Obama assembling staff of Clintonistas
Some familiar faces showing up to join Team Obama. The Wall Street Journal reports…
Obama Hires More Clinton White House Veterans
President-elect Barack Obama continued to fill out staff positions for his incoming administration during the weekend, with many of the new appointees having Clinton White House pedigrees.
Gregory B. Craig, a former State Department official who also served as former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment lawyer, will be named White House counsel, serving as Mr. Obama’s chief lawyer, Democratic officials said.
Mr. Craig advised Mr. Obama on foreign policy during the presidential campaign and was one of the first prominent aides to Sen. Hillary Clinton to defect from her campaign during the primaries.
The Obama transition team also said Mr. Obama’s former Senate chief of staff, Pete Rouse, will serve as a senior White House adviser. Mr. Rouse had previously been Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s chief of staff before the South Dakotan’s election defeat in 2002, and with Mr. Daschle’s aid, he helped build Mr. Obama’s Senate office.
Mona Sutphen, a former special assistant to Mr. Clinton’s national-security adviser, Sandy Berger, was named deputy chief of staff. Ms. Sutphen had been a managing director of Stonebridge International LLC, an international consulting firm that advises multinational corporations. Another Stonebridge managing director, Michael Warren, is leading the transition’s auditing team at the Treasury Department.
Jim Messina, a veteran Senate aide and Mr. Obama’s campaign chief of staff, will also serve as White House deputy chief of staff. Phil Schiliro, a veteran House aide, will be the president’s liaison to Congress.
The new names join a list that includes senior Clinton White House veterans, such as Rahm Emanuel, now Mr. Obama’s White House chief of staff, and Ron Klain, a top aide to Vice President Al Gore who will be Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s chief of staff.
