by Mark Silva
It's always good to get a little distance between a big embarrassment and the consequences of it, such as the time between the White House's admittance of a couple of gate-crashers last fall and the departure today of White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers.
"When she took this position, we asked Desiree to help make sure that the White House truly is the People's House, and she did that by welcoming scores of everyday Americans through its doors, from wounded warriors to local schoolchildren to NASCAR drivers," President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama said in a statement issued today. "She organized hundreds of fun and creative events during her time here, and we will miss her."
In through the doors came a couple from Virginia who had no business attending the first State Dinner at the White House in November, the one held for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Secret Service took the fall for that security lapse, but Republicans where threatening subpenas of Rogers over the question of her office overlooking the protocol for events such as that dinner.
With Rogers' departure, Obama fundraiser Julianna Smoot is a leading candidate for social secretary, an administration official tells our Washington bureau's Katherine Skiba.
Those Virginia socialites -- Tareq and Michaele Salahi -- who invited themselves to the State Dinner aren't the only ones who found their way into a White House seeking an open door policy, according to an administration which also has been distributing lists of all visitors to the White House. (t turned out later a third uninvited guest made that dinner as well.)
"I think countless numbers of people have come to events here that have -- that showcase the people's house, as they said in their statement.,'' Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today. "I think the doors of this house were open to folks that had not necessarily always gotten to be here, whether it was schoolchildren from the area, whether it was low- income kids that got an opportunity to see the White House, not from outside of Pennsylvania Avenue through a fence or a gate, but instead
up close and inside of it.''
Fridays also are traditional days for the departure of people identified with embarrassments at the White House -- the administration had signaled that there was no way Rogers would be talking to any congressional committee, citing excecutive privilege.
Rogers was among the cast of Chicagoans who came to Washington with Obama. She was a successful businesswoman and had run the Illinois State Lottery.
A native of New Orleans with a Harvard MBA, she had married John Rogers Jr., founder of Ariel Capital Management. They have been divorced for a decade. When Republican Jim Edgar was elected governor in 1990, he made her lottery director.
At the lottery, Rogers launched new games and gained some celebrity appearing often on television as the face of the lottery. In 1997, she joined Peoples Gas, and served as president of the company from 2004 to 2008. She left Peoples last year, briefly working on a social networking initiative for Allstate Insurance.
When she was chosen as social secretary, Rogers told the Tribune: "This is the perfect combination of some of the skill sets that I have. I don't think it can get much better than this."
(Desiree Rogers is pictured above at the State Dinner hosted by President Barack Obama for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a few gate-crashers at the White House in November. Photo by Gerald Herbert / AP)
Comments
Cue the Right Wing Hate Machine in:
5...4...3...2...1 Ding Ding Ding!!!
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Posted by: I wanna be a Republican idiot | February 26, 2010 5:26 PM
Cue the Right Wing Hate Machine in:
5...4...3...2...1 Ding Ding Ding!!!
.
Posted by: I wanna be a Republican idiot | February 26, 2010 5:26 PM
Idiot John E., there is no such thing as a Right wing hate machine. All the hate and vitriol is on the Loony Left.
Desiree Rogers always seemed like a nice enough person, especially from her days as the lottery director. She just hooked up with the wrong crowd here. It's best that she cut her ties to this loser of an administration and to the deranged, demented loons on the left.
Posted by: John D | February 26, 2010 5:41 PM
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Idiot John E., there is no such thing as a Right wing hate machine. All the hate and vitriol is on the Loony Left.
Posted by: John D | February 26, 2010 5:41 PM
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I don't know who you think you're talking to Johnny D, but it's the Repug team that you cheerlead for that's always bringing the hate and propaganda into the political conversations that this country has. Just ask Rush and Bill-O.
LIMBAUGH CALLS HEALTH CARE REFORM: "REPARATIONS"
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http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/02/23/limbaughs-reparations-crowing-hits-a-new-racist-low/
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edYeqzTJci4
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Posted by: I wanna be a Republican idiot | February 26, 2010 6:08 PM
Ms. Rogers had an exciting year but maybe she's just ready to move on and seek out something long term. The lady is smart, obviously talented so I think she's wise to move on.
Posted by: vla | February 26, 2010 7:13 PM
5...4...3...2...1
There's always ACORN to fall back on.
Better late than never I guess.
Must be more state dinners coming up soon.
Just suprised the resignation did not take place on Saturday at 12:05 AM.
(hateful enough?)
Posted by: wingnut master | February 26, 2010 7:42 PM
She is a nice lady. The only real problems were some of those gifts to QE II perhaps and the security breach. Overall I thought she did very well.
I always thought this post was filled with someone with a name like Laeticia Pilkington, or Emily Post or something.
Anyway, I remember Jackie Kennedy: Pablo Casals playing a Bach Unaccompanied Suite in the East Room (of course he needed no accompaniment or any introduction for that matter); restoring various rooms in the WH, etc.
Since it's the American Buckingham Palace, it can never be too formal or too bound by tradition, can it?
White gloves and all that.
Posted by: ornery | February 26, 2010 9:01 PM
She did her main job - rehabbing Michelle's reputation from the woman that wasn't proud of her country into a first lady with 70+ approval ratings. That's what Desiree is all about - image building - starting with her own.
Maybe she can hook-up with some of those former EnRon execs she partnered with about a decade ago. I wonder which unlucky company she will ruin next.
Posted by: Bob | February 26, 2010 9:17 PM
It seems her sartorial and social concerns were her priorities rather than her job. Putting her friend and our President in potential harm's way is one BIG thing, but to underscore my point, she made sure she was seated at that now infamous state dinner -- unforgiveable. You're staff, stupid, and it doesn't take a Harvard MBA to figure that out (although we've now had a couple of Harvard B-School boneheads in the WH in the past two administrations).
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | February 26, 2010 9:28 PM
She finally figured out she was merely staff, and not a star. No wonder she's quitting -- or ... she was pushed under the bus.
Posted by: beth | February 26, 2010 11:16 PM
They can say what they want in the White House but the people know she was kicked to the curb because of the gatecrashers. Funny how they waited until Friday afternoon once again to report something like this.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | February 27, 2010 12:13 PM
More Competence? in the Messiah's administration. This is what happens when you get on the job training for people who are in way above their "pay grades". Like the Pres. and the rest of his Crook County comrades.
If it was only a matter of selling Senate seats or hiding ones college transcripts it would not matter much. But this Obamination is a another measure of the inability to do what is needed to effectily govern the country.
Posted by: s | February 27, 2010 12:28 PM