Obama's policy team loaded with all-stars
Criticized by some as lean on experience, the Democrat has drawn a huge circle of advisers with expertise honed in the circles of power
By Mike Dorning
Washington Bureau
September 17, 2007
WASHINGTON
Barack Obama's presidential bid may have a well-cultivated insurgent feel, as the candidate both benefits and suffers politically from a relatively thin record of experience in Washington.
But the swelling team of policy advisers who have joined his campaign shows a politician grounded in his party's intellectual mainstream and well-connected within the capital's Democratic establishment.
As Obama rapidly transitioned from a senator with less than three years in office to a presidential candidate who has delivered detailed policy speeches, he has assembled a personal think tank that easily outsizes any of the established Washington policy institutes that provide intellectual fodder for the political war of ideas.
On foreign policy alone, some 200 experts are providing the Obama campaign with assistance of some sort, arranged into 20 subgroups. On the domestic front, more than 500 policy experts are contributing ideas, campaign aides said. Veterans of previous election campaigns say the scale of the policy operation resembles the full-blown effort candidates typically undertake for a general election campaign rather than the more stripped-down versions common for the primary season.
Senior advisers include heavy hitters from the administration of President Bill Clinton, husband of Obama's primary rival.
Anthony Lake, Clinton's original national security adviser, is helping coordinate foreign policy. So is Susan Rice, a Clinton assistant secretary of state and protege of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Eric Holder, a former deputy attorney general, is among those providing expertise on legal policy.
"These are not outsiders trying to tear down the temple," said Philip Zelikow, a former senior Bush administration foreign policy official and executive director of the Sept. 11 commission.
"If you guess that he's surrounded himself with people who are highly ideological, left-wing or dovish, you would guess wrong," added Zelikow, now a history professor at the University of Virginia. "These folks cannot easily be typecast by ideology."
Free-market economic team
Key economic advisers include a few Washington veterans such as Michael Froman, a Citigroup executive and former chief of staff to then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, the Cabinet member most closely identified with the Clinton administration's pro-free trade, business-friendly policies.
There are also several scholars from prestigious universities whose approaches are anchored in dominant market-oriented economic thought. One is Austan Goolsbee, a 38-year-old star University of Chicago Business School professor and New York Times columnist with centrist Democratic views who has argued for eliminating tax returns for many Americans with simple finances.
Alan Blinder, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, described Obama's top economic advisers as "mainstream with a dash of creativity."
"These are people who think new thoughts -- within the mainstream, new without a capital N," said Blinder, now a professor at Princeton University.
The campaign policy team gathered around Obama is hardly a shadow Cabinet. If he wins the nomination, other Democratic policy experts who now are neutral or allied with a different candidate will gravitate toward him. If he's elected, still more will join his circle.
But the makeup of the group, and the way in which Obama deliberates with its members, offers a window onto how he might operate as president. Many of them surely would graduate to influential roles in an Obama administration. Their discussions of the broad range of issues a presidential candidate must address provide an early if imperfect drill for decision-making in the Oval Office.
The worldviews of the advisers candidate George W. Bush gathered around him turned out to predict his foreign policies better than his campaign rhetoric that America should be "humble" in the world and avoid commitments to nation-building.
Such architects of the Iraq war as Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice and Richard Perle all were influential policy advisers to Bush's presidential campaign. Colin Powell made important public appearances on behalf of candidate Bush but remained distant from the campaign's foreign policy deliberations, foreshadowing the role he would play in the run-up to the Iraq war.
Obama built relationships with high-powered policy experts even before he was elected to the Senate.
Goolsbee first met Obama, then a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, in the faculty social world. University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein and Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, two of the nation's leading liberal legal scholars, have relationships with Obama respectively dating back to the University of Chicago faculty lounges and Obama's days at Harvard Law School. Lake began giving Obama informal foreign policy advice even before Obama won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Once elected to the U.S. Senate, Obama set up an ambitious policy operation for a newcomer. Froman, a former fellow editor of the Harvard Law Review, helped make connections in Washington's policy establishment. So did Cassandra Butts, another law school classmate and former senior policy adviser to then-House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt. She continues to assist with Obama's policy operation.
Big-picture operation
Unusual for freshman senators, who typically concentrate on the daily demands of legislative activity, Obama created a small operation devoted to broad themes under policy director Karen Kornbluh, another former Rubin aide. Kornbluh has written of the need to update government benefits such as Social Security and private employee benefits to take account of the country's shift toward two-income families. It is a theme Obama included in his book "The Audacity of Hope" and frequently sounds on the campaign trail.
