White House social secretary Desiree Rogers, who has been under fire ever since Michaele and Tareq Salahi crashed President Barack Obama’s first state dinner, will resign in March, she told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet.
“As we turn the corner on the first year,” Rogers told Sweet, “this is a good time for me to explore opportunities in the corporate world.”
Rogers has been a glamorous and somewhat controversial figure in the White House from the beginning, posing for fashion shots and bringing eye-catching style to her post but sometimes being accused of neglecting the nitty gritty of the job. (Read more on Desiree in our WSJ. Magazine cover story from last April.) When the Salahi security came to light, Secret Service leaders took the fall, saying they had neglected to keep a watchful eye on the guests coming into the dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
But critics said Rogers and her crew were equally responsible for matching the guests to the guest list.
In her interview with Sweet, Rogers said, “When I took on this assignment, we talked about the importance of creating the people’s house. My work was really to create this framework. I think I completed that work. 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.”
