Did the One Queen Rule Oust Desiree Rogers?

A political target since the Gatecrasher fiasco, White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will soon be private sector-bound according to the Chicago Sun Times. In retreat from Washington’s harsh spotlight, the Wellesley College and Harvard Business School grad said to favor Viktor & Rolf and Comme des Garcon is poised for East Wing exit next month with her designer finery in tow.

Raked through the fiery coals for her self-assured swagger long before the Salahi incident, Rogers has also been subjected to the same stylistic scrutiny as First Lady Michelle Obama. The FrockStar cannot match Mrs. Obama’s magazine cover record but what a spicy splash she made during her brief tenure.

Just as some will credit the inner turbulence to a cat fight where the First Lady was forced to put the New Orleans native in check, others will cite incompetence as the catalyst for the departure. Yet, it would not shock if Rogers’ prominence on the media radar provoked repetitive gasps of 'Who the hell does she think she is?’ behind closed doors.

Whatever the case and scandal aside, Desiree Rogers made white America take note that charisma and cachet come packaged in more than one color. Black women are highly resilient and I’ve no doubt this one will land where Louboutins are an asset instead of a liability.

Brands Gone Mild

Tiger Woods and Toyota have a lot in common. With both iconic brands now scathed by scandal, the man and the manufacturer’s shift into crisis management may have come too late.

Tiger's Tale:
Tiger’s mea culpa and sniffles on cue rivaled an ineffective press release soaked in “spin speak.” Whether parking his pecker in various spaces is a real affliction or nothing more than a convenient PR-engineered excuse remains unknown. To the surprise of few, the golfer sounded a lot like the same pre-beat down Tiger, barking up a potential sponsor’s money tree. Unarguably, immediacy has its advantages and time will reveal if arrogance is harder to kick than sexual addiction.

Say It Ain’t So, Toyo
Amid reports suggesting that Toyota sacrificed consumer safety for corporate profits, the Asian suits seem powerless to put the brakes on reputational disrepair. However, don’t expect Toyota’s H.A.I.C. to be KFC chicken-grilled this week in D.C. because politics will likely invade the procedural marinade.

Driven to protect jobs afforded by Toyota’s strong U.S. plant presence, some politicians have been urged to tread lightly when Akio Toyoda takes congressional stage. According to the WSJ, Texas’ Rick Perry engaged his gubernatorial gears, offering these consumer-insensitive comments to Representative Henry Cuellar: “Hey, Henry, will you please look at the other side of the issue? They have been a good company…Let’s not pummel Toyota.” Seemingly, economics trump safety so Texas motorists aren’t in good hands with Perry at the helm.

Although being bamboozled by a trusted brand never feels good, of all things tugging at Toyota and Lexus owners like diminished market value and compromised safety, auto theft, thankfully, isn’t one of them.

For more than a tip of Toyota's political iceberg, their long lobbying trail is traced here: http://www.newser.com/story/81471/toyota-armed-with-lobbyists-for-dc-showdown.html

Black Gold at the White Olympics

Watching U.S. athlete Shani Davis speed skate to his second “black gold” in Vancouver and the accompanying news coverage reminded me why the winter games are often referred to as the ‘White Olympics.’ Unlike Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White who also nabbed gold, there was no sappy, crème puff news footage to spotlight who this Olympian is. Vonn’s support circle pops up constantly and White’s dog even made the trip.

Maybe the absence is strategically packaged as part of the Davis mystique but one can’t help but wonder where the skater’s peeps were. Whether they were bursting with pride TV-side or in person, why did the cameras not find them?

Though Davis’ triumph as the first African-American to win individual gold in the 2006 Olympic Games garnered some press, his appearances in print have since been sparse. If slicing his way into the Olympic record book as the only American to win repeat gold doesn’t upgrade his opportunity card, I don’t know what will.

After Sext, What's Next?

As e-relationships have evolved, sexting has also emerged as the preferred tool of the naughty. That means a slice in carrier revenue since many cell enthusiasts who abide by the why talk when you can text rule have engineered the messaging boom. Even if feverishly pecking X-rated material on the cool doesn't appeal to you, what happened to a Canadian man will make you go hmmm…

Check it out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123595409&f=1006&sc=17