http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100226/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_white_house_desiree_rogers
All,
This folks is how racism works and has always worked in the United Hates. A bunch of jealous rich white people consumed with envy, spite, and hatred go after a highly accomplished black person in public and then openly harass, pressure, and try to embarrass his or her employers--in this case the President and the First Lady of the country. These racist pricks tried to bury Van Jones and now they're trying to bury Desiree Rogers. The fact that Desiree is well educated, intelligent, independent, highly competent, stylish, and beautiful really sticks in their craw. This is a typical racist reaction to any black woman who "dares" to be as compelling as Ms. Rogers. Like always what these cretins want from black women is a servile maid not a professional woman of substance and accomplishment. That's what the doctrine of white supremacy and its millions of minions and acolytes "excel" in defiling and attacking and have always "excelled" in--and it NEVER changes. As my late beloved father used to say all the time: "THE BETTER YOU ARE, THE WORSE IT IS" and my father as usual wasn't even lying. These racist assholes make me sick...but when has it ever been any different.
To Desiree: Don't let these moronic scumbags defeat you sister. Come back even stronger like Van did...
Kofi
BREAKING NEWS:
Aide: W.H. Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to step down Reuters
White House social secretary Rogers resigning
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer
February 26, 2010
WASHINGTON – White House social secretary Desiree Rogers is stepping down three months after an uninvited couple crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner and she was heavily criticized for her role in allowing the embarrassing episode to happen.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama issued a statement Friday thanking their longtime friend from their days together in Chicago for the "terrific job she's done" organizing more than 330 events in little more than a year in the post.
They indicated no reason for the departure, effective sometime next month after a transition period.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said a short time later that Rogers was neither forced out nor asked to leave. He also said he didn't think the dustup over the state dinner factored into her decision.
"She's decided it's time to go back to doing other things that she loves," Gibbs said.
Rogers' handling of the Nov. 24 state dinner came under fire after a celebrity-seeking northern Virginia couple got into the exclusive South Lawn affair without a formal invitation, despite heavy White House security. As social secretary, Rogers was in charge of the event.
It was a huge embarrassment for the White House that Tareq and Michaele Salahi got into the dinner uninvited, let alone close enough to top officials to shake hands with Obama in the receiving line and take photos with Vice President Joe Biden, which they posted on Facebook.
Rogers later acknowledged not having staff from her office at security checkpoints to help identify guests, a departure from the practice in previous administrations. Lawmakers had demanded that she testify about her handling of the event, and one wanted to subpoena her. The White House would not allow her to testify, citing the constitutional separation of powers.
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told Congress that normal security protocols were not followed, and three officers were put on administrative leave following the breach in what normally is tight White House security.
Obama said weeks later that he was unhappy with everyone involved in what he described as a "screw-up" and said it would not happen again. Mrs. Obama also was said to be angry about the incident. The White House reviewed its policies and decided to station staff at its security checkpoints to help clear up discrepancies about guests.
Tall and glamorous, Rogers also was criticized for having a profile higher than the social secretaries before her. She gave interviews, appeared in glossy magazine photo spreads and dressed in high-end designer labels. She also had a front-row seat next to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour during New York Fashion Week last year.
Rogers, 50, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that she was leaving because she had achieved a major goal of the Obamas: turning the White House into the "people's house" by opening it up to many of those who normally do not get to visit.
"My work was really to create this framework. I think I completed that work," she told her hometown newspaper. "Our office has been able to lay the foundation for what will be known as the 'people's house' and it has already taken shape."
Rogers said she planned to explore opportunities in the corporate world, where she worked before joining the administration. She arrived in Chicago after getting an MBA and has worked at AT&T and a gas and utilities company.
Gibbs said she personally informed the Obamas of her decision around the beginning of the year.
"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," the Obamas said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/us/politics/27rogers.html?hpw
All,
Why is it that outstanding black staff working for Obama keep getting attacked and resigning? It's a rhetorical question of course...for ugly details read article below.
Kofi
White House Social Secretary to Resign
All,
This folks is how racism works and has always worked in the United Hates. A bunch of jealous rich white people consumed with envy, spite, and hatred go after a highly accomplished black person in public and then openly harass, pressure, and try to embarrass his or her employers--in this case the President and the First Lady of the country. These racist pricks tried to bury Van Jones and now they're trying to bury Desiree Rogers. The fact that Desiree is well educated, intelligent, independent, highly competent, stylish, and beautiful really sticks in their craw. This is a typical racist reaction to any black woman who "dares" to be as compelling as Ms. Rogers. Like always what these cretins want from black women is a servile maid not a professional woman of substance and accomplishment. That's what the doctrine of white supremacy and its millions of minions and acolytes "excel" in defiling and attacking and have always "excelled" in--and it NEVER changes. As my late beloved father used to say all the time: "THE BETTER YOU ARE, THE WORSE IT IS" and my father as usual wasn't even lying. These racist assholes make me sick...but when has it ever been any different.
