NY Times Dumps on Desiree

Cellulite pix. Mean girls at the Gray Lady. Such Style:

On the surface, the controversy is about a security breach, and whether Ms. Rogers contributed to it by failing to station someone from her office at Secret Service checkpoints as guests were arriving at the dinner on Nov. 24 — a practice of administrations past. The Secret Service has accepted full responsibility for the crashers, but in a memorandum issued last week, the White House deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina, announced that henceforth, social office employees will stand alongside members of the Secret Service at guard posts — an embarrassing rebuke of Ms. Rogers, though she was not named.

“Clearly we can do more,” Mr. Messina wrote, “and we will do more.”

But a subtext emerged: the tale of a woman who, like Icarus, flew too close to the sun.

Greek tragedy. I'm starting to feel sympathy...the enemy of my enemy...nah. More:

Working with the first lady, she set about opening the mansion’s doors. Young jazz musicians were invited to a Stevie Wonder concert. Gay families were included in the traditional Easter egg roll. Non-Irish people were invited on St. Patrick’s Day. Culinary students toured the kitchen and met the chefs.

Were they anti-chef? Brandishing knives? On and on:

“What do we want the personality and the tone of the experience to be?” Ms. Rogers asked in an interview earlier this year, describing the Obamas’ philosophy. “We want it to be inclusive, diverse, representative of all Americans, celebratory, authentic. So you sit and you say, O.K., how can we make this event” — and here, Ms. Rogers paused for a moment, adding, “Obama-tized.”

But Washington is a city that likes its traditions, and Ms. Rogers has raised a few eyebrows by trying to bend them. When former social secretaries gave a luncheon to welcome Ms. Rogers earlier this year, one participant said, she surprised them by suggesting the Obamas were planning a “non-religious Christmas” — hardly a surprising idea for an administration making a special effort to reach out to other faiths.

Nothing like believing in nothing at all. (It shows such great respect for people of faith. Because excluding the creche is soooo inclusive.) Except...wow, she really does have a lot in common with The One:

At the Ebony Fashion Fair last year, Ms. Rogers showed up in “a sexy, laser-cut Pucci dress under a suede Valentino coat,” The Chicago Tribune reported.

But beneath the clothes there is a woman of substance, friends say. Tom Patrick, the former chairman of the utility companies who was Ms. Rogers’s boss, recalls Ms. Rogers “slapping on a hard hat” to go out into the field with utility workers. He says she blends “the ability to get in there and roll up your sleeves and do the hands-on work, with the ability to mix and mingle with the right people.”

The right people. The Times goes on:

For starters, the dinner was not in the State Dining Room, which seats only 140. Instead, to accommodate a much larger guest list of more than 300, it was held under a grand tent on the White House South Lawn. The menu was a mix of Indian and American favorites, another break from convention; most White Houses would shy away from serving Indian food to an Indian delegation, for fear of falling short.

Multiculti has its limits. More:

And indeed everything seemed perfect as the event got underway. “Everything looks great,” Ms. Rogers declared as she strode past the rope line of photographers, wearing a pale, partly sheer dress, with strands of pearls between its layers. Robin Givhan, the Washington Post fashion writer with a sharp eye and an even sharper pen, instantly recognized the dress.

“Are you wearing Comme des Garçons?” Ms. Givhan asked.

“Of course,” Ms. Rogers replied.

Sharp.

The Times ends with the obligatory blame the Republicans.

But we know the truth...

So far, she has received unequivocal support.

P.S. And what about The ONE?