Obama Names Valerie Jarrett Senior White House Advisor

President-elect Barack Obama has formally named his friend Valerie Jarrett to be a senior adviser in the White House. Her official title will be "senior advisor and assistant to the President for Inter-government relations and Public Liaison in the Obama White House," according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet.

Jarrett is a co-chair of Obama's transition team and was a top advisor to him during the presidential campaign.

From Lynn Sweet's report:

Jarrett, 51, a Hyde Park resident, is a veteran of Chicago's City Hall who went on to become the CEO of The Habitat Company, a major Chicago real estate firm as well as serving on a variety of civic and corporate boards. [...] Joining the campaign while still juggling her Habitat duties, Jarrett functioned as a friend--dining with Obama and other pals before a debate--as a top surrogate for the fund-raising drive--and as an advisor, often with Obama on the campaign plane.

Jarrett's White House role may be similar to the one played by Karen Hughes in President Bush's first term, the Washington Post speculates, "providing political advice while keeping him grounded."

Comments

[uclafan]

Yea!!

[Over50WhiteWoman]

Another good choice. As Senior Advisor and Public Liaison, I suppose the person needs to be extremely good at communicating and having seen VJ on several interviews, she fills the bill. Her background in city government will be there to daily remind BHO to not forget the cities, like the current guy did. She is clearly very smart and quick on her feet, which is certainly needed for that role, too, as well as politically sensitive. She won't be making Joe Biden gaffes. She is a careful speaker. I thought he might put her in as Press Secretary, but Advisor is better. She's too smart to be only a mouthpiece.

[evgolightly]

She's great. Michelle brought her on board ... great move!

[stephanemot]

Definitely beats Rove.

[socratiskiss]

Her official title will be "senior advisor and assistant to the President for Inter-government relations and Public Liaison in the Obama White House

WOW! That's a long title! LOL. Great choice!!

[swyftdahoe]

Good stuff.. from everything I've read so far about her, Jarrett seems like a big sister to President Elect Obama.. Obviously, she's been quite helpful!

[dlo2]

Condit was a very well prepared scholar, an envy of those who went to school with her. But she failed in upholding her candor, her ethics and finding herself enamored by a corrupt power that crippled her from a moral standpoint. It's so sad when a human being has worked so hard in academia only too find that human frailty transcended such a great opportunity in a human life. Life tests us on all levels and obtaining a PhD is just one small test among all the other tests.

[Softnsweet]

Valarie is a wonderful person. You act as if you were her best friend dlo2. You don't know her at all. If anyone is corrupt it is you.

[Pupadup4oBama]

He was talking about Condi....not Valerie.

[dlo2]

My comment was not on Valerie, whom I have a high regard for...it was on Condit or Condeleeza Rice!

[Rivess]

Of the big Republican losers Obama's victory created, I'd put Condoleezza Rice in the top ten. If ever she privately questioned her decision to join the Bush administration, had a moment of doubt or heard a little voice - she should have listened.

[CUL8R]

Excellent move. Excellent.

[Big0725]

I'm sorry I must plead ignorance about this lady, but from the glowing statements about her in this thread, she sounds quite competent.

[situationcritical]

Valerie Jarrett is intelligence in the extreme. This is hard to say, but she could even be twice as smart as Obama.

[hardworker12]

Ms. Jarrett is a very smart, and highly educated women. She along with Hilary, and Dr. Rice are role models for all women. Dr. Rice may have bad policy views but she is highly educated (Hence Dr. Rice). Hilary is also brillant, and so is Ms. Jarrett. So far Obama has aligned himself with highly educated and smart people. Hilary would make an excellent Sec. of State, and I hope Chuck Hagel gets Sec. of Defense. January 20th can't come fast enough, since our current leader has already checked out.

[Big0725]

A doctor at the beginning of a name does not necessarily indicate intelligence. Dr. Phil has a PhD. but it one of the dumbest people I've ever heard.

[situationcritical]

Yep. Dr. Phil is pretty dumb.

[S1m0n]

Dr Rice's 'high' education hasn't prevented her from being a complete failure at State, and before that the NSA. The recent debacle in Georgia proved that in the one area which is allegedly her specialty--russian politics--she's no more effective than she is everywhere else.

How badly does she suck? So badly that when it all hit the fan & the red army was at the door, the statesman the Georgian president wanted to talk to was JOE BIDEN, a senator from the minority party. Not Rice or anyone who works for Rice.

Ouch.

[Sabreen60]

I think her failure has to do more with her being a 'figure head' of State. I'm willing to bet she did what she was told, even if she disagreed or found it morally reprehensible, which puts her character and/or moral compass in question.

[butterworth]

About Dr. Rice: what is the point of being "highly educated" if you put it to use serving stupidity and duplicity?

[digdeeper]

AGREE

[strifeknot]

Let's try this again, since some hypersensitive immoderator removed it the first time...

Rice is a role model for mass murderers, HRC is a role model for self-serving, morally vacuous narcissists. I hope Jarrett is better.

[RAFord24]

I knew it! Great and smart choice. The Washington hasn't seen this much intelligence in a long...long...long... long time.

[DaisyDooks]

And, that's dayum shame, too.