His staff quickly began bringing in outside experts for wide-ranging discussions on policy: trade over Thai takeout in his Senate office, energy over dinner at a trendy Capitol Hill restaurant. Obama brings the Socratic style of a law professor to policy discussions and enjoys the give-and-take of opposing views, advisers said.
"It's very spirited," said one longtime aide. "He tests out ideas and challenges people. Nobody is allowed to be quiet."
Among the early additions to his circle was Samantha Power, a Harvard professor who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning book criticizing U.S. historical failures to act against genocides. She took a leave from her faculty position to help the new senator with foreign policy and remains an influential adviser.
Other top campaign advisers on national security include Gregory Craig, a Clinton impeachment defense attorney and former director of policy planning in the Clinton State Department, and Clinton Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, who has written on the potential dangers of terrorist strikes using biological weapons.
Sarah Sewall, a Harvard Kennedy School professor and former Clinton Defense Department official who wrote the introduction to the University of Chicago edition of the new counterinsurgency manual Gen. David Petraeus revised for the military, is advising on counterinsurgency strategy.
Since Obama announced his presidential campaign, he has been deluged with offers from experts to assist with policy advice, said campaign aides and outside advisers. Though they attribute that to enthusiasm for Obama's candidacy, his campaign also provides greater opportunity for the ambitious, because front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) relies on an established circle of advisers.
The senior members of the national security team resemble their Clinton administration colleagues now gathered around the former first lady in favoring an active U.S. engagement in the world.
But they tend to be people who, like Obama, were early critics of the Iraq invasion. Many also share a conviction that the foreign policy mistakes of the Bush administration are so serious that the next president must give a clear signal of a new direction.
They are not necessarily foes of military action. Lake was an advocate within the Clinton administration of military intervention in Haiti and Bosnia.
Several advisers said they saw the tough-mindedness and freshness that attracted them to Obama during two incidents that the Clinton campaign tried to portray as gaffes showing foreign policy naivete.
Obama said during a candidate debate that he would be willing to meet with international pariahs such as North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Shortly afterward, he declared he would be willing to order a military strike if he had "actionable intelligence" on the location of top Al Qaeda leaders in northwestern Pakistan and authorities there refused to act.
Rather than back away, Obama embraced the conflict with Clinton.
"Some voters on the Democratic side have complained they don't know where the real differences are," Power said. "It added clarity to what his campaign is about, and it gave a coherence to a number of policies he is pursuing."
- - -
Obama's policy team
Foreign policy/national security
Anthony Lake
(Bill Clinton national security adviser)
Susan Rice
(Clinton assistant secretary of state for African affairs)
Samantha Power
(Harvard Kennedy School of Government professor, Pulitzer Prize-winner author of book arguing for more vigorous U.S. action to counter genocidal campaigns)
Gregory Craig
(Clinton impeachment defense attorney and director of policy planning for Clinton State Department)
Richard Danzig
(Clinton Navy secretary, has written on potential dangers of terrorist biological weapons attacks)
Former Maj. Gen. Scott Gration
(Retired Air Force officer, former director of strategy for U.S. European Command, military officer assigned to accompany Obama on senator's Africa trip)
Former Gen. Merrill McPeak
(Retired former chief of staff of the Air Force)
Domestic policy
Austan Goolsbee
(University of Chicago Graduate School of Business professor, economist. Has argued that taxpayers with simple finances should be allowed to forgo tax returns and leave tax computation to IRS)
Michael Froman
(Citigroup executive, former chief of staff to then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin)
David Cutler
(Health economist, Harvard professor and member of Clinton White House Council of Economic Advisers. Advocate of tying health-care provider reimbursements to medical performance.)
David Blumenthal
(Director, Institute for Health Policy, Harvard Medical School)
Jeffrey Liebman
(Economist, Harvard professor and member of Clinton White House Council of Economic Advisers. Research has focused on role of earned income tax credit in moving people from welfare to work.)
Dan Tarullo
(International trade expert, Georgetown law professor and former Bill Clinton economic adviser)
Eric Holder
(Clinton deputy attorney general)
Cass Sunstein
(University of Chicago law professor)
Laurence Tribe
(Harvard law professor)
Cassandra Butts
(Senior policy adviser to House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt)
Staff
Mark Alexander, campaign policy director
(Seton Hall law professor, issues director for Bill Bradley's 2000 presidential campaign)
Heather Higginbottom, campaign senior policy strategist
(Deputy national policy director for John Kerry 2004 campaign, Senate legislative director for John Kerry)
Karen Kornbluh, Senate policy director
(Deputy chief of staff to then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, has written of need to update social insurance system to accommodate dual-income "juggler families")
Obama Campaign: Senior Obama advisers travel to Iowa for policy discussions
9/6/2007
DES MOINES - Senator Barack Obama this week is sending his top policy advisers to attend meetings with Iowans in communities all across the state to get their insight and ideas about the most pressing challenges facing America. Obama, who's running for president to challenge the conventional thinking in Washington, wants to develop further his policy agenda by consulting with the people actually affected by these challenges - not Washington special interests.
