by John McCormick
Chicago businesswoman Desiree Rogers will be named to the position of White House social secretary, a source in President-elect Barack Obama's transition office said Sunday evening.
Rogers, 49, is a close friend of the Obama family and worked on the fundraising team for the campaign. She has been a fixture on Chicago's social and not-for-profit scene for years.
Last summer, she left her job as president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas to create a financial social networking program at Allstate Insurance Co.
She would be the first African-American to serve in a position that is responsible for working with the first lady on White House functions and ceremonies.
Rogers, who studied political science at Wellesley College near Boston and later earned an MBA from Harvard, was once married to Chicagoan John Rogers, Ariel Capital Management chief and another close Obama friend and fundraiser.
Her first highly visible post was in state government. She managed the lottery for then-Gov. Jim Edgar in the 1990s, appearing on TV giving away pots of money. The giveaways minted her as a local celebrity.
She grew up in New Orleans in a lively home above her mother's day-care center. Her father was a popular public school teacher, coach and city councilman.
On Nov. 14, Rogers hosted a birthday party in her Gold Coast condominium that was attended by the Obamas in honor of Valerie Jarrett, another Obama family friend who will be going to the White House as a senior adviser.
"Rogers is bright, creative, and has an extraordinary flare for style," Jarrett said. "Her professional track record and her close relationship with the Obamas, uniquely qualifies her to create an Obama White House that will foster inclusiveness, vibrancy, and energy that will make the White House feel open and welcoming to all."
Comments
I'm curious . . . . . what happened to Desiree's marriage?
Posted by: Robert M Kraus Sr | November 24, 2008 1:37 AM
I had no idea my tax dollars paid for a person in charge of parties in the WH. How much does a party queen make? Or is this just a post to give a friend a job?
Posted by: lochnessmonster | November 24, 2008 6:59 AM
Yes, your tax dollars do pay for this, and have for a long time. The current social secretary's salary is $113,000. It seems like a worthy position to have, after all, when the Prime Minister from any nation visits, it might be nice to have things planned ahead of time, instead of George opening up the fridge to see what they have.
Posted by: Martin | November 24, 2008 9:13 AM
You know, lochness, wake up and realize it's an oligarchy that runs this place. And then you can figure out how wee little folks can pressure it to act on our behalf.
From the Nation:
[ http://www.thenation.com/
blogs/edcut/385749 ]
That history makes me think that this is the moment for progressives to avoid falling into either of two extremes --reflexively defensive or reflexively critical. We'd be wiser and more effective if we followed the advice of one of The Nation's valued editorial board members who shared thoughts with the Board at our meeting last Friday, November 21.
1. It will take large scale, organized movements to win transformative change. There is no civil rights legislation without the movement, no New Deal without the unions and the unemployed councils, no end to slavery without the abolitionists. In our era, this will need to play out at two levels: district-by-district and state-by-state organizing to get us to the 218 and sixty votes necessary to pass any major legislation; and the movement energy that can create public will, a new narrative and move the elites in DC to shift from orthodoxy. The energy in the country needs to be converted into real organization.
2. We need to be able to play inside and outside politics at the same time. I think this will be challenging for those of us schooled in the habits of pure opposition and protest. We need to make an effort to engage the new Administration and Congress constructively, even as we push without apology for solutions at a scale necessary to deliver. This is in the interest of the Democratic Party--which rode the wave of a new coalition of African Americans, Latinos, young people, women, etc--but they have been beaten down by conservative attacks and the natural impulse will be caution and hiding behind desks.
3. Progressives need to stick up especially forcefully for the most vulnerable parts of the coalition--poor people, immigrants, etc--those who got almost no mention during the election and will be most likely to be left off the bus.
Posted by: Susan B. Anthony | November 24, 2008 11:43 AM
Spoken like a true Bush-McCain Republican, let's get the dirt on their marriage !! Geez, you, Republicans, just do not want to discuss the miserable state of affairs this Republican administration has left our nation !!! Let's just continue to attack President-elect Obama, you know, the man that 65,000,000 voters, voted for him, to be our next President. Get over it, it's only a lost election! If you, Republican boys and girls, behave yourselves, after 8 years, you may catch the attention of the electorate, in a positive way !! That should give you something to work on, instead of continuing to sharpen your knives, a refine your poisin, to be used, not only on your fellow Republicans, but also, your opponents, the ruling Democrats !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | November 24, 2008 11:43 AM
Ha, Martin, great response to lochness' ignorance.
Posted by: Joe | November 24, 2008 1:45 PM
will any crooks be left in Chicago after all these "appointments" only the Gov. and mayor and Rezko...same Aerial capital who mismanaged Teachers retirement fund of $112.5 million??Aerial president Melody Hobson who gave $100.000 to Obama's campaign for POTUS???
Hobson is also financiar at ABC..yes a LOT of people are cashing in their I.O.U.'s....
Posted by: mary | November 25, 2008 12:51 AM