They’ve been included on People’s “Most Beautiful,” Forbes’ “Most Powerful,” and Vogue’s “Best Dressed,” but now White House staffers are finding themselves on yet another list.
Vanity Fair released its 2009 “New Establishment: The Vanity Fair 100” Tuesday — due out in the October issue — and it includes five members of the Obama administration. Topped by Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein, the Obama staffers fall under the magazine’s definition of being “taste-makers and trendsetters, opinion formers and agenda creators, not to mention empire builders.”
Tying at No. 15 are White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior advisers David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett and Pete Rouse. Those closest confidants to President Barack Obama confided some of their own unknown tidbits to the glossy about their life in the White House.
They report that “Axelrod’s office, while tiny, is the closest to the Oval Office” and comes complete with a picture of his favorite Chicago deli, Manny’s. As for Emanuel’s office, his is adorned with a wooden nameplate that reads “Undersecretary for Go [Bleep] Yourself. Jarrett finds herself upstairs from the guys, in the old office of then first-lady Hillary Clinton and President George W. Bush’s adviser Karl Rove.
Also making it from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers. Coming in at No. 28, the magazine writes she made the list for bringing a “younger, hipper, and artistier spirit through a flurry of events.” Her role in adding a “dance floor in the State Dining Room so the nation’s governors — and the president — could join a conga line as Earth, Wind & Fire performed” is one of those parties cited by the magazine as evidence. Some other fun facts on Rogers the first party planner is she was queen of the Zulu Mardi Gras krewe and enjoys jumping rope.
