The case for adultery

Notice anything about these pictures?




The first one is Michaele Salahi meeting the president at a White House state dinner last week. The second one is Monica Lewinsky meeting the president at a White House Christmas party in 1996.

All politicians have a gift for charming people, so maybe that's the reason the facial expressions of the women are so similar.

They both look really... what's the word... comfortable.

They look delighted and effusive and in love.

Just a coincidence, surely.

Or is it?

This week the Obama administration announced that White House social secretary Desiree Rogers would not cooperate with a congressional investigation into the breach of security that allowed Michaele Salahi and her husband into the White House.

"Based on the separation of powers, staff here don't go to testify in front of Congress," press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Wednesday.

Seriously?

"It doesn't even pass the laugh test, to be quite blunt about it," said George Mason University public policy professor Mark Rozell, the author of a new book on executive privilege.

But House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson decided not to fight the White House. He refused to authorize a subpoena for Desiree Rogers' testimony as requested by Rep. Peter King, the ranking Republican on the committee.

Three uniformed Secret Service agents were put on paid administrative leave this week although everyone continues to praise their outstanding work, and no one from the social office is in trouble although everyone acknowledges that procedures could have been better.

Earlier this year, President Obama had to do major damage control after he casually sided with a black Harvard professor against a white police officer, so the president might incur the seething wrath of law enforcement officers across the country if he permits three Secret Service agents to be saddled with blame for someone else's incompetence.

And he did campaign on greater transparency, specifically criticizing the Bush administration's unwillingness to let presidential aides testify before Congress.

What is the big secret that's worth all this political risk?

Is it presidential adultery?

After the party-crashing incident, press secretary Robert Gibbs went on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show and was asked if the president was angry.

"I think it is safe to say he was angry, Michelle was angry," Gibbs said.

Did you catch that? The anger of the president is presumed. The anger of the first lady was witnessed.

A few months ago, the Obamas gave an interview to the New York Times Magazine about how the presidency has affected their marriage. Mrs. Obama hinted that things weren't perfect. "The bumps happen to everybody," she said.

Washington correspondent Jodi Kantor wrote:

"Clearly, the Obamas prefer to think of themselves as largely unaltered. 'The strengths and challenges of our marriage don't change because we move to a different address,' the first lady said, the president studying the carpet as she answered."

Maybe we should have been a little more suspicious when the president put up such a fight to keep his BlackBerry.

Here's a little more evidence that there might be more to the Obama-Michaele handshake than meets the eye.

Michaele's husband Tareq corresponded by e-mail with Pentagon official Michele Jones in the weeks before the state dinner. In one e-mail he wrote that he knew "for a fact" that six people who had been invited, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid among them, would not be attending:



The only administration official who has publicly acknowledged contact with the Salahis is Michele Jones, and Tareq Salahi was giving her this information, not hearing it from her.

Who told him? Were the Salahis in touch with someone in the social office? Why would someone in the social office share details of the RSVPs for an upcoming state dinner with people who weren't even invited to it?

Maybe there's a seedier explanation.

This is an excerpt from the Starr Report:

Ms. Lewinsky testified that she and the President had a sexual encounter during this visit. (176) They kissed, and the President touched Ms. Lewinsky's bare breasts with his hands and mouth. (177) At some point, Ms. Currie approached the door leading to the hallway, which was ajar, and said that the President had a telephone call. (178) Ms. Lewinsky recalled that the caller was a Member of Congress with a nickname. (179) While the President was on the telephone, according to Ms. Lewinsky, "he unzipped his pants and exposed himself," and she performed oral sex. (180)

The numbers in parentheses are footnotes, where Independent Counsel Ken Starr scrupulously documented the source for every unbelievable but corroborated detail. You can read it here.

Did Michaele Salahi hear the RSVP information in the same way Monica Lewinsky overheard telephone conversations with Members of Congress?

If Michaele Salahi has a personal relationship with the president, the Secret Service agents on duty might have recognized her and believed that she was expected inside the White House for the state dinner, and you can bet they'd know better than to call the social office staffers who work for the first lady.

In fact, the Secret Service acknowledges that the agents did not call the social office staff. No explanation for this departure from the agency's protocols has been given.

Not publicly, anyway.

Is it impossible that Michaele Salahi is having an affair with President Obama?

Would anyone who was having an affair with the president post photos of her White House visit on a Facebook page? Wouldn't that be rather indiscreet?

"Between 1995 and 1998, Ms. Lewinsky confided in 11 people about her relationship with the President," the Starr report says.

This is a photo of then-Senator Obama with Michaele Salahi, her husband, and celebrity guests at a polo event in 2005:



At the time that photo was taken, Senator Obama was living in Washington D.C. while his wife Michelle lived in Chicago with the kids.

A few days after the Salahis crashed the state dinner, the Obamas attended the Oregon State-George Washington University basketball game. Here's a picture of the president and the first lady in their courtside seats:



That's Mrs. Obama's mother sitting between them in the well-known Chelsea Clinton position.

Yes, it's just speculation.

It's hard to believe the president is cheating on his wife right under her nose inside the White House.

It's much easier to believe that three highly trained Secret Service agents decided for no reason to allow two uninvited and unscreened party crashers into the White House state dinner for the prime minister of India.

Right.


Copyright 2009

Editor's note: You might be interested the the earlier posts, "Bombshell" and "Mr. Rumsfeld's mythical privilege."

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