Comments on: Who’s In The House

By: Michael Shaw (The BAG)

Michael Shaw (The BAG) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:01:21 +0000

Molly, I was pointing out the “stretch” as right-wing spin. Personally, I think the noise around the incident is more media distraction than anything else.

By: Molly

Molly — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:43:13 +0000

Michael, are you really comparing gate crashers with Obama’s decision on Afghanistan? I understand you are disappointed in the man, but this is a long elastic reach.

By: Johnson

Johnson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:47:45 +0000

Anyone else bored of hearing about this couple? The interesting part is the security breach, not the couple: http://winstonscat.blogspot.com/2009/12/are-you-bored-with-white-house-crashers.html

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:51:04 +0000

You know, I kindof enjoy seeing Pres. Obama meeting someone with equal charisma. The gaze, the handshake, the red, the wattage. I’m all for Obama, but this is the first time I’ve seen him with someone who doesn’t fade by comparison in a while.
I wonder how Ms. Sahali holds up standing next to Pres. Clinton?

By: bystander

bystander — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:14:32 +0000

I’m intrigued by the level of chummy familiarity on display in each of the four (1, 2, 3, 4) accompanying photographs linked in the discussion above. Couple them with the apparent recognition and warmth (?) between Obama and Michaele, and it would not be unreasonable – from the respective posture, affect, and appearance of each individual – to assume the Salahis were invited guests. These folk didn’t just crash a party, they inserted themselves into the middle of that party. They didn’t hide behind the potted palms, or drift along the fringes to feast, drink, and make merry just below radar. They came to attract attention, and occupy preferred real estate. And, every person captured by the camera with them are the people who made that effort successful. Any number of investigations can be conducted as to how they eluded security, since they didn’t have an invitation, but I personally wonder how it is that between Rahm, Joe, and Barry’s wives the interlopers weren’t fingered.

By: Katherine Hunter

Katherine Hunter — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:17:55 +0000

just to raise superficiality to its heights the young lady’s arms sure cant compare to Mrs. Obama’s !

By: jtfromBC

jtfromBC — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:07:35 +0000

ya just gotta love Michaele’s hand holding style

By: DennisQ

DennisQ — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:11:09 +0000

Michaele has the little girl thing down pat. She knows just how much whine will get the gatekeeper to budge just a teensy bit. I’ve known people like that. It’s amazing what they get away with.
Notice the fervor with which she greets the president. Nobody could be unmoved by such an adoring gaze. And she doesn’t pose any threat, because she’s just a little girl. She tapes her breasts down like the flappers did in the 1920’s.

By: g

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:32:38 +0000

Well, I’ve worked as an event manager at high profile invitation-only events, and I think the gateway that was breached was at the level of protocol. There’s a point where you have to show you were invited – a registration point where you either show your invitation or your name is verified on a list and noted. They either didn’t present themselves there, or they presented themselves there and managed to get past it. Both possibilities are a problem.
That said, I don’t think the President was in any danger, because the gatepost these folks breached was the one PRIOR to going through security clearances. They went through all the security checks everyone else did.
The dangerous possibility here was one of improper protocol – they could have behaved badly, acted weirdly, embarrassed somebody, caused a scene, confronted someone, caused a diplomatic crisis. Those are dangerous enough.
These two should have been found out at the first check point. The fact that there is an assumption that once someone passes that point, no questions should be asked is disturbing. At the place I recently worked, event staff was always aware of who was talking to the Big Guy – Its surprising no one here did.
Back in the ’90s when Presidential security was less stringent, I was at a Clinton event where one of the vendors who’d contributed material to the event (a caterer, florist, something, I forget exactly) was invited by the Protocol Officer to join the line for people to have their pictures taken with Clinton. This particular vendor tried to sneak a family member into the line. She and her family member were immediately ejected from the event, despite the fact that they both had tickets to attend as general guests. That’s how much control that particular officer had over his various levels of security.

By: Wordsmith

Wordsmith — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:26:35 +0000

Ease up on the coffee beans, jean. Goodness!
I’m always in Firefox (Mozilla) and get the ‘post/preview’ buttons. Perhaps it has something to do with how or who you use for ’signing in’ as in TypePad, etc.