"As I continue to flesh out my policy agenda to change America, I want my senior advisers to get advice and insight from people in the Heartland - not Washington special interests," Obama said. "Our campaign is building a grassroots movement for change, and I don't just want Iowans' support - I want their ideas."
In April, Obama personally hosted a health care forum in Mason City where he spoke to local patients, employers, doctors, nurses and policy experts about reforming our nation's health care system. Some of the ideas discussed at the forum were incorporated into the health care agenda that Obama unveiled six weeks later in Iowa City. Last month in Tama, Obama convened a summit of policy experts, lawmakers and farmers to talk about the challenges facing Rural America. Obama is expected to unveil a rural policy agenda later this fall.
Over the course of two-days, Obama's advisers will travel to 12 different communities to consult with Iowans on issues like energy security, foreign policy and women's issues. See below for background information on each of the advisors attending events across Iowa. Event details follow the brief bios. All listed events are open to the public and members of the media. Event locations are listed for logistical purposes only and do not imply endorsement.
Background information on policy advisers:
Mark Alexander
Alexander is the Policy Director for the Obama campaign. He is currently on leave from his position as a Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law. Mark previously served as General Counsel to Cory Booker and the Booker Team in the 2006 Newark Municipal elections. He then served in the same capacity for Newark in Transition, as Mayor Booker moved to assume the office. Previously, he was the Issues Director for the Bill Bradley for President campaign in 1999-2000.
Cassandra Butts
Butts is an advisor to the Obama campaign on domestic policy and has been a long-time friend of and advisor to Senator Obama since they were classmates at Harvard Law School. She was a senior advisor to Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-MO) and served as the policy director on his 2004 presidential campaign, which included formulating a universal health care plan. In her seven years of work for Rep. Gephardt during his tenure as the House Democratic Leader, Butts was a principal advisor on matters involving the judiciary, financial services, and information technology.
Judith A. Gold
Judy Gold is the Chair of the Obama campaign's Policy Committee on Women's Issues. She is a partner at Perkins Coie, a private law practice, and has devoted herself to women's advocacy and philanthropy. In addition to her work in political law, private equity, and real estate, she served in Mayor Daley's cabinet as the Chief of Policy. She currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Women's Business Development Center, the Alumni Council of the Chicago Foundation for Women, and the Board of Mother Jones magazine. Previously, Judy was Chair of the Illinois Commission of the Status of Women for 5 years, served on the Illinois State Board of Education, and worked in the White House Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1986 and her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1989. She resides in Chicago with her husband and two small children.
Austan Goolsbee
Goolsbee is the Senior Economic Advisor to the Obama campaign. He is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and a Fulbright Scholar. The Financial Times named him one of the six Gurus of the Future/Best Under 40 in 2005, and the World Economic Forum in Switzerland chose him one as one of the 2005 Young Global Leaders. He received his Master's Degree in Economics from Yale in 1991 and his Ph.D. in the same subject in 1995 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jason Grumet
Grumet is the Chair of the Obama campaign's Environment and Energy Policy Committee. He has lead several non-profit and policy organizations focusing on environmental and energy issues and is frequently called to testify before Congress on climate change, global warming, bio-fuels and energy security matters. He received a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Brown University and a J.D. from Harvard University.
Howard Learner
Learner advises the Obama campaign on environmental and renewable energy issues. He is an experienced attorney serving as the Executive Director of the Midwest's leading public interest environmental and sustainable development organization. He previously served as the General Counsel of Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, a public interest law center, specializing in complex civil litigation and policy development.
Samantha Power
Power is a close foreign policy advisor to Sen. Obama. She is a professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Her book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award for general nonfiction, and the Council on Foreign Relations' Arthur Ross Prize for the best book in U.S. foreign policy.
Daniel K Tarullo
Tarullo is the Co-Chair of the Obama campaign's Economy, Globalization and Trade Policy Committee. He is also a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. During the Clinton Administration he was, successively, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and Assistant to the President for International Economic Policy.
