David Axelrod: Obama's Senior Adviser?

ABC News reports:

Former Obama chief strategist David Axelrod has accepted the position of Senior Adviser in the White House, sources tell ABC News.

He will join Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill, who has accepted the position of Obama's White House Chief of Staff.

Axelrod is a sharp political strategist and Emanuel brings a lot of strengths to the office.

The New Republic adds that Axelrod and Emanuel are close friends -- Axelrod even signed the ketubah at Emanuel's wedding. Rolling Stone quotes Emanuel saying that during the campaign, they spoke several times a day in a "sounding board" capacity.

The New York Times wrote of Axelrod recently:

In many ways, Mr. Axelrod is a classic example of the Washington political consultant (even though he lives in Chicago and says he has no intention of moving to the capital if Mr. Obama wins). He has been making advertisements and offering advice for candidates for mayor, senator and president for a generation, since quitting his job as a newspaper reporter in 1984. He has a particular specialty in helping black candidates appeal to white electorates and has tallied up a list of corporate clients along the way.

But Mr. Axelrod, in this client-consultant relationship, appears to be something different, with a personal investment in Mr. Obama's success that is obvious in the distress marked on his face whenever the candidate comes under attack.

Every politician has a guardian angel, and every presidential hopeful has a right-hand dispenser of wisdom. Yet in the trio of top strategists around Mr. Obama, including Robert Gibbs, a senior communications adviser, and David Plouffe, the campaign manager, it is Mr. Axelrod who has been at Mr. Obama's side the longest and has the most interwoven relationship with him.

"Although he is as tough as they come, he's actually not a mercenary," said Mr. Obama, of Illinois, in an interview. "He actually believes in what we're doing, which actually makes him a bad consultant when he doesn't believe in the candidate. And he's a great consultant when he believes."

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Comments

[PT6]

How are you going to get us out of this Financial CRISIS?


An Answer: HOMEOWNER Walk Aways and bankruptcies are Feeding the banks bad loans which are in turn wiping out the Banks ability to loan!

We do not need another stimulus as that had little effect!

Banks have a choice get 45% to 60% or get next to nothing!

But giving Homeowners a low interest loan to replace a 10% to 15% loan will give people lots of money to spend and stimulate the economy for months to come!

The only way to end this CRISIS is to stop the hemorrhaging of Home Mortgage Walk-Aways!

Every day we wait it gets worse as people walk and homes depreciate!

The best stimulus package is to solve that FIRST!

Technology can also help remove the Mortgage Company layer with automated loans from Fannie and Freddie and provide lower rates to stabilize the housing market!

[juangault]

While Axlerod has been very smart in getting O'bama elected, there are many other smart people out there making a lot of money off of this "crisis". I have a bragging coworker, he seems to be in a group of people who know how to surf these treacherous economic waves. I'm an old school type, bought and paid off a house, work at a steady job, save some money in the bank, lose some more on my 401k.

The coworker is a immigrant from about 20 years ago. He worked two jobs, bought a house maybe 15 years ago, then sold it "in twenty minutes" for about a 200k profit in 2005. He purchased another, new, more expensive home with a minimum 5% down payment. Then, as property values continued to rise, he kept borrowing against the new house. So now he has about 250k in the bank, (from the house) and then walked away from the new property. (our state prevents banks from recovering losses outside of the mortgaged property) He was especially happy to know that our current president "forgave" income taxes on the difference of what he took out of the house and what the bank could resell it for. This was the bill signed last July. It was the icing on the cake. Get along little doggies, the Texan cowboy loves a good ribeye.

[politisophical]

i like Axlerod he was LAYING DOWN THE LAW on the new shows .... clearly a smart and capable guy

[shaaronie]

David Axlerod is a poltical genius and seems to be a man with a kid heart! I have so much love and respect for him.

[HolePunchSD]

I couldn't agree MORE! David Axlerod is/was the political mastermind behind President-elect Obama---I knew, without a doubt that there would be a place for him in the Obama Administration.
(Note: Just typing "President Obama" gives me chills.) I can't wait until Inauguration Day.

[realpolitic]

Axelrod reminds me of Obama in many ways. He is calm, soft spoken, and really seems to have a core decency that is hard to ignore.

[KarenJW]

What does he have planned for David Plouffe and Valerie Jarrett? His campaign team was PHENOMENAL!

[sueinmn]

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/cin_mccainfiles.htm
the real john mccain from the VAV

[sueinmn]

axelrod had remained so laid back cool and collected. looks like the makings of a dream team and they may just kick ass with strategic moves!

