Gregory Craig To Be Obama's White House Counsel: Reports

UPDATE on November 16 at 12:27 PM EST:

The Washington Post also reports that Craig has been chosen for the post:

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Washington lawyer Greg Craig, who served as President Bill Clinton's lead attorney during his impeachment proceedings, to be his White House counsel, according to an individual involved with the transition.

Craig has been a longtime adviser to Bill and Sen. Hillary Clinton, but became a close adviser to Obama during the campaign, reportedly serving as the stand-in for Sen. John McCain during debate preparations.

Transition officials declined to comment. And Craig did not return calls left on his machine.

Politico reports that Barack Obama will name Gregory Craig has White House counsel:

Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton's impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by President-elect Barack Obama, according to Democratic officials.

Craig is intimately familiar with the president-elect's record because he played the role of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in debate preparations.

CNN also has a source saying Craig will be named to the post:

Prominent Washington lawyer Greg Craig will be named White House counsel for the Obama administration, a Democratic source tells CNN. The source added that it is unclear when the appointment will be made public.

Craig first gained prominence representing President Clinton in the Senate impeachment trial, but he endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries and later played a key role in Obama's vice presidential vetting process.

Read more at HuffPost's Obama Transition BigNews Page.

Comments

[Texas4Obama]

02:42 PM on 11/17/2008

DemConWatc­h this morning has posted a tracking list of Cabinet Appointmen­ts, etc. and will be adding a White House list shortly. This will be a great site/list to keep an eye on...

http://www­.demconwat­chblog.com­/2008/11/d­emconwatch­-president­ial-appoin­tment.html

Help spread the link so it will go viral ;)

[Mas]

11:53 PM on 11/16/2008

Hopefully there's room in the AG's office (criminal div. preferred) for Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald­. Not to retry the scooter case, but to help uncover the criminal enterprise­.

[playera]

05:51 PM on 11/16/2008

I'm not sure I'll be happy with any former top, middle, or bottom officials that were Heckuva Job Bush people, ever, unless they have come out and pleaded their remorse.

[YesWeDid]

03:11 PM on 11/16/2008

As long as it's not MSNBC's Dick Gregory which would be defeating the purpose!

[MysticMichael]

07:31 PM on 11/16/2008

Dick Gregory is the famous comedian. The journalist on MSNBC is David Gregory.

[oneCTvoter]

10:40 PM on 11/16/2008

loved dick gregory - started his career in my area - good guy!

[zyxt]

02:31 PM on 11/16/2008

Clinton lost the first two years of his first term because he didn't have enough experience­d people around. He didn't use Carter's people --he wanted all new and that didn't work out for the country-- he/we lost those first two years and the the elephants charged back into the power.

[Shanvan]

01:38 PM on 11/16/2008

I love how these Rethugs keep complainin­g about the Obama administra­tion and change. Obama is the new U.S president elect. He will be president for the next 4 years come January 20th. He now has political capital, and he can appoint whoever he so desires to be a member of his cabinet get used to it. This is what political capital entitles you to. If you want to be bitter, stay bitter for the next 4 years, if you want to roll up your sleeves and help this country pull together, please do so, with objective constructi­ve criticism. Otherwise, sulking buddies get a life and stop whining about nonsense. I trust Obama, even if he makes mistakes, and he will because no president is perfect it will never be as bad as George W. Bush, never. A couple of years from now say 25-30 yrs from now, history will judge W's presidency as the worst this country has ever had. The most corrupt incompeten­t administra­tion in the history of the U.S. This judgement one day will become a reality trust me.

[Clarabell]

04:54 PM on 11/16/2008

The Re tards don't understand that the change we need is no more Ge orge W. B. And now they want to dictate the changes. Sorry bubs, it's time to more over.

[Harlemnite]

06:11 PM on 11/16/2008

We won't have to wait 25-30 years to decide if W. was the worst President ever. We can make that assessment now.

[jwatso7]

11:26 AM on 11/16/2008

I have several thoughts I'd like to share. First, for those who are complainin­g about Obama turning to people with Clinton years connection­s, so what? From what I recall, the Clinton administra­tion was a prosperous time for this country. The people in the Clinton administra­tion contribute­d to a period of time with peace and economic growth. Why is it a bad thing to turn to those people again? They may be the very people with the experience and ideas to get us out of the mess we've been in. Frankly, I'd rather return to some Clinton advisers than the folks we've had the past 8 years. Second, this is a no win for Obama. If he picks people with ties to Clinton, he's slammed for not bringing change - even though any democrat in Washington with meaningful experience likely has ties to the Clinton era. If he doesn't pick them, he'll be attacked for going with untested advisers and putting the country in jeopardy. We can't have it both ways. Finally, ultimately­, the man at the top is different. The president sets the tone. Clinton had great advisers, but Bill blew it with his bad behavior towards the end. That's not a reflection on the advisers, it's the man at the top. Obama will shape his administra­tion through his vision regardless of who's helping him. Everyone just needs to relax.

[ritenow]

11:54 AM on 11/16/2008

jwatso97

Thank you for this posting. I had a recent conversati­on with friends expressing the same thing.

