Prodigious Obama fundraiser is new White House social secretary

Washington, Mar. 1 (ANI): Julianna Smoot, a prodigious fundraiser for President Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign for office, has been appointed the new White House social secretary.

Smoot was the finance director of President Barack Obama's 2008 election campaign and helped him to raise more money than any other presidential candidate in history.

According to The Telegraph, Smoot will take over from Desiree Rogers, who resigned last week because it was "a good time for me to explore opportunities in the corporate world".

The White House denied that Rogers was forced out as a result of the debacle in November when gatecrashers managed to get into Obama's first State Dinner for visiting Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Rogers, resplendent in a gold and cream strapless Naeem Khan gown, was attending the November dinner at the time of the gate crashing episode and none of her staff was with the Secret Service at the gate.

Her departure is being seen as a major blow for Obama.

Smoot has worked for five senators and is likely to be much more acceptable to the traditional Washington establishment than Rogers, who came to be viewed with disdain by the city's elite.

Rogers's tenure was marked by a series of offbeat events, including a spoken-word poetry jam and a party for governors with a "Mad Men" theme and a "mixologist" to prepare the drinks.

In an interview with the New York Times, Rogers blamed her departure on Washington's elite feeling excluded from a White House that cared more about ordinary people.

"I was symbolic of that change in many respects, and I took the hit," she said.

The White House thanked Rogers for her "extraordinary" work and stressed that "attention to detail" was one of Smoot's strengths. (ANI)