THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2010


KLMNO


EZ SU


Obama's Wars A17 Obama might not look far in search for new advisers shakeup from A1


issues. “Theyhavenotbeenableto get ahead of any of it. And it’s all about the insularity. Otherwise how do you explain how a group who came in with more goodwill in decades squandered it?” The strategist asked not to be identi- fied in order to speak freely about the president and his staff. This is not an uncommon view


among Democratic political pro- fessionals, many of whom share the goals of the White House but have grown frustratedwith a staff they see as unapproachable and set intheirways. But Obama might not look too


far beyond the walls of theWhite House in his search for newadvis- ers. In the pervasive but often unreliable Washington guessing game, thenamesmostoftenheard are already familiar to the presi- dent: TomDonilon, Obama’s dep- uty national security adviser, is thought to be a leading contender either for Emanuel’s job or for Jones’s post. Donilon and Obama became close during the 2008 campaign,when hewas in charge of prepping the candidate for de- bates. Senior adviser Pete Rouse is


another possible choice to replace Emanuel. He served as Obama’s chief of staff in the Senate. Other possible candidates include Bob Bauer, the White House counsel, who was the president’s personal attorney before he joined the ad- ministration last year; Phil Schil- iro,whorunsObama’s congressio- nal liaison office; and former Sen- atemajorityleaderTomDaschle,a closeObama ally. Recent White House hires re-


flect the president’s desire to sur- round himself with people he knowswell. ElizabethWarren, re- cently tapped as the government’s first consumer protection adviser, is someone Obama describes as a “dear friend.” Austan Goolsbee, brought inas thenewchairmanof theCouncilofEconomicAdvisers, hasbeenintheObamaorbitmuch longer than the woman he re- placed,ChristinaRomer. WhiteHouse officials resist the


notion that they are an out-of- touch palace guard. They say Obama is presented with a wide range of views frompeople inside andoutsideof the administration. And, they point out, the inner


PETE SOUZA/THE WHITE HOUSE


President Obama talks with aides, including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, left, press secretary Robert Gibbs, center, and deputy national security adviser TomDonilon, right, in the Situation Room.


circle does not always get its way. Emanuel and Biden, for example, were on the losing side of debates over howto approach health-care reform (Emanuel argued against taking it up so early in Obama’s first term)andthewar inAfghani- stan (both were against the troop surge). “I believe the circle of people


this president talks to on a daily basisismorenewtohimthannot,” Gibbs said. But in moments of reflection,


and at the beginning and end of each day, Obama turns to his five trustedadvisers tobouncearound ideas and solicit feedback. When the presidentwas trying to decide whether to fire Gen. Stanley Mc- Chrystalafteranembarrassingar- ticle appearedinRollingStone,he made numerous calls to officials on the outside.When he ultimate- ly made his decision, a small group of insiders — in this case, Gibbs, Emanuel, Axelrod, Biden and the National Security Coun-


cil’s chief of staff, Denis Mc- Donough—was the first to know. Generals at the Pentagon found out thenext day. “This is the way Kennedy


worked,” said Democratic strate- gist Peter Fenn, whose father, Dan Fenn, ran the Kennedy Li- brary afterworking intheKenne- dy administration. “He had his group — Ken O’Donnell, Larry O’Brien, Ted Sorensen, Ralph Dungan, Lee White — a very small groupof guys thathadbeen withhimalongtime, thatworked with himclosely andwhose judg- ment he trusted.” Alone in Obama’s administra-


tion,Obama’s five closest advisers have the freedomtowalk into the Oval Office unannounced and to attend virtually any meeting, al- lowing them more time with the president and a greater ability to sway his thinking. They assume multiple, sometimes ill-defined roles,with their jobs crossing into multiple lanes, often across one


another’s areas of expertise. Although there are internal


tensions within the group, they have been together in one way or another for years; Jarrett,Axelrod and Gibbs worked with Obama long before the 2008 campaign, while Emanuel knew him from Chicago, and Biden fromthe Sen- ate.


One presidential ritual illus-


trateshisspecialrelationshipwith these aides. Each evening, before Obama heads upstairs to the White House residence, an aide hands hima briefing book stuffed withreports,memosandstatistics on the day’s business fromall cor- ners of his administration. The nextmorning,Obama hands back “the book,” margins scribbled with demands for more informa- tion, meetings or action on its contents. Aside from the presi- dent, only Axelrod, Gibbs, Jarrett, EmanuelandBidenreceive copies of both the outgoing and incom- ing versions of the book.


David Axelrod Senior adviser


Robert Gibbs Press secretary


White House shuffle A look at possible replacements for key positions.


Possibly in On the way out


Tom Donilon Deputy national security adviser


Rahm Emanuel Chief of staff


Pete Rouse Senior adviser


James L. Jones National security adviser Bob Bauer White House counsel


Lawrence H. Summers National Economic Council director


SOURCE: Staff reports Emanuel, Obama’s chief of


staff, is the first to see him in the morning and the last to see him beforehe retires for thenight.The twoholdanend-of-daydiscussion on what happened that day and what is coming up. Emanuel then brings in the others at the staff meetingheholds eachmorning at 7:30 a.m. Emanuel’s successor and the othernewhireswillprobablyhave


Anne Mulcahy Former Xerox chairman KAREN YOURISH AND TOBEY/THE WASHINGTON POST


to learn to fit into Obama’s highly regimented way of doing busi- ness. “InthisWhiteHouse, youknow


who the president has met with and the last person he's going to meet with,” a senior adviser said. “And that's what works for this president. It's not going to change.”


kornbluta@washpost.com wilsons@washpost.com


100,000 don’t count?


working Americans


Put the brakes on the Department of Education’s “Gainful Employment” rule.


www.mycareercounts.org


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