New White House Fun Maker Smoot An Anti Diva

Healthcare passed, but all we've heard about today is repeal and how bad healthcare legislation is and how it will raise premiums and how Armageddon is near. I've struggled to find anything positive, so it looks like, once again, the media is falling down on the job, and the republicans continue to be high achievers in fear mongering. Or maybe I'm on healthcare overload! So here's a neat profile on Julianna Smoot, who replaced Desiree Rogers. Smoot, they say, is the anti-diva, in contrast to Rogers. Smoot gets to plan all the fun stuff at the White House:

Smoot, 42, spent the past year working as chief of staff to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. He says that when the presidential transition team learned Smoot was interested in working at the trade office, he was told: "If you don't take her, you're a fool."
Smoot already had an eye-popping achievement by then. As finance director for the Obama campaign — her first presidential race — she brought in nearly $750 million, a record amount that surpassed the combined total for both major party candidates four years earlier. Early on, the impressive cash haul marked Obama, a first-term senator, as a serious contender and in later stages it provided the cash to let him do pretty much whatever he wanted.
Plenty of other Democrats, too, owe their campaign millions to Smoot's abilities. She steered fundraising for Democratic Senate candidates in 2006, raising a record sum.
Smoot is taking over the Social Office from Desiree Rogers, a fashion-forward Chicago confidante of the Obamas who resigned after little more than a year in the job. Rogers' service was marked by a series of successful high-wattage social events and lots of new and creative twists, among them an East Room poetry jam and trick-or-treating by thousands of D.C. kids on the White House lawn.
Her tenure was marred, though, by the big blowup over the party-crashers at the Obamas' first state dinner and a general sense that she acted too much like a celebrity and not enough like a staff member.
Smoot comes across as the anti-diva. Fashion doesn't consume her. No one expects her to turn up in Vogue magazine, as Rogers did early on. Or to pull up a seat at a state dinner, as did Rogers. Or to have a front-row seat during New York fashion week, as did Rogers. Think J. Crew, not Comme des Garcons. Read more at MSNBC.

Axelrod: Obama is a Person Not a Product

Turns out that David Axelrod was one of those who didn't much like Desiree Rogers. She had a little too much fancy flair for Axelrod, who didn't like when she talked about the "Obama brand."

Ms. Rogers had appeared in another glossy magazine, posing in a White House garden in a borrowed $3,495 silk pleated dress and $110,000 diamond earrings. But if the image was jarring in a time of recession, Mr. Axelrod was as bothered by the words and her discussion of “the Obama brand” and her role in promoting it, according to people informed about the conversation.

“The president is a person, not a product,” he was said to tell her. “We shouldn’t be referring to him as a brand.” NYT

Desiree Rogers Resigns

Update: Julianna Smoot, pictured, will replace Rogers

Social Secretary Desiree Rogers was not a well liked by people outside of the White House. Politico reports that Julianna Smoot, the chief of staff for U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, could replace Rogers. Obama met with Kirk this week:

Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary who announced Friday she was stepping down, was not pushed out, White House press secretary Gibbs said in his daily briefing.

Asked if last year’s state dinner breach played a factor in her decision, Gibbs said, “I don’t think it did, no.”

Rogers also must abide by the White House’s rules on lobbying practices if she enters the private sector, he said.

Rogers announced Friday she would resign from her post after a little more than a year on the job. Politico

Obama's statement:

“We are enormously grateful to Desiree Rogers for the terrific job she’s done as the White House Social Secretary. 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. She organized hundreds of fun and creative events during her time here, and we will miss her. We thank her again for her service and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”

Smoot's bio from Smith College:

Julianna Smoot ’89 joined the Office of the United States Trade Representative in February 2009 as the Chief of Staff. Prior to joining the USTR, Ms. Smoot served as Senior Advisor to President Obama and served as Co-Chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee. In January 2007, Ms. Smoot joined President Obama’s Presidential Campaign as the National Finance Director. Prior to working for President Obama, Ms. Smoot served as National Finance Director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, chaired by Senator Charles Schumer.

Previously, Ms. Smoot served as Senior Advisor to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and as Finance Director for Senator John Edwards’ race for U.S. Senate. Ms. Smoot has also held positions with Senator Richard Durbin and Senator Chris Dodd.

Julianna Smoot, a North Carolina native, received her Bachelor’s Degree in Government from Smith College in Northampton, MA.

Republicans and Media Target Social Secretary

My question is why. Why in the world are republicans and the media targeting a social secretary for the party crasher security lapse, especially after the Secret Service admitted fault? I don't get it. It seems Desiree Rogers is despised in DC.

