Ah, yes…the Desiree Rogers saga!

Desiree Rogers is the White House Social Secretary. She screwed up in her job. The odds are that 99% of the time, her particular lapse wouldn’t have had any tangible effect. She was unlucky, however, and it did.

It did because the Secret Service picked the same night to get sloppy, so a couple of professional cons obsessed with becoming the next Andy Warhol Stupid Celebrities of the Quarter Hour brazened their way into a White House state dinner, where, if they had been Ninjas or Steven Segal in disguise, they pretty much could have killed anyone they wanted to, including President Obama. They weren’t Ninjas; not all of Desiree’s luck was bad. They were only self-obsessed idiots.

All right, it was a ridiculous story, which means, of course, that it was rehashed and written about in the news media with the intensity and frequency befitting analysis of a terrorist attack on Disney World. This is because the entire news media has officially adopted the official National Enquirer story priority standards. Still, Congress had to have hearings over what went wrong, and that is proper: the country is involved in two wars in an area of the world that employs suicide bombers, and this is not the ideal time for White House security to start looking like a Moe, Larry and Curly short.

At the hearings, the Secret Service did what it was supposed to do and should have done. It accepted complete responsibility for the fiasco, and two agents were placed on leave. But although the White house has officially acknowledged (on its blog) that “After reviewing our actions, it is clear that the White House did not do everything we could have done to assist the United States Secret Service in ensuring that only invited guests enter the complex,” Desiree Rogers refused to answer questions from Congress regarding exactly what the breakdown was. Incredibly, the White House airily invoked executive privilege to keep her from testifying, which is both constitutionally questionable and jaw-droppingly silly. What could possibly justify this stonewalling?

Only one thing: Rogers, a close and long-time friend of the First Lady, is being protected from the accountability she richly deserves. Multiple White House social secretaries of the past have come forth explained that it was always their job to check dinner guests as they arrived at White House dinners. Rogers didn’t do it, and didn’t assign any of her staff to do it. She was apparently partying with the guests while she should have been on the job.

As usual, partisan mouth-pieces have run to the defense of Rogers: heaven forefend that anyone should call incompetent Obama pals incompetent. (Wouldn’t it be wonderful if simple, obvious incidents like this didn’t turn into ideological Rorschach tests? Why wouldn’t Democrats be as alarmed at a goof-off having a key role in security matters as Republicans are? If they are, as I suspect, why can’t they have the integrity to say so?)

“Politics Daily” columnist Lynn Sweet (a friend of Desiree’s) argued:

“One of the other raps against Rogers is that she was on the state dinner guest list and had a seat at one of the tables. To that I say a big SO WHAT when it comes to the Salahi incident. A reception preceded the dinner. By the time anyone sat down to eat the damage was done. The Salahis had shaken hands with the president, worked their way down the receiving line, and had gotten their bragging rights pictures. Whether or not a social secretary should eat with the guests — many other Obama staffers were at this dinner by the way — is a minor question that does not relate to the security issue.”

A laughable spin attempt. Rogers didn’t “eat with the guests,” like a child invited to come down from his room to briefly dine with the boss and his wife (I remember those days!). She was treating herself as a full-fledged participant and invitee, which means that she wasn’t on the job, watching the ball, on top of things, seeing that the trains ran on time–do you get any of this, Lynn? She’s the Social Secretary, and she was socializing instead of working.

Here is what Rogers ought to be doing:

1. She should stop hiding, admit that she botched her responsibilities, apologize to Congress, the Obamas, the Secret Service and you and me. That’s called being responsible, honest and accountable.

2. She should stop letting the White House cover for her, if that’s what is happening. She has already let her employers down once, and now she is allowing them to look bad again for seeming to engage in a cover up for personal reasons (Michelle’s loyalty to a friend) when it should be as dedicated to analyzing the security break-down as Republicans in Congress.

3. She should promise to do her job better, and do it.

Finally, if she really wants to help the Obamas, she should resign, or better yet, ask to be fired.

Tipping points for public faith in a president often are relatively trivial incidents.  Barack Obama came to Washington with great promise and potential, but also legitimate questions about his executive skills and experience. Increasingly, the term “amateur hour” is being used to describe the administration, and not just by critics, Republicans and conservative radio. Every day, it seems, another appointee or staff member lets the President down. Who told him to bow to the Japanese Emperor while shaking his hand? Who advised him to waste his time and prestige on the Winter Olympics bid?  Why was a White House communications director praising Chairman Mao? These are all fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but with unemployment is rising, the Afghanistan war continuing, the deficit exploding and the shiny promise of health care reform tarnished by dishonesty and hard-ball politics, Americans badly need to see evidence that the White House has competent, reliable people on hand and that it is willing to get rid of the incompetent and unreliable—even when they are friends. Because of the excessive publicity the dinner-crashers received, this incident could be the canary dying in the mine, warning President Obama that the public trust his administration needs to survive is waning fast.

He needs to show a nervous public that he won’t tolerate screw-ups any more, and Desiree Rogers—Ethics Dunce and possible dead canary, would be a good place to start.