Do know what it means to mix New Orleans … with Chicago’s flair and style? That’s essentially what former White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers — who should be gone by Wednesday, the end (Ides) of March, was when she was tapped to run events at the president’s Washington residence.
Desiree Rogers had the sensitivities that living and surviving in Chitown taught her; she was an entertainer and executive in her own right who knew her way around fortune 500 businesses. She was stylish. She was filet gumbo.
The White House had poetry readings, Earth, Wind and Fire concerts, Stevie Wonder. Now, we’ll wait to see what kind of events Julianna Smoot (I got dibs on her nickname, J-Smoove) puts on, which i’m sure will be nice and proper.
But to be sure, the White House has lost something, I don’t exactly know what though. Not to diss her replacement, Julianna Smoot, who apparently is a fund-raising titan (you can always use one of those), but she’s from North Carolina. Again, I love N.C., but the social mixture that Rogers brought to the table will be hard to duplicate or even imitate.
Now, in Smoot’s defense, I think she’ll check credentials a bit closer and be more hands on than Rogers, but everybody makes mistakes, right?
Hopefully, Rogers can land in a role that takes advantage of her background as well as connections. She’ll be alright. It’s the rest of us I worry about.

At a Hawaiian-themed luau on the White House lawn recently, presidential social maven Desiree Rogers gets it in on the crackberry in a springy ensemble.

As much as you might try, you simply can’t knock the hustle of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen. The Mount Holyoke College (Massachusetts) and London School of Economics graduation reportedly has a weakness for Vera Wang but basically can look good in anything.
While Michelle Obama has toned down her appearances, pundits say Sutphen is opening up and granting more interviews. Is that a good thing or bad?

The President’s Socialite-in-chief Desi Rogers is again behind the 8 ball by critics who say she’s too flashy (she was wearing a top-of-the-line Vera Wang) in a down economy.
More surprising is that some of the fodder has come from the Obama camp.
When the Wall Street Journal was invited to the White House to interview Rogers it is understood that some White House cabinet members weren’t too pleased when they saw the outfits that Rogers put on, outfits that they said “took away from the dignity of the White House.”
In a much ballyhooed article, she was criticized for saying that she wanted to leverage “the Obama brand” which “the best brand on Earth.” Ouch.
Right-wing pundits ran with it; liberal moderates politely winced, but that’s Rogers.
Hailing from the New Orleans’ Seventh Ward, Rogers knows how to get in where she fits in. It just so happens that a whole lot of people are mad-jealy.
Should Desi peg her outfits to what Michelle Obama is wearing that day, deliberately dressing down so as not to upstage the First Lady? What do you think?