Jealousy?
April, with an inane line of questioning (haven't the media anything better to wonder about), gives us a clue:

Secret Service's Statement on Party Crashers

Mark Sullivan says the Secret Service made a mistake. Established procedures were not followed at an initial checkpoint. The Secret Service apologized at the get go, but republican Peter King must not have anything better to do than go after the social secretary to score some political points. Does he really think that the White House isn't concerned about the security breech? Read the White House memo on the review of procedures. Yet King, the truth seeker that he is, doesn't care if the Salahis testify.

Meanwhile, Obama defends the Secret Service today:

"I could not have more confidence in the Secret Service," Obama told USA TODAY's Richard Wolf and Justin Hyde of the Detroit Free Press in an interview this morning.

Obama acknowledged for the first time that "the system didn't work the way it was supposed to" at last week's State Dinner, when an uninvited Virginia couple managed to get past several checkpoints and into the White House, where they shook hands with Obama and posed for photographs with others.

Even so, the president gave the men and women who protect him the highest praise, he told us in an interview that focused largely on the economy. USA Today

Desiree Rogers on Michelle Obama

White House Correspondents Dinner Live Stream

Watch Obama's remarks here.

Watch Wanda Sykes here. 

Valerie Jarrett and Desiree Rogers get carded at the dinner but don't get indignant. Nice.

Desiree Rogers Approaches Job as Chief Marketer of Obama Brand

Desiree is the social secretary, who plans all the White House social events. This story in WSJ's magazine isn't exactly flattering, but it's interesting.

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.

If there’s one thing Desirée Rogers and Desirée Rogers’ staff want you to know—and will keep reminding you until you get it—it’s that the president and Michelle Obama plan to open up the White House and once again make it the “people’s house.” They want to create an environment where average Americans might stop by and catch the first lady serving homemade huckleberry cobbler and caramel ice cream to students, tending to the vegetable garden on the South Lawn or watching the romantic comedy “He’s Just Not That Into You” with her girlfriends. The president is, of course, meeting with foreign dignitaries. In one of the most visible roles in the Obama administration, Rogers is out to solidify the first family as one of the most memorable in presidential history, and the Ivy League–educated first lady, in particular, as the most popular mom-in-chief. Read the rest at WSJ

She's the social engineer:

“She’s been a social engineer from the beginning,” says Shawnelle Richie, a friend and Chicago-based television executive for a division of CBS. “It’s beyond parties, it’s the way she connects with people.”

Her relationship with Michelle Obama:

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.

Her approach to the job is boosting the Obama "brand" as if the White House were Coke or Starbucks:

“We have the best brand on earth: the Obama brand,” Rogers says. “Our possibilities are endless.” Like all brands, the Obama brand has a “crown jewel,” she explains, and that crown jewel is the White House. Think of it like Unilever’s Dove, a consumer brand Rogers says she admires. Having started with a simple bar of soap, the utilitarian Dove brand now boasts such grooming products as shampoo, body wash and deodorant. In 2004, its “Campaign for Real Beauty” featuring plus-size and older models generated a flood of publicity, boosted sales and made the brand seem approachable and public-service-oriented. “You basically need to understand what your customers want and need,” Rogers says.

Green White House Fountains, Dan Rooney, Ireland's Leaders

Michelle Obama comes up with the idea to green the White House fountains, Obama names the Steelers' Dan Rooney, a long-time republican, ambassador to Ireland, and in light of the recent violence in Northern Ireland, Obama meets with some of Ireland's leaders, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen and Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson and his deputy, Martin McGuinness.

MSNBC: The 76-year-old Rooney took over the presidency of the Steelers in 1975 and is a Hall of Fame owner. His team won this year's Super Bowl, shocking the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 on Santonio Holmes' tiptoe catch for a touchdown with 35 seconds to play.

Rooney has received the American Ireland Fund's lifetime achievement award.

The "Rooney Rule,'' which requires any team with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one minority candidate, was developed by an NFL committee Rooney chaired.

On the White House grounds, First Lady Michelle Obama came up with the idea to dye the fountains on the White House's North and South lawns green, said spokeswoman Katie McCormick Lelyveld. She was inspired by her hometown of Chicago, where the city marks the national holiday of Ireland by dyeing the river green.

Later Tuesday, Obama plans to meet with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen in the Oval Office, and then with Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson and his deputy, Martin McGuinness, in a less high-profile gathering in his national security adviser's office. Administration aides singled out that trio as leaders who have resisted partisan reactions to a series of killings in Northern Ireland that threatens a decade's break in violence.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Obamas in Essence

Desiree Rogers, the social secretary, talks about the Obamas and her new job.

