Ex-Clinton Aide Expected to Join Obama
By JACKIE CALMES
Published: December 9, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Obama,
after a rocky year that leaves him at the lowest ebb of his presidency, is
bringing into his White House circle the longtime Democratic strategist John D. Podesta, a former chief of
staff for President Bill Clinton.
idential transition in 2008 and
has been an outside adviser since then. He also has occasionally criticized the
administration, if gently, from his perch as the founder and former president
of the Center for American Progress, a center-left public policy research group
that has provided personnel and policy ideas to the administration.
Word that Mr. Podesta would for
the first time join Mr. Obama’s official staff, from people familiar with the
discussions, comes as the president is seeking to recover public support and
credibility after the flawed introduction in October of the insurance
marketplaces that are a key part of his signature Affordable Care Act. This
week he brought back his former chief congressional lobbyist, Phil Schiliro,
who had moved to New Mexico,
to help on the health care issues.
Mr. Podesta’s recruitment, by Mr.
Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough,
also comes as Mr. Obama faces a number of departures by close advisers in the
coming months.
Among those exiting is his
longtime confidant and troubleshooter Pete Rouse, who has been with Mr. Obama
since the future president was elected a senator in 2004. For a few months in
late 2010, Mr. Rouse was Mr. Obama’s acting chief of staff.
Mr. Podesta will help Mr.
McDonough on matters related to the health care law, administration organization
and executive actions, said a person familiar with the plans, and will focus in
particular on climate change issues, a personal priority of Mr. Podesta’s.
The White House refused to confirm
the recruitment of Mr. Podesta. The person familiar with the matter said Mr.
Podesta would not be replacing Mr. Rouse, who is said to have a unique
relationship with the president after their years together in the Senate, two
presidential campaigns and the White House.
Even so, Mr. Podesta and Mr. Rouse
share some similarities. Both are older than the 52-year-old president — Mr.
Rouse is 67, Mr. Podesta nearly 65 — and are said to be able to speak candidly
to him, much like party elders.
Both also have far more Washington experience
than Mr. Obama. Each has spent many years as a senior Senate aide, including
postings with Tom Daschle of South
Dakota when he was the Senate Democratic leader. Both
Mr. Rouse and Mr. Podesta have close relationships with senators, valuable
experience going into a midterm election year when the Democrats’ majority in
the Senate is threatened.
Mr. Podesta did not respond to
requests for comment. It appeared the White House had reached out to him
recently.
In mid-November, Mr. Podesta
announced that he was establishing the Washington Center
for Equitable Growth, a nonpartisan organization within the Center for American
Progress, and that he would be its chairman.
The new group will study the
growing inequality in incomes and economic opportunity, and promote policies to
close a gap that has worsened to levels last seen in the 1920s. Inequality has
long been a focus of Mr. Obama’s and has figured prominently in his speeches
since he was a state senator in Illinois.
Last week, he spoke at a community complex in a struggling Washington neighborhood, where he called
inequality and declining upward mobility “the defining issue of our time.”
His host for the event was the Center for American Progress, and Mr.
Podesta attended.
Mr. Podesta, who was Mr. Clinton’s
chief of staff during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the impeachment of Mr.
Clinton, also has been at the center of foreign policy and national security
debates. In 2009, he accompanied Mr. Clinton to North Korea for negotiations that won the release
of two American journalists who had been jailed on spy charges.
John D. Podesta
John
D. Podesta was the chief of staff for William
J. Clinton, a counselor for Tom
Daschle, a team member for the 2009
humanitarian mission to North
Korea, is the chairman for the Center for American Progress Action Fund,
and the chair & counselor for the Center
for American Progress.
Note: Center
for American Progress Action Fund is a fund, affiliated advocacy group for
the Center for American Progress.
Tom
Perriello is the president & CEO for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and was a member of the Scroll and Key.
Scroll and Key
is a secret society at Yale University.
Denis McDonough
was a senior fellow at the Center for
American Progress, Tom Daschle’s
foreign policy adviser, and is the chief of staff; former deputy national
security adviser for the Barack Obama
administration.
Tom Daschle is a director at the Center for American Progress, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (think tank), a senior policy adviser
for DLA Piper, was a nominee for health and human services
secretary for the Barack Obama
administration, and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, and the Climate Reality Project.
George
Soros is the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (think tank), a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and the founder
& chairman for the Open Society
Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
William J. Clinton
is a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations (think tank), the founding chairman for the Clinton Global Initiative, the founder
of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea
Clinton Foundation, John D. Podesta
was his chief of staff, and led the team in the 2009 humanitarian mission to North Korea.
James L. Jones
Jr. was the Obama administration liaison for the 2009 humanitarian mission to North Korea,
the national security adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
Euna
Lee was freed as result of the 2009
humanitarian mission to North Korea,
William J. Clinton negotiated her release
from North Korea, and a journalist
for Current TV.
Laura
Ling was freed as result of the 2009
humanitarian mission to North Korea,
William J. Clinton negotiated her release
from North Korea, and is a journalist
for Current TV.
Al
Jazeera acquired Current TV.
DLA
Piper is the lobby firm for Al
Jazeera.
Current
TV is a division of Current Media,
LLC.
Albert
A. Gore Jr. is a co-founder & chairman for the Current Media, LLC, and the chairman for the Climate Reality Project.
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