The Mathias Rust of the Obama's Presidency

P112409SA-0823, originally uploaded by The White House.

President Barack Obama greets Michaele and Tareq Salahi during a receiving line in the Blue Room of the White House before the State Dinner with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Nov. 24, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

I don't understand all the brouhaha about the two people who made it at the Obama's State Dinner with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.

1. Abstracting oneself from all the noise, the resemblance between this episode and Mathias Rust is striking. Rust, a West German citizen, managed to land a small plane near the Red Square in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War. That was yet another sign for Gorbachev, USSR president at that time, that the Soviet system ran its course.
2. People have become so media needy and the paucity of making ends meet is so that one would even eat cockroaches to get on the screen for a brief.
3. Getting into the White House like this should be a public service, because it shows how ugly the system has become.
4. At this stage, the Obama administration has done better than what would be expected by publishing this photo. More to follow...
   
5. A large part of the American public forgot about Habeas Corpus and demands that the two be punished instead of sensing how far down we've come.
   

Here's a sample of OUR views:

SNA
Westfield NJ

At events like this one, the Secret Service has one function: to provide security for the President and those around him. The agency failed to do its job and those responsible need to be dismissed. The couple involved in this incident should be prosecuted within the limits of the law. End of story.

Jill Center
San Francisco

This truly is very serious. In addition to a full review of Secret Service procedures, there should be legal action taken against these two. They may be dealing in a self-serving world of promotion and reality-tv, but the rest of us are not. The real world needs to intrude, and set an example with the real law.


Rick Pierce
New York

While I agree there's a misplaced sense of security, I think the onus of responsibility is on the two individuals who made a mockery of the state dinner, not the USSS, whose front-line employees made a regrettable absence of judgement.

It's becoming increasingly clear that this couple intentionally tests the system for superficiality alone and flouts the common rules and norms of society. As CNN and the Post are reporting, they've been named in 16 civil suits alone; as more emerges, the picture is increasingly clear that they should answer for their actions. The Dept. of Justice would be well-served to open an investigation into their personal background, pending felony charges for their more recent incident. As the balloon boy case illustrated, deceit and misleading public officials should carry weight and should discourage others from following suit.

Interestingly, little has been made of Bravo's role. The network has yet to express disapproval or remorse; it'd be well within reason for the DoJ to investigate their relationship with the couple and make life difficult for their shameless oversight.


Crow
VT

I have to take off my shoes to get on a plane.
I have to show a photo ID to use a credit card at the super market.
But I can get into a state dinner at the White House?


John G
Miami, FL

There must be some law broken here and these two ought to be prosecuted to the fullest if a law was broken. They are no better than the balloon hoax family.

I do not understand why a criminal investigation has not been mentioned. Further, why these two are becoming celebs over this. Bravo should now decline to select her.


ajsajs
San Francisco Bay area

Shame on Larry King for having these people on his show. The self-serving windbag should withdraw the invitation, and the rest of the press should shun these two fame mongers. Otherwise, the press is just playing into their hands.

Entering a secret service security area under false pretenses is a crime and should be prosecuted. The criminality extends to the Bravo TV network, and that makes it conspiracy. Photographer and makeup artist? Send out the subpoenas.


emm305
SC

They need to be prosecuted for lying to the Secret Service. They need to be convicted. They need to be in jail.
If they have any honor, the Secret Service agents would resign.
Since I'm from SC, I realize that is a very rare quality these days.


Frank Leja
NY,NY

1. The Secret Service agents (and other security people) should be fired and/or court martialed depending upon who they worked for.
2. These people should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
3. If Bravo had any involvement the FCC should investigate them and at least fine them a truly significant sum of money.
This is a flat out breach of National Security.


MensaMan
Naples, FL

Frankly, we should all be grateful to this couple for showing us (and the secret service) how easy it all was. They might even send a bill for tutorial services rendered to the government. Remember when young hackers, many just kids, showed us a few years ago how EASY it was to get through highly regarded bank computer systems? (They actually performed an educational service!)
More craziness is (undoubtedly) on the way, and THAT is as it should be,... because we're a CRAZY society with distorted values about almost everything!!!
I'm relieved no one got hurt!


sparikh
outerbank, nj

This episode reflect our nation's overpaid over blown and hype security apparatus over confidence.


jim
new jersey

The pair were described as "aspiring reality-show celebrities." I take that to be a euphemism for vacuous enthusiasts of a mindless pop-culture fad designed to gull a television audience so lacking in any sense of self-worth as to identify with the dubious distinction of being the center of attraction in that "entertainment" genre.
Or maybe I am simply in an ill humor this morning.


Ryan
Florida

Obviously the Secret Service lacks a sense of style - Mr Salahi is wearing a ready-tied bow tie to a state dinner. Fie! That should certainly be a tip-off.


Aaron
Chicago, Illinois

To much of this "celebrity" stuff. Someone is going to get him/herself or someone else killed over this sort of nonsense. "Reality" television? This nonsense needs to go away...soon.
:-)


Aravinda
Maryland

I see the point of the hardliners (throw the book at 'em) as well as the softliners (pay them for tutorial services). Better learn the lesson from these silly people than from people with malicious intent. But what is the lesson? Not merely that one can crash the WH party - but just look what the rest of the people are doing at the party. Just seeing and being seen, like any other glamor crowd, not the select 300 from the world of journalism, politics, film.
Would it have made any difference even if they had been invited?


Vstarr1100
Utah

The actions of these two wannabe's is just one more example of how far off base the mindset of so many in the U.S. has strayed from true reality. The fact that they thought is was totally acceptable to crash a "State Dinner" honoring foreign dignitaries does not excuse their actions in any shape or form and they should be prosecuted to the full extent of any applicable laws. We have become a nation of narcissistic degenerates due to the rise of so called reality television and the producers of those shows like Bravo are just adding fuel to the fire by encouraging such actions.
Incidents like this one at the White House and the balloon boy incident in Colorado are just the tip of the ice berg in relation to how bad it may potentially get with regards to reality television. The only real effective way to stop this downward spiral of civility in the U.S. is for us, the citizens of this nation, to stop tuning in to these so called reality programs. By doing so we will be sending a resounding message to not only the producers of this type of programming but also to their sponsors who purchase advertising minutes with them that we are tired of the crap that is passing for television programming and will not tolerate nor support it any more.


Anthony
Manhattan

excuse me, this was not some "private" wedding or gathering with friends and family only, this event was on property paid for and owned by, we the people, of the U.S. All that food and entertainment and money for tent and other extravagances were all paid for by, US, the tax payers. There were hundreds of people at this event, any U.S. citizen should not have to be on any list, other than a list of tax payers. Hats off to this enlightened, courageous couple.


RHSchumann
Bonn

What a sick society we have become to give psychopaths like these people headlines. One should feel sorry for people to whom public exposure in their main if not only goal in life. Did they ever do anything productive? Where did they get the money to lead this kind of life? In the meantime the millions who slave to allow them a life in luxury remain anonymous. Only the utterly naive will believe that Bravo had nothing to do with it.
As far as the security scandal, this reminds me of the story of a man who somehow slipped into a room were a top secret conference took place. After he was discovered, they kept him in the room until they could grant him a top secret clearance. Once in the room, the White House could have added them to the guest list!


flynnLindley
Bellingham

Why is this pair not in jail. If they were anything but white, well-coiffed and clothed, they most certainly would be. This is absolutely unacceptable.


SKV
New York, NY

It gets more and more embarrassing to be American. What is WRONG with people? This couple, the balloon boy parents -- what absolute trash.

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