White House Gets Crashed
Party crashers. They drink your booze, they steal your chicks (or boys) and they pretend to know your friends – all to party for free. Who are these unnamed crashers and where do they come from? In the case of Tuesday night’s State Dinner at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they were Tareq and Michaele Salahi of Virginia, who were apparently named in at least 16 lawsuits prior to the “White House Crash” and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February of this year.
The couple at the party took photos with Vice President Joe Biden and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday night and posted the photos on Michaele Salahi’s Facebook page, under the description “I was honored to be invited to attend the First State Dinner hosted by President Obama & the First Lady to honor India.” The crazy thing about this whole debacle is that the couple was never actually invited to the White House, as confirmed by the Secret Service. Statements made by White House staff noted that a specific Secret Service checkpoint did not follow proper procedure.
The couple’s court records (as previously stated) show that they have been involved in over a dozen civil lawsuits and also filed for bankruptcy – a very shady legal history. The fact that any person or couple – particularly a person or couple with serious legal issues in the past which could suggest instability or a White House function (which is supposed to be kept supremely secure) is grounds for very serious suspicion and concern regarding the security of our country’s White House and our country’s leader, in my opinion.
The real story here, however, is the fact that White House Secret Service security detail seems to be slipping. I’m sure everyone remembers the President Bush shoe incident last year when, while making a speech to citizens in the middle east, an agitated protester hurled a shoe at the president. He ducked and [unfortunately] missed the flying footwear, but Secret Service – who should have intercepted the shoe before it had the chance to make contact with the president – slacked. This incident involving uninvited guests making their way into the White House is yet another example of security lacking.
What does this mean for the safety of the leader of the free world? Perhaps nothing, but perhaps everything. I find it seriously disturbing that people have so easily intercepted the President (by way of party crashing or shoe hurling) – I think it’s time the service come under a bit of public scrutiny. Not to be chastised, but to hopefully force the organization to ramp up their methods and protocol.
The hoax seems to be funny, and not that important. There are other issues to be concerned about — the socialization of health-care, the economy, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and soon Pakistan. The couple just wanted their 15 minutes of fame and want to leverage it into a paid interview. If we pay them then we’re just as irresponsible as they are. They really aren’t a power couple, they want to be on reality TV. Let’s get rid of reality TV, the Simpson’s is so much better and funnier. What wants to watch “ordinary” people doing stupid things. I’d rather see rabbits being funny, or anything else, and don’t get me started on American Idol (Idle).
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While I do not support Obama’s policies, I do believe that the president of the United Stats of America deserves a higher standard of protection, at least one that would not have allowed the “reality-TV couple” to attend the dinner. I am certain that heads will roll and that this would not have happened under President Bush or McCain. They know the value of discipline and more tightly controlled events.
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To suggest that the Salahis go to federal prison is nonsense. They should be thanked for exposing some flaws in the Secret Service System, though the flaws themselves led to no real danger to the president, and isn’t that the real story?To suggest that the Salahis go to federal prison is nonsense. They should be thanked for exposing some flaws in the Secret Service System, though the flaws themselves led to no real danger to the president, and isn’t that the real story?
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