Everyman Obama courts socialites

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By Stephanie Green

EXCLUSIVE:

While publicly identifying with the nation's have-nots, the Obama administration has been cultivating the Beltway social elite behind the scenes.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration invited top editors of three of Washington's local luxury lifestyle magazines — Capitol File, DC magazine and Washington Life — to a meeting where they discussed, among other things, how President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama can embrace Washington's glittery social scene.

The White House is "identifying taste makers in order to help create grass-roots interest in some of the programs they are working on," said Washington Life's Michael Clements, who attended the meeting. "They wanted to introduce themselves. It was certainly a departure from previous administrations."

The Obamas "are trying to push the vibrancy of Washington night life to the forefront," said Tony Hudgins, the associate publisher of DC magazine, who also attended the meeting, organized by Michael Strautmanis, a deputy to Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

A White House aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity dismissed the notion that a publicly populist Obama White House is privately courting socialites, contending that the meeting was held to explore how the Obamas can "engage in the community." The aide also pointed out that similar meetings were held with representatives of sports, entertainment and philanthropic organizations in Washington.

The outreach to the luxury lifestyle glossies, which cater to the region's highest socioeconomic strata with knowing coverage of everything from the choicest real estate and most exclusive parties to the plushest resorts and spas, is not the only recent evidence that the Obama administration is eager to forge ties with the nation's social and style arbiters.

Last month, White House social secretary Desiree Rogers, who has said she intends to make the White House the "people's" mansion, was rubbing shoulders with the kinds of people who land in the pages of People at New York Fashion Week.

A chic and soignee Ms. Rogers was photographed seated next to fashion high priestess Anna Wintour at the Carolina Herrera fashion show, where a design bears a price tag in the thousands.

White House sources have been cited in the press explaining that Ms. Rogers was on a mission to recruit young artists and new ideas for White House entertaining. But a White House aide speaking on the condition of anonymity disclosed to The Times that Ms. Rogers made her trip to New York for Fashion Week on her own time and at her own expense.