The Salahis, the Pentagon, and the pimping of access
When I first heard about the case of Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the now-infamous White House state dinner crashers, my first thought was: damn, what if these two had been “birthers,” or 9/12ers, or other assorted Palinites, White supremacists or just plain terrorists? They would have been in such close proximity to the president, vice president and others, they could have caused a national tragedy before the Secret Service had time to take them down. After all, the Selahis may look the part of the D.C. social set, but they also fit the general demographic profile of the people who hate President Obama the most (white and over 40.)
There was obviously a serious security breach, akin to the time a pair of British reporters sneaked into Buckingham Palace with the help of a bribed chauffeur. But the Salahi case, which has replaced the “balloon boy” silliness in the lexicon of crazed American fame seeking behavior, may be more about something that anyone who has worked anywhere near politics knows a lot about: the constant, sometimes high pressure, even desperate, quest for access.
When the inauguration was imminent, everyone who ever met anyone with even tenuous D.C. connections was scrambling for those all-important purple, orange, blue and silver tickets. Getting in, and as close to the dais as possible, was all about access. Could you call a Congressman’s office? (I did.) Did you work on the Obama campaign, give lots of money, or were you a top volunteer? What friends do you have in Washington who could hook you up? The jockeying for access, photo-ops and face time, particularly when it comes to a potential or sitting president, can be something to behold. And the celebrity stream flows both ways. Talk to anyone who has thrown a major concert anywhere in America, and ask how many requests for a dozen comp tickets they received from politicians and other members of the social elite, who in reality, could very much afford to buy tickets, but prefer to be ushered in for free. It’s just reality. Everybody wants access, and they work whoever they can in order to get it. In the Selahis case, it appears that they thought they’d found their “in” at the Pentagon. From the Washington Post:
E-mails turned over to the Secret Service show that Tareq and Michaele Salahi had sought a top Defense Department official’s help to gain access to last week’s White House state dinner.
People familiar with the inquiry into how the Salahis were able to attend Tuesday’s gala, even though they weren’t on the official guest list, said the Salahis exchanged e-mails with Michele S. Jones, special assistant to the secretary of defense and the Pentagon-based liaison to the White House. It was unclear how well the Salahis know Jones, but Jones includes the Salahis’ lawyer, Paul W. Gardner, as one of her 50 friends on Facebook.
Several people familiar with the Jones-Salahi correspondence, including some who requested anonymity because it’s part of an ongoing investigation, said the e-mails support the Salahis’ case that they were cleared to attend Tuesday night’s gala.
“There was e-mail correspondence confirming they were legitimately supposed to be there,” said Casey Margenau, a close friend of the couple. “They understood they were invited.”
“I did not state at any time, or imply that I had tickets for ANY portion of the evening’s events,” Jones said in a statement released by the White House late Monday. “I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening’s activities. Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come.”
And whether or not the Selahis and Jones were on the same page, they apparently decided to work their angle, and get into that dinner at all costs. They were so confident of getting in, they even had a TV crew from Bravo following them. And clearly they didn’t think they were committing a crime, otherwise why post the evidence on Facebook? More from the article:
White House and Secret Service officials have insisted that the Salahis did not receive an invitation to the dinner honoring the Indian prime minister, and were never officially cleared by anyone in the White House to be there. A White House aide added that Jones had no authority to grant such access in the first place. The Secret Service has apologized for lax procedures that allowed the Virginia couple to get through two checkpoints.
The e-mails apparently do not contradict that version of events, but are described as having given the Salahis the confidence to get dressed up, mingle with some of the most powerful Washington players and post snapshots of their presence at the party on their Facebook page.
The e-mail exchange is said to include assurances from Jones that she was trying to score an official invitation, complete with seats at the dinner, for the couple. By the time they arrived in line, the couple believed that Jones had succeeded in getting them approved only for the cocktail reception and a handshake with the president, sources said.
The way the couple apparently got into this event suggests that there may be less danger here than meets the eye. I mean, how likely is it that a birther or wacky 9/12er has a friend in the Pentagon or anywhere else in D.C. who could get them even close to the White House? Well, not counting Liz Cheney… In order for a domestic terrorist to pull something like this off, they would have had to have been disguising themselves as something akin to D.C. insiders, or at least as non-haters of government, for a long time, which I’m not sure a member of that crowd could pull off without their head exploding.
The Salahis, meanwhile, have a history of this kind of fame seeking, and appear to be doing everything but starting a fight with NeNe in order to position themselves for a spot on “The Real Housewives of D.C.” From an earlier WaPo article:
This is not the first time the Salahis have represented themselves as power players: On the couple’s joint Facebook account are pictures of them in the first family’s glass-enclosed viewing area after the inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
“Tareq & Michaele were honored to be invited to President Obamas private viewing box at the Lincoln Memorial,” the posting reads. “Naturally this picture was taken after his departure . . . The glass is not only bullet proof, but also electrified. Never try to touch this special protective glass.”
Other images from inauguration weekend show them with Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black, Forest Whitaker and Gayle King.
The Salahis got a foothold in D.C. society with their Oasis Winery in Hume. That was before a nasty family feud shut down the vineyard. The couple also attempted to establish social bona fides with their America’s Polo Cup events, which led to sniping among D.C. polo insiders about the organization’s legitimacy and charitable giving.
People who attend exclusive Washington parties with administration or congressional insiders say the Salahis haven’t been seen there; Tareq gave just $1,600 in political contributions ($600 to George Allen, $1,000 to Jim Moran) over the past nine years.
But they have made no secret of their dreams of reality-TV stardom. Bravo announced this year that it would bring the “Real Housewives” franchise to Washington after series set in New York, New Jersey, Atlanta and Orange County, Calif., proved wildly popular. The shows have made mini-stars of unknown women, some of whom have leveraged the fame into dishy memoirs and merchandise lines. In Washington, cameras for Half Yard have taped a half-dozen women at parties, workplaces and homes. Michaele, a former Redskins cheerleader, has been one of those most conspicuously followed.
No casting decisions have been finalized — meaning that without compelling footage, any one of them could be cut at any time. It’s unlikely, however, that the Salahis went to the state dinner in hopes of securing a place on the show. “I don’t think they’re afraid of being cut: They create a lot of drama on the show,” said a source who has known the couple for years.
which has left a serious black eye on the otherwise fabulous Desiree Rogers (the White House social secretary,) the Secret Service, and Ms. Jones, who apparently is a stand-out Army veteran who served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places. It’s a shame, but to tell the truth, it’s not all that surprising, given how hard people work to get in proximity to power.
More evidence that the Salahis are determined to become the Forrest Gumps of D.C.: they also sneaked into the CBC Foundation’s gala in September, slipping in through the bus boys’ entrance no less, then getting busted sitting in someone else’s seats. Damn! And the two have something to offer to their fellow fame monsters out there, via their Facebook fan page:
To receive national or International endorsement for your product or company, email your request to: endorsement@michaelesalahi.com
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