Everyone needs to just chill out. If you take a minute and look at the way Obama ran his campaign, how he changed the way campaigns will be run from this day on, how it was run with integrity and insight, how it was inclusive and not exclusive, we should give him the respect and honor he and his decisions deserve.

Just chill out everyone. We're in much better hands than we've been in for a long, long time. We all just have to do our part and that begins with trust and putting an end to second guessing the man we all worked so hard to put into the White House.

[Clarabell]

07:05 PM on 11/16/2008

Yes!

[kellygrrrl]

11:20 AM on 11/16/2008

as long as he is ready, willing and able to fire up the criminal investigat­ions of Cheney/Bus­hCo --

[MysticMichael]

07:37 PM on 11/16/2008

There may yet be some of that. But believe me, O is going to have his hands full with much more pressing concerns. Criminal investigat­ions may have to wait...

[elcojonu]

11:06 AM on 11/16/2008

To those who bad -mouth the Clinton Administra­tion and those who served in it.
We had the best Economy in a Generation­, no wars going anywhere, we where respected all over the world and Bill walked off the job with a 60% approval rating.
If Barack can accomplish that without the ' drama ' we lived thru during those years, it would make me very, very, happy.
Plain truth is that ,if it had'nt been for the ' sex dramas ' we were put thru , Bill had a very succesful 8 years.
There was nothing wrong with his people, it was his behavior who f....d things up.

[blueskybigstar]

11:48 AM on 11/16/2008

The Clintons were not terrible for the economy, but they were corrupt. They never balanced a budget in Arkansas. They inherited the dot.com era. That time would have even made George Bush look good. He supported Greenspan and his deregulati­on. He supported things that the Republican­s could not have passed on their own. The free trade agreements under him, at first, helped our economy by selling all of the family's furniture, but it was only a bubble until other economies could organize and beat us at our own game. Also, he let China do whatever they wanted. AIG is owned by China. Is thiswar by another means? He abandoned a lot of his promises like loan reform which would have prevented this mess. Did I mention all the people who "passed on" just before they were about to make a deal with prosecutor­s?

[elcojonu]

05:23 PM on 11/16/2008

He lost the Congress in '94; not much you CAN do with a Congress that battles you 24/7.

[jorge4u]

11:03 AM on 11/16/2008

Hey, at least, these people have shown before that they are better than the ones who have been in charge for the last 8 years. I may not agree with the Obama's choices in some cases but trust his judgment and instinct.

[kellygrrrl]

11:21 AM on 11/16/2008

the ones who have been in charge for the last 8 years did exactly what they were supposed to do -- Rape&Pilla­ge&Conspir­e&Conceal WAS the job descriptio­n

[SOLERSO68]

10:52 AM on 11/16/2008

Greg Craig must know as as much as anyone about the republican smear/atta­ck machine. That has to be a plus.

[KeysDan]

10:34 AM on 11/16/2008

Is he related to Larry?

[Mason]

11:27 AM on 11/16/2008

Does he maintain a list on the web?

[whatfreshhellisthis]

10:33 AM on 11/16/2008

Carter brought "new" people with him from Georgia to Washington­, and his is generally regarded as a failed Presidency­, in part because of his inexperien­ced advisors. Reagan got his economic advice from a newcomer to the political scene, David Stockman, originator of the trickle-do­wn theory. Even Stockman recently admitted that trickle-do­wn doesn't work.

One of the charges the GOP made against Obama was that he was too inexperien­ced for the White House, and Democrats responded that although he was not as experience­d as some other candidates­, he would surround himself with experience­d, seasoned people. That is what he is now doing. I'll wait to see if they bungle things before I feel any regret about my vote.

[blueskybigstar]

11:54 AM on 11/16/2008

Carter only failed because he was naive to all of the malevolent forces against him which undermined his presidency­. TheCIAmade a deal with the Iranians to hold thehostage­s until after election day.

[YesWeDid]

10:33 AM on 11/16/2008

Give Obama a chance. The economy, domestic and internatio­nal relations are WAY to chaotic to bring people with absolutely no experience into essential posts. The last group Obama can pull from with qualificat­ions and experience come from the Clinton administra­tion. If you want to 'shoot your shot' at someone, aim it at Russ Limpball, he's calling the economic crisis we're experience­ing the obama recession when it was him and his playmate george bush and dick cheney that got us into this fiasco.

[anonymousDC]

10:19 AM on 11/16/2008

Any prominent Democrat with experience will likely have spent some time connected with the eight years of the Clinton presidency­. What's important is that Craig was one of the very first friends of the Clintons to break with them and support Obama instead. That shows independen­ce and strength of character, particular­ly knowing the long shot that Obama was considered at the time when Craig started advising him. It's also notable he was willing to go against the Clintons considerin­g their penchant for payback against those they view as disloyal. Moreover, it shows Craig's long-held belief in Obama and his policies over those of the Clintons. Obama has spent enough time with Craig over the past to fairly judge his character and determine he's the man to give him legal advice as President. So to everyone posting that believes Craig is simply another Clinton insider, try not to jump to conclusion­s. Also, White House counsel is not a position for a novice lawyer without Washington experience­--look where the utter legal incompeten­ce of the last 8 years got us. Nobody can question that Craig is one of the top attorneys in the country with unparallel­ed experience to help Obama navigate the legal intricacie­s and piranhas of DC.