Essence: Born and raised in New Orleans, Desiree Rogers knows a thing or two about throwing a party. The high-powered Chicago woman and longtime friend of the Obamas was named this week as the first African-American White House social secretary. She formerly served as president of social networking for Allstate Financial, and as president of Peoples and North Shore Gas. She will be responsible for staging every event or ceremony that occurs at the White House. Rogers, 49, talked to ESSENCE.com about how the Obamas plan to make their mark on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

ESSENCE.COM: What's the first event you will be responsible for?
DESIREE ROGERS: Some of the inaugural events. We're just getting started working on them, so I can't really discuss it, but that's the first series of events I'll be working on. The first event we will have in the White House is the governor's ball in February.

ESSENCE.COM: How long have you known the Obamas?
ROGERS: Probably about 20 years-Michelle, I've known for about 20 years. I met her through her brother, Craig Robinson. My ex-husband played basketball with him in college.

ESSENCE.COM: As a longtime friend of the Obamas who knows their personal tastes, what kind of affairs do you think they'll want to have at the White House?
ROGERS: I think it will be important in this economic climate to be responsible, so we will certainly be thinking about that in any events that we have. At the same time, we want to be celebratory. This is history in the making. Americans have come together, as in no other time that I can recall, so there's something to celebrate. There's some value in bringing people together, and forming relationships with people-as President-elect Barack Obama has said, we have more in common than not. We will be creating opportunities where people can come together and celebrate the arts, cultural events, intellectual events, everyday events, like picnics with children. Michelle wants to be very involved with the work and family balance, as well as celebrating our military families.

ESSENCE.COM: And what about you-how do you hope to put your mark on the White House? Do you have things that you'd like to do differently from past social secretaries?
ROGERS: Not yet. Those will be things that I'm thinking about prior to moving over in January. But I think we're going to cast a wide net. We are certainly going to look at what has been done historically, and figure out what makes sense moving forward.

Desiree Rogers To Be Named Social Secretary

What is a social secretary? 

WaPo: Although the job is associated with working with the first lady and with entertaining -- and best known for staging state dinners for heads of countries -- the social secretary's office is responsible for every event or ceremony that occurs in the White House or on the grounds. The day after the inauguration, for example, Rogers will be responsible for organizing the swearing-in of the Cabinet. Ann Stock, a social secretary in the Clinton White House, was once charged with pulling together the signing of the historic Mideast peace agreement in four days, for 4,000 guests.

"It's like running a small agency," said Stock, who briefed Rogers on the job last week. "Her business savvy, her marketing skills will all come into play. Her close relationship with the Obamas is very important because she comes to the job already understanding their preferences."

Who is Desiree Rogers?

Desirée Rogers, a prominent Chicago businesswoman and Harvard MBA, will be named the first African American White House social secretary, sources in the presidential transition office said yesterday.

Rogers, 49, is a friend of Michelle and President-elect Barack Obama's, and a leader in Chicago corporate and civic circles; her appointment signals that the first couple consider the job crucial to how they introduce themselves to the country and the globe. She was a major fundraiser for Obama.

"This appointment sends a strong message that the Obamas want to use the White House strategically, to maximize its use in a way that is consistent with their philosophy -- [to] open it to a broader range of people, " said Valerie Jarrett, an Obama intimate and friend of Rogers's who also will work in the White House. "Desirée is a heavy hitter -- she comes with her own range of contacts from around the country. She's close to Michelle and she knows everyone who will be working in the West Wing, so she will be able to create a synergy."
....
Rogers will come to the White House from Allstate Financial, where she was hired last summer to create a social network of consumers and clients for the mammoth business. Prior to that, Rogers was the president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, a $2 billion utility that she had headed since 2004; she worked at the company starting in 1997 as its chief marketing officer. In the early '90s, she was director of the Illinois Lottery. She received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College, and her daughter is a student at Yale.

Rogers has long been part of the Obamas' inner circle. She was once married to John Rogers, a close friend of President-elect Obama's, who played basketball with Michelle Obama's brother Craig Robinson at Princeton. John Rogers will be a co-chairman of the inaugural committee.

Last week, Desirée Rogers hosted Jarrett's birthday party, an intimate affair that included the president-elect and Michelle Obama. "She has extraordinary flair and exquisite taste," Jarrett said. "My party was perfect -- she had my favorite food, my favorite flowers."