Always on the Late Freight (UPDATED)

I have this annoying habit--well, at least I'm annoyed by it--of starting what I think is some great commentary, and then getting side-tracked.  So by the time I get back around to the commentary, it's out-dated and I don't post it.  And sometimes, as we know, it only takes a few hours for some commentary to become outdated.  Readers have noted that when I comment on a topic, I often attack it sideways. Well of course I do to say because I'm certainly not going to be the first to comment.  That's too much like work. (And then there's that issue of naturally being a little bit different.)

So I figured what the heck?  I'm going to post some of it anyway with a nice little preamble and a blurb related to how the situation turned out.

******

The following is what I wrote on December 5 after Michaele at Tareq Salahi managed to bogart their way into the White HouseState Dinner which took place the day before Thanksgiving Day.

This administration likes all the trappings of wealth and power: the SUV limos, the ability to clear a city for blocks, the private jet, the  ability to travel  at will and at where, the designers hankering to be employed , the magazine covers.

I’ve known people like this all my life.  Such persons will bash those richer than they but if these bashers get blessed (or become crooked) they will not be shy about throwing the evidence of their wealth in your face.  It’s a mini-drama played out in traffic all the time here in Southern California and, undoubtedly, all over.  My great-aunt calls it ‘floor-showing.’   Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary,  is just the latest to display a failing that is rife in the administration: she wants to enjoy the trappings related to one of the most exalted positions  in the world and, therefore, be seen as existing in that exalted status without properly bearing the responsibilities of the job she was hired to do. 

Money is a tool and nothing more.  It can indicate compartmentalized intelligence, but it is no general indicator of IQ.  Know any drug dealers or US Senators?  I rest my case.  Amounts of money do not point God’s blessing; however, properly allocated money does and God blesses whom he sees fit.

Earthly status, however, is much harder to attain.  The Obamas and their cronies seem to think that high status is conferred by position and the trappings of that position only; by being lucky; by being seen at the right place at the right party wearing the right thing.  By being able to buzz the Statue of Liberty in your "personal" jet. By being able to jet off to Europe at will.  They seem to think that no one has ever gained status by gaining knowledge and applying that knowledge or by being humble enough to realize that sometimes becoming fully competent at a job behind the scenes is its own reward and inherently has its own status.

So instead of the White House Social Secretary personally working with the Secret Service to  make sure that any glitches in the security of the State Dinner for the Indian premier, she is at the party rubbing elbows with the guests.  She there to be seen.

And while she’s being seen, guests without invitations get in and shake hands with the president.  But the actions of Ms. Rogers are merely symptomatic of the mindset of this president and this presidency.  A person who didn't get to the place he is by actual merit--who probably doesn't even believe in the value of merit--is not going to care about competency.  And so the incompetence in areas large and small will keep on revealing themselves.

100 years--assuming we're still here.  Feel free to ask me what I'm talking about.

AFTERMATH: Rogers appears to have learned her lesson.

As guests proceeded inside the southeast gate to the White House, they were asked to show photo identification at two separate checkpoints. Along the way, several employees from the social secretary’s office and other areas of the administration were on hand, in case any stray guests turned up.

Perhaps one of the biggest changes greeted visitors when they approached the East Colonnade, where Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary, stood and welcomed guests. An identification badge hung around her neck, like the rest of the White House staff, as she extended her hand to guests.

“Welcome to the White House – on behalf of the Obamas,” Ms. Rogers said with a smile.

UPDATE:  Forgot about this.

Two weeks before the Salahis' infamous appearance at the state dinner, a Georgia couple accidentally showed up a day early for a White House tour -- and instead were escorted into an invitation-only breakfast with President Obama and the first lady, the Associated Press reports.

Georgia retirees Harvey and Paula Darden had already been background checked by the appropriate agencies. Dangerous? The persons, no. The mindset which produces glitches in security and various other areas in this administration? Most certainly dangerous.

One thing and I've said this elsewhere: I wonder if these glitches in presidential security are intentional and the Secret Service is being discredited.

I didn't used to be a Conspiracy Theorist.

(Thanks to Ed B.)

Comments

[Ed Bonderenka]

I believe that a few days ago I read of another incident where some tourists were inadvertently ushered into a posh breakfast with the Obamas at the White House, and then nothing.

[baldilocks]

Thanks for reminding me!

[Yeff]

Remember how bad things would be for you if you messed up security in a SCIF?

Now why are the people who screwed up at the White House still employed?

[Velociman]

'Floor-showing.' I like that. Please let your great-aunt know I'll be borrowing that from time to time, but I'll credit her. Social grasping is no different in the public sector than the private sector. It's just that the corporate graspers are, at the end of the day, spending potential profits to grandstand. Politicians use our money to do it, and on a far greater scale. Yet we keep electing and empowering them. So sad.