Valerie Jarrett’s Million Dollar Security Detail – Slumlord Protected by Taxpayers

Maggie’s Notebook

Valerie Jarrett, long known in some circles as the “other half of Barack’s brain,” and in other circles as a Chicago slumlord, has her own security detail. Jarrett’s official title is “Senior Advisor to the President.” Here’s the point:

The idea that someone such as Jarrett–who officially plays no role in national security or counter-terrorism–would receive USSS protection would be laughable if it weren’t, in fact, real. It’s like a tale out of the Versailles Court of the Sun King–the sort of anecdote that provokes the peasants, eventually, to revolution. But in the meantime, before the deluge, Jarrett plans to live it up; surrounded by agents with guns, she is queen of her own court. In other words, for pure conspicuous consumption, Jarrett puts her fellow Chicagoan, the laughably self-important Desirée Rogers, to shame.

As an aside, on the issue of who merits government security, we might recall the case of Molly Norris. In 2010, the Seattle-based cartoonist took part in the international “Draw Muhammad” campaign and, after she receiving death threats, the FBI told her that she was on her own. That is, the US government could not–more precisely, would not–protect her. Instead, Norris was advised to leave her job, change her name, and go into hiding. And that’s what she did; what choice did she have? Breitbart

What would the FBI under any other President but Barack Obama have done? Maybe the same. It’s obviously impossible to protect everyone receiving high-profile threats but maybe not. After all, this is post-9/11, post Salman Rushdie, post-Geert Wilders, post-Theo Van Gogh. This administration has the greatest disdain for those accusing Islamists of anything, including threats made in defense of the prophet muhammad.

MORE