Melody Barnes: Obama's Domestic Policy Council Head

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Melody Barnes of the Center For American Progress, has been tapped to lead President-elect Barack Obama's Domestic Policy Council.

Barnes was featured at Obama's press conference today, though ThinkProgress had the story earlier in the day:

My ThinkProgress colleagues are reporting that Melody Barnes, who was at CAP before I got on board, will head the Domestic Policy Council in the Obama White House. The DPC is in charge of interagency coordination and policy formation for such topics as education, immigration, criminal justice, and health care -- in short, domestic policy. This hasn't been a very high-profile role under the Bush administration since Bush doesn't really believe in domestic policy aside from tax cuts, but for an administration that's trying to play a constructive role in American life it's a very important job.

Around the Web

Washingtonian : Ten Well Dressed Women...

WashingtonPost - Article written by Melody Barnes : What a Progressive President Might Say

Comments

[orangepetal]

I'm surprised this is not on the front page.
I hope Barnes will be one of the most important voices in our Government over the coming years. I hope she will be focused on modernizing our transit, finding ways to make healthy foods more accessible, increase access of basic healthcare to all Americans, encourage affordable child care, link opportunity to the urban poor and concentrate on sorting through the justice system so that we can find big solutions, without exposing innocents to violence.T­hese things will take time, creativity and work. There are so many people working on this in a positive way, I hope she will be able to push it all forward. She is someone I will definitely be watching and listening to. I wish her great