The White House social secretary will be taking her name off the guest list. Desiree Rogers, a friend of the President Obama’s from Chicago, announced on Friday that she will be stepping down from her position and returning to “private sector” parties.
Rogers has held the position for 13 months, during which the White House became, er, more egalitarian and “the house for all people.” Rogers’ tenure was marked by the high-profile case of the gate-crashing Salahis, who managed to glam-up their Facebook photos page after sneaking into the White House’s first state dinner.
Another gatecrasher, Carlos Allen, also slipped through security at that dinner in November.
According to the Washington Post:
Although a senior administration official said the incident proved decisive for her tenure, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the decision to leave was her own.
“She’s not been asked to leave,” Gibbs said. “She’s decided it’s time to go back to do other things she loved.” Asked whether the Salahi incident played a role in her departure, Gibbs insisted: “I don’t think it did, no.”
The incidences, however, seem to have really soured the celebratory mood:
Still, the security fiasco at the state dinner for the prime minister of India proved to be an embarrassment, and when she tried to reassert herself, she was quickly shot down, forced into a lower profile.
“Once the state dinner deal went down,” said the official, “people who had other political agendas started micromanaging every part of her business.”
Full story: White House social secretary Desiree Rogers to resign