To Desiree: Don't let these moronic scumbags defeat you sister. Come back even stronger like Van did...
Kofi
BREAKING NEWS:
Aide: W.H. Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to step down Reuters
White House social secretary Rogers resigning
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer
February 26, 2010
WASHINGTON – White House social secretary Desiree Rogers is stepping down three months after an uninvited couple crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner and she was heavily criticized for her role in allowing the embarrassing episode to happen.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama issued a statement Friday thanking their longtime friend from their days together in Chicago for the "terrific job she's done" organizing more than 330 events in little more than a year in the post.
They indicated no reason for the departure, effective sometime next month after a transition period.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said a short time later that Rogers was neither forced out nor asked to leave. He also said he didn't think the dustup over the state dinner factored into her decision.
"She's decided it's time to go back to doing other things that she loves," Gibbs said.
Rogers' handling of the Nov. 24 state dinner came under fire after a celebrity-seeking northern Virginia couple got into the exclusive South Lawn affair without a formal invitation, despite heavy White House security. As social secretary, Rogers was in charge of the event.
It was a huge embarrassment for the White House that Tareq and Michaele Salahi got into the dinner uninvited, let alone close enough to top officials to shake hands with Obama in the receiving line and take photos with Vice President Joe Biden, which they posted on Facebook.
Rogers later acknowledged not having staff from her office at security checkpoints to help identify guests, a departure from the practice in previous administrations. Lawmakers had demanded that she testify about her handling of the event, and one wanted to subpoena her. The White House would not allow her to testify, citing the constitutional separation of powers.
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told Congress that normal security protocols were not followed, and three officers were put on administrative leave following the breach in what normally is tight White House security.
Obama said weeks later that he was unhappy with everyone involved in what he described as a "screw-up" and said it would not happen again. Mrs. Obama also was said to be angry about the incident. The White House reviewed its policies and decided to station staff at its security checkpoints to help clear up discrepancies about guests.
Tall and glamorous, Rogers also was criticized for having a profile higher than the social secretaries before her. She gave interviews, appeared in glossy magazine photo spreads and dressed in high-end designer labels. She also had a front-row seat next to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour during New York Fashion Week last year.
Rogers, 50, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that she was leaving because she had achieved a major goal of the Obamas: turning the White House into the "people's house" by opening it up to many of those who normally do not get to visit.
"My work was really to create this framework. I think I completed that work," she told her hometown newspaper. "Our office has been able to lay the foundation for what will be known as the 'people's house' and it has already taken shape."
Rogers said she planned to explore opportunities in the corporate world, where she worked before joining the administration. She arrived in Chicago after getting an MBA and has worked at AT&T and a gas and utilities company.
Gibbs said she personally informed the Obamas of her decision around the beginning of the year.
"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," the Obamas said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/us/politics/27rogers.html?hpw
All,
Why is it that outstanding black staff working for Obama keep getting attacked and resigning? It's a rhetorical question of course...for ugly details read article below.
Kofi
White House Social Secretary to Resign
By JODI KANTOR
Published: February 26, 2010
New York Times
On Thursday evening, the White House social secretary, Desirée Rogers, presided over yet another glittering event, with luminaries like Sarah Jessica Parker sipping sparkling wine while Rita Moreno, star of the film “West Side Story,” danced to the Marine orchestra’s rendition of the score.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Desirée Rogers, with the White House adviser David Axelrod, was criticized for her handling of the Obamas' first state dinner.
On Friday afternoon, Ms. Rogers said she would resign soon, after a year that was groundbreaking but grueling, filled with criticism of her statements, her handling of the Obamas’ first state dinner and even her designer outfits.
“It has nothing to do with being glamorous — that is all make-believe in the eyes of the press,” she said in a telephone interview. “I’ve always dressed this way. This is who I am.”
She added that she had planned to stay for only a year, that she had accomplished what she wanted and that she planned to return to the corporate world.
Ms. Rogers is the latest lead character in a familiar Washington tale: the outsider and presidential friend who comes to town to do things differently, and finds both great success and withering censure. She is the first social secretary with a master’s in business administration — from Harvard — and the first African-American in the role.
She has been proud to serve “a historic presidency for all Americans, but particularly for African-Americans,” she said. “That is part of the reason I came out to do the job.”
A Chicago executive, Ms. Rogers quickly became known for stylish, socially aware fun: a spoken-word poetry jam; a party for governors designed around a “Mad Men” theme, complete with a mixologist; and another that ended with a spontaneous conga line. In her office, she hung a picture of a weathered shotgun home in New Orleans, her hometown, and she shifted her guest lists away from official Washington and toward newcomers, including schoolchildren.
Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said, “Both the president and first lady really wanted to open up the White House and make it the people’s house again,” adding that Ms. Rogers had done an “extraordinary” job.
Many established figures did not like being excluded, Ms. Rogers said. “I was symbolic of that change in many respects, and I took the hit,” she said, referring to many months of criticism.
Of all the Chicagoans in the Obama White House, few had made bigger leaps than Ms. Rogers. “She hadn’t worked on the campaign, she didn’t swim in the world of politics, she was coming to a different city, she was used to working more independently than the White House allows you to do,” said one colleague who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
After gate-crashers made their way into the Obamas’ first state dinner in November, the Secret Service bore blame, but so did White House staff members, including Ms. Rogers. “We needed to do a better job to help manage the process,” Ms. Jarrett said.
Afterward, Ms. Rogers kept her head down, monitored lists and entrances more closely and delivered reports at the 8:30 a.m. senior staff meetings as usual, colleagues said. “You would never have guessed from her demeanor that she was under withering criticism,” one said. Even colleagues with whom she had experienced friction circled protectively around her.
But her job was relentless, with as many as five events a day, from bill signings to award ceremonies. Asked what she had learned in Washington, Ms. Rogers said she never saw it: “We were working around the clock. I never saw the cherry blossoms.”
Ms. Rogers made the decision to leave in January; the choice was her own, she and others said. “It’s a conversation with oneself,” she said. “Is that what I want to do, what is going to make me the happiest?”
One candidate to replace Ms. Rogers, those close to the administration said, is Juliana Smoot, finance director of Mr. Obama’s campaign and a longtime Democratic aide.
Published: February 26, 2010
New York Times
On Thursday evening, the White House social secretary, Desirée Rogers, presided over yet another glittering event, with luminaries like Sarah Jessica Parker sipping sparkling wine while Rita Moreno, star of the film “West Side Story,” danced to the Marine orchestra’s rendition of the score.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Desirée Rogers, with the White House adviser David Axelrod, was criticized for her handling of the Obamas' first state dinner.
On Friday afternoon, Ms. Rogers said she would resign soon, after a year that was groundbreaking but grueling, filled with criticism of her statements, her handling of the Obamas’ first state dinner and even her designer outfits.
“It has nothing to do with being glamorous — that is all make-believe in the eyes of the press,” she said in a telephone interview. “I’ve always dressed this way. This is who I am.”
She added that she had planned to stay for only a year, that she had accomplished what she wanted and that she planned to return to the corporate world.
Ms. Rogers is the latest lead character in a familiar Washington tale: the outsider and presidential friend who comes to town to do things differently, and finds both great success and withering censure. She is the first social secretary with a master’s in business administration — from Harvard — and the first African-American in the role.
She has been proud to serve “a historic presidency for all Americans, but particularly for African-Americans,” she said. “That is part of the reason I came out to do the job.”
A Chicago executive, Ms. Rogers quickly became known for stylish, socially aware fun: a spoken-word poetry jam; a party for governors designed around a “Mad Men” theme, complete with a mixologist; and another that ended with a spontaneous conga line. In her office, she hung a picture of a weathered shotgun home in New Orleans, her hometown, and she shifted her guest lists away from official Washington and toward newcomers, including schoolchildren.
Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said, “Both the president and first lady really wanted to open up the White House and make it the people’s house again,” adding that Ms. Rogers had done an “extraordinary” job.
Many established figures did not like being excluded, Ms. Rogers said. “I was symbolic of that change in many respects, and I took the hit,” she said, referring to many months of criticism.
Of all the Chicagoans in the Obama White House, few had made bigger leaps than Ms. Rogers. “She hadn’t worked on the campaign, she didn’t swim in the world of politics, she was coming to a different city, she was used to working more independently than the White House allows you to do,” said one colleague who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
After gate-crashers made their way into the Obamas’ first state dinner in November, the Secret Service bore blame, but so did White House staff members, including Ms. Rogers. “We needed to do a better job to help manage the process,” Ms. Jarrett said.
Afterward, Ms. Rogers kept her head down, monitored lists and entrances more closely and delivered reports at the 8:30 a.m. senior staff meetings as usual, colleagues said. “You would never have guessed from her demeanor that she was under withering criticism,” one said. Even colleagues with whom she had experienced friction circled protectively around her.
But her job was relentless, with as many as five events a day, from bill signings to award ceremonies. Asked what she had learned in Washington, Ms. Rogers said she never saw it: “We were working around the clock. I never saw the cherry blossoms.”
Ms. Rogers made the decision to leave in January; the choice was her own, she and others said. “It’s a conversation with oneself,” she said. “Is that what I want to do, what is going to make me the happiest?”
One candidate to replace Ms. Rogers, those close to the administration said, is Juliana Smoot, finance director of Mr. Obama’s campaign and a longtime Democratic aide.
