Why does Desiree Rogers still have a job?

The Chief of Protocol is a very important position in any presidential administration. Under the auspices of the State Department, this appointee advises the president on international customs and protocol, making sure the leader of the free world doesn't embarrass himself overseas. Naturally, Obama didn't get around to appointing a Chief of Protocol until August, and his selection, seasoned Hillary Clinton aide Capricia Marshall, still isn't allowed to travel abroad with Obama. Instead, the president relies on his Social Secretary, Desiree Rogers, an old Chicago friend.

Meanwhile, here's the latest news out of Norway, where Obama traveled to accept his premature Nobel Peace Prize.

"News outlets across the region are calling Obama arrogant for slashing some of the prize winners’ traditional duties from his schedule. “Everybody wants to visit the Peace Center except Obama,” sniped the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, amid reports the president would snub his own exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center. 'A bit arrogant—a bit bad,' proclaimed another Aftenposten headline.

'It’s very sad,' said Nobel Peace Center Director Bente Erichsen of the news that Obama would skip the peace center exhibit. Prize winners traditionally open the exhibitions about their work that accompany the Nobel festivities. 'I totally understand why the Norwegian public is upset. If I could get a few minutes with the president, I’d say, ‘To walk through the exhibition wouldn’t take long, and I’m sure you would love the show. You have no idea what you are missing.’'

Meanwhile, the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet is reporting that the president has declined an invitation to lunch with King Harald V, an event every prize winner from the Dalai Lama to Al Gore has attended. (The newspaper’s headline: 'Obama disses lunch with King Harald.')"

Yet another offensive snub to a foreign ally, courtesy of Desiree Rogers. Many of Obama's biggest gaffes can be traced back to the inexperienced Social Secretary. It was Desiree Brown who bought a collection of DVD movies for Obama to give to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, even though the American DVDs wouldn't work with British appliances. (Gordon Brown's gifts to Obama included a pen holder carved from the wood of a famous anti-slave ship and a seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill.) It was Brown who thought it would be appropriate for Obama to present Queen Elizabeth with an iPod. It was Brown who advised Obama's embarrassing bows to both the king of Saudi Arabia and the emperor of Japan, humiliating and unprecedented gestures from a visiting head of state. And it was Brown who organized the recent state dinner which was somehow infiltrated by the party-crashing Salahis. Can't Obama just listen to the experts, like Capricia Marshall, instead of incompetent Chicago pals like Desiree Rogers?