Event details:
Thursday, September 6
Dan Tarullo leads Council Bluffs Economy and Jobs Discussion
Sapp Brothers Restaurant
2608 S 24th
Council Bluffs, IA
Program begins: 9:00 AM
Jason Grumet Leads Energy Discussion in Nevada
BECON Biomass Conversion Plant
Front Office Conference Room
1521 West F Avenue, Nevada 50201
Nevada, IA
Program begins: 9:00 AM
Samantha Power leads Foreign Policy listening session
Gateway Market
2002 Woodland Ave.
Des Moines, IA 5031
Program begins: 9:00 AM
Samantha Power Speaks with University of Iowa Students
Kirkwood Room, Iowa Memorial Union
University of Iowa Campus
Iowa City, IA
Program begins: 3:00 PM
Samantha Power Leads Foreign Policy Conversation
Bijou Thearter
University of Iowa Memorial Union
Iowa City, IA
Program begins: 4:00 PM
Jason Grumet Leads Des Moines Energy Discussion
Obama for America Des Moines Office
323 East Locust
Des Moines, IA
Program begins:7:00 PM .
Mark Alexander Leads Rural and Economic Issues Discussion
Obama for America Office
222 W. Salem Ave
Indianola, IA
Program begins: 12:00 PM
Friday, September 7
Mark Alexander Leads Retirement Security Discussion in Des Moines
Obama Headquarters
323 E. Locust Street
Des Moines, IA
Program begins: 9:30 AM
Mark Alexander Speaks with Drake University Students for Brown Bag Lunch
Drake University
Des Moines, IA
Program begins:12:00 PM
Dan Tarullo Leads Discussion on Economy and Jobs in Newton
Obama for America Office
212 1st Ave W
Newton, IA
Program begins: 9:30 AM
Howard Learner Leads Energy Discussion in Decorah
Luther Campus Union
Decorah, IA
Program begins: 10:30 AM
Judy Gold Attends Listening Session on Women's Issues in Cedar Rapids
Blue Strawberry
118 2nd St. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Program begins:10:00
Judy Gold Attends Listening Session on Women's Issues in Iowa City
Lucas Dodge Room
Iowa Memorial Union
Iowa City, IA
Program begins: 3:30
Cassandra Butts Leads Retirement Security Discussion in Dubuque
Lifetime Center
3505 Stoneman Rd.
Dubuque, IA
Program begins: 10:00 AM
Cassandra Butts Leads Retirement Security Discussion in Manchester
Manchester Public Library
304 N. Franklin
Manchester, IA
Program begins: 1:15 PM
Cassandra Butts Leads Retirement Security Discussion in Clinton
Clinton Public Library
2nd Floor Meeting Room
306 8th Ave. S.
Clinton, IA
Program begins: 5:00 PM
Austan Goolsbee Leads Discussion on Economy and Jobs in Keokuk
307 Blondeau St.
Keokuk, IA
Program begins: 10:00 AM
Teddy Roosevelt once said that the President's job was to fill the 'bully pulpit' to inspire citizens to join in politics. With a New York rally of 24k people (thrown together with no main stream media advertising) we're seeing living proof of Obama's qualifications for the job.
nimh
Off the topic, but now that I have you here...
Do you have any thoughts on why the four leading republican candidates avoided Morgan State University?
Butrflynet wrote:Teddy Roosevelt once said that the President's job was to fill the 'bully pulpit' to inspire citizens to join in politics. With a New York rally of 24k people (thrown together with no main stream media advertising) we're seeing living proof of Obama's qualifications for the job.
Then I disagree with Teddy Roosevelt, and so would most of us I assume. Today at least, a President's job involves a whole lot more than that.
a president's job involves a whole lot more than that
Once again, I find your thesis on the role of government too formulaic in its minimalism. You seem to worry so much about bad government that you'll eviscerate it to avoid negative consequences. But of course you then lose the other side too.
[..] And it will be the case that the small segment of the community which possesses the great proportions of wealth and power will move to fill this vaccum in order to maintain, or make even more unequal, that inequality.
In that sense the anarchists have it figured out better: to be free, the individual would need to be freed from the power of both.
Anyone remember the American Author IRVING WALLACE?
He had written about the plight of a black President in WHITE HOUSE.
USA is still not tolerant to approve a lady or blak person at the high post.
Perhaps the wife of ex Resident may change the rules.
Anyway the Non-Americans are not much impressed with American election shows which has nothing to do with decency, decorum and Democracy.
Ramafuchs wrote:Anyone remember the American Author IRVING WALLACE?
He had written about the plight of a black President in WHITE HOUSE.
USA is still not tolerant to approve a lady or blak person at the high post.
Perhaps the wife of ex Resident may change the rules.
Anyway the Non-Americans are not much impressed with American election shows which has nothing to do with decency, decorum and Democracy.
Now, there's a mouth-full that speaks to how many outside the US may view us as anything but what we used to represent to the world at large - before the Bush regime.
