ones they’ve had, never under any president in my lifetime, or ever, at least since Andrew Jackson’s inauguration. The entire Obama protocol shop is a DISASTER, I still can’t believe how bad it really is.
Could the Salahi Affair prove false the ancient belief - ‘You can’t bullshit a bullshitter’?
“Whatever epithet ultimately sticks to the Obama White House, Rogers will be its impresario...”
That is a terrible construction, but still, that epithet will be: INEPT!
You actually think the CIA would be involved in something this stupid ..?? The CIA is stacked with democrats & liberals galore, thanks to the Clintons, and I find it difficult to believe the CIA would turn on Obama (even after Pelosi’s lying).
Heck..they should bring in Jimmie Carter....he could keep track of the tennis court schedules and be President, too!
“What a crappy looking dress Desiree is wearing: terribly unflattereing.”
That is truly some hideous dress. It looks like a halloween costume gone all wrong.
I will say that I thought Michele Obama’s outfit for the party was lovely, the best outfit I’ve seen her in yet. She should only let that designer dress her from now on.
Such a quick WH admission that Desiree intentionally broke protocol.... gives the setup away.
she won’t go (even if she does, it will just be to another job ala VanJones and Anita)...
but the propaganda point has been made perfectly, and the spin is almost complete.....
never mind that every time the president decides to go campaigning for the week, in some corner of the globe or another, or the next state over, he creates more and more security situations....
the message is clear: only Obama people can be trusted to protect Obama....
the Secret Service failed because there was no Obama people supervising them, you see.....
good Desiree...bad Secret Service....
and the game continues....
“Whatever “news” the Obamistas intended to generate from this particular state dinner (maybe some photos of the President bowing to this, that or the other unknown diplomat) Tareq and Michaele Salahi took it all away.”
For that reason alone, key White House staffers will probably get the axe. In addition, Michelle didn’t get much publicity on one of the few occasions in her tacky/ugly-dressing life that she wore a pretty dress that made her look good. That’s yet another pink slip-worthy offense on Planet Zero.
Why is Michelle Obama wearing a tire around her waist? Why does she always wear those ridiculous things?
What’s she wearing, a potato sack?
“Except for Dr. Mortimer or whoever it was that was Sherlock Holmes’ arch-enemy.”
Moriarty, his name will live in infamy.
NO, it came from fox news!!!
Comme des Garçons...a most hideous line.
You see how the con lady “shakes” hands? She’s got both her hands around his. I’d say she’s very practiced at getting men to forget what they were previously thinking about.
There's an original source somewhere and it's going to have Obama's name associated with it in some way.
Desiree Rogers did nothing wrong. However unfortunate this situation is with these boorish party crashers, it is hardly obvious that Ms. Rogers or the White House Social Office should have been manning the White House entrances. Was Leticia Baldridge personally responsible for checking off guests who entered Kennedy White House events? Of course not. The elegant, shrewd, and sophisticated White House Social Secretary was correct to trust that White House guests would have to present proper identification to White House security personnel. Clearly, security procedures at the white House will have to tighten up — and I’m certain that they will.
Thanks.
thx for the heads up...I’m going to check this out.
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