[B-Dog]

Ok, a few good friends in the White House is fine but we do want diversity of opinion and honest and open debate. In Obama I trust.

[gmlaster]

You've got Barack Obama confused with George Bush. Obama doesn't surround himself with "Yes Men", and he won't take you seriously if you're afraid to dissent. We need to have our best and brightest minds attacking the problems facing America at this moment. If they're friends, so much the better because they'll work well together. Obama doesn't like in-fighting. Besides, his friends all have at least five diplomas and big fat resumes.

But in fairness, you have to admit that Obama tends to choose the right person for the job, not the best friend for the job. When he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review, black students on campus saw it as a chance to get more blacks on staff. But Obama gave them a rude shock. While he knew it would be unpopular, he chose the best students for the job of putting out the Law Review. Color was NOT a consideration. He always surrounds himself with the best and brightest people...period. If Bush had done that, America wouldn't be in the shape it's in now.

We've hired this man to do an incredibly difficult job. I for one trust his judgment, and expect him to pick the right people for the job, not the right cronies for the job like Bush did. If Bush had picked a brain trust instead of cronies, we'd have been spared the frequent "Heck of a job, Brownie" moments we've had to endure for the last eight years.

[jacklambert]

Bush didn't know what a brain trust was. He had no brain he was just given a script

[Mugzi]

Axelrod I believe was a major part of the success of Obama's campaign. If Obama runs the country as successfully as he ran his campaign, he and we will succeed.

[mermaid7]

I shouldn't probably say this,
but none the less,
if I am to to be honest, Axelrod's
comb over, Chicogan looks,
did not intiallly appeal to me,
but after time,I came to realize,
despite my pre-conceptions,
this is a brilliant man
and how small a person
am I.

I think it's wonderful he is top advisor to Obama!

I kind-of and like to think Obama knew better than I.

I like that in a President and in his choice of David Axelrod.

YES!


He really did his job!

And I now thank him so very much.

[Harmony1812]

The BEST White House job is Obama's BEST choice. His First Lady. She will be terrific.
After the acceptance speach, I was moved that Obama had the look of "Let's get to work" . So far, I think I read him right.

[foreffectivegovernment]

Karl Rove has proven that a campaign strategist does not equal a good presidential advisor. David Axelrod's proven talent for using race-baiting and character-assassination to get black candidates elected to high office are not really needed in the Obama Administration. Keep him in the background for the 2012 election when Obama will really need his expertise again. The plan concocted in early 2007 has worked to a tee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01axelrod.t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
April 1, 2007
"When the first major profile of Axelrod appeared in Chicago magazine in 1987, three years after he left a high-profile job as the lead political reporter for The Chicago Tribune to work as a political operative, the article (“Hatchet Man: The Rise of David Axelrod”) began by comparing him to an “exotic rodent.” Two decades later, there remains the matter of the comb-over and the damp mustache, but his looks seem less important now. In the last four years, Axelrod has helped steer campaigns for fully four of the Democrats now running for president — Obama, Clinton, John Edwards and Chris Dodd — and one who dropped out (Tom Vilsack); framed the messages for the new young governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick; and served as the chief political adviser for Representative Rahm Emanuel when the congressman helped orchestrate the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives last fall."

[damali]

obviously, Obama feels he needs David's expertise now; not just in 4 years. I'm sure Obama knows what's best for his administration, and he also knows David better than any of us do.

[Harmony1812]

Perfect choice. I love that guy! So far, so good Obama!

[jeremyemilio]

Axelrod is great at what he does and he was obviously the right guy for the campaign. But he has no business having any hand in governing. The election is over. The country doesn't need more logos and slogans; it needs real change.

[sueinmn]

he has proven to have great ground strategy and the backbone of the campaign was the use of online communications. I think they have a plan to strategically handle congress both left/right with powerful people and a plan to make it work. to get a handle on what went wrong and how to fix it. best use of internet I have ever seen used. my campaign headquarters reported in often online but I was never privy to it all. I just know it was the back bone with a big plan implemented.
I think they have to outsmart the politicians so it dont go back to status quo. I hope they are watching paulson closely!
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081110/greider2

[vincfoster]

Great. On the way to building the Whitehouse Dreamteam!! Woohoo!

[substance43]

Thanks Axelrod and Plouffe for running such an awesome campaign! You deserve to be in the Obama Administration!

[mojopo]

I agree. What they accomplished is unprecedented!