Can Obama’s New Team Make Government Cool Again?

The headlines may be dire, but the new Obama team gives a striking impression that they are not at all intimidated. I interviewed many of them during inauguration week, while Annie Leibovitz was photographing them for the March issue of Vanity Fair, and they seem to have adopted their boss’s mantra of Yes We Can

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Can Desiree Rogers Make Washington Fun Again?

No previous White House Social Secretary has had a Harvard M.B.A. Nor have any talked openly about “branding” the Presidency. But Desirée Rogers, the glamorous Chicago businesswoman, social figure, and friend of the Obamas’, is a change agent. As she told me two days after the inauguration, she wants to be the producer of an inclusive show-and-tell from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

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