[SugarMan]

One thing is for sure....she has more experience the Sarah Palin

[DaisyDooks]

Without a doubt.

[Big0725]

My mom's old doll collection had more experience than Palin.

[notthistime]

lol

[ryanpage]

: )

[SF13]

My cat has more experience than Palin.

[ThePeacemakers]

These are all "big picture" people...but who's going to take care of the details?
Just read some of the history of Jarrett's involvement in the Chicago housing issues (and she's a descendant of Robert Taylor).

If you raise big money for public housing, somebody's got to oversee the details. You can't just throw money at the problems and think that's going to fix it.
The funding and oversight (Please government, LEARN THE VALUE OF OVERSIGHT AND REGULATION) has to be consistent.
Whatever you do in your busy schedules Obama administration - you need FOLLOW UP.

[ricitizen]

The Details are handled by "Under Secretary's, Deputies, staff and assistance. There are at least a couple thousand of such people under the Executive Branch. They are recruited and vetted by the transition team and made available for selection by the President, Chief of Staff, Assistant Chief, Communications, Speech Writers, Policy Directors, etc, etc, etc. They will be the best and the brightest who apply. You will likely never know their names unless you do the research or they advance in their careers in government. See Susan Rice as an example.

[Big0725]

10 fu*king days into it and your whining about details? I bet if someone gave you a million dollars you would whine about having to pay taxes on it!

A pox on you and your ilk.

[DaisyDooks]

Dang, Big, tell'em how you REALLY feel. LOL

[ThePeacemakers]

Details are going to be key Big0725. The details I'm referring to include oversight of management.
The ideas of Habitat are good, but something has to be done about the lax regulations in the housing and financial industries for them to work. Or the money goes down the drain. You think that statement is Republican as well?

Yes, there are more appointments to make and more people to hire - and it will take months.

[situationcritical]

"You can't just throw money at the problems and think that's going to fix it."

--and there you have the republics talking points. Anti-intellectual codewords like "fix" "fixin", "six-pack".

[ThePeacemakers]

Thought I'd check back.
Oversight and regulation are not Republican code words.
Anyone here who knows me here knows I'm far from a Republican or conservative.
I was referring to the fact that if they are going to have big ideas regarding public housing, the people they hire to manage it need to be checked up on. I mean really checked up on.

Habitat's ideas have a way of working. But more REGULATION in the housing and banking industry is key. Part of the reason for the failures is loopholes due to lax regulation.

[IndyReader]

I don't understand these posters who a) don't understand the difference between a transition team and a hired staffer, and b) complain that the people Obama is hiring isn't indicating his ideas of "change". Change is how he's going to conduct business. Ending the fighting in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan, getting the budget into some kind of order, possibly bringing better health care, being less secretive with the electorate, not who he hires for his administration. I think some people think he was going to stock his agencies with a bunch of Harvard and Yale poli-sci graduates who have no concept of how Washington works instead of 1) people he's comfortable with like Rahm, Jarrett, and Axelrod, or 2) people who've won their Washington stripes and know the score, like Hillary. If he's hiring former Clinton people that's because former Carter people are pretty elderly or dead. I'd guess there are far fewer Democratic pols around than Republicans, so he can only work with what's on hand.

[ricitizen]

Well said my friend, well said.

[TiredoftheMSM]

All what Clinton people? Please understand the difference between a transition team and the actual cabinet! So far he has only named THREE people to his CABINET, Rahm, Axelrod, and Jarrett.

All these other people are transition team. Why not name some of the folks who were there before it got screwed up to the transition. Those are the first people to recognize what changed or went wrong since they left, so that when it's handed over to the actual CABINET, everything is on the table.

[StillIRise]

It's unfortunate that this has to be explained. From where else will he build upon his cabinet, except from the pool of the best and brightest minds and the experience that is already a part of the political landscape? How else can he reassure us that he is putting the best people available in his administration, unless some of those he appoints are names we are familiar with? Would we feel better if he just brought in a bunch of strangers, unknown to us and unknown to the Washington circle in which they must be engaged? Is this the kind of CHANGE we need to see to feel more comfortable about his choices?

The "Clintonesque" mantra is a Republican talking point to diminish Obama's debut in the White House, and unfortunately, too many Dems are willing to pick on this talking points and make it their own. Obama has proven himself to us over and over again, and at some point, we're going to learn to trust him!

Jarrett is an excellent choice.

[GabrielXL]

I'll be honest when I say that in spite of the obvious quality of people Obama has selected to serve on his transition team as well as the appointments that have been announced thus far, I was getting the feeling that we were witnessing a Shakespearean tragedy in the making with all the former Clinton appointments. With David Axelrod and now Valerie Jarrett on board, I am much more at ease. It's always good to have competent people with an edge on your staff as well as those who you know will watch your back and tell you what time it is no matter who you are. I dare say that Obama has put the right people in the right places... so far.

[Kate4Change]

Yes, he will have the best and the brightest around him. I think he should have a mix of outsiders as well as former Clinton 'stars' who understand the White House operations because during an economic , healthcare, energy , and foreign policy crises, you need some experienced people in your cabinet. Let's face it, there were a lot of brilliant, capable Clinton members that helped contribute to our success as a nation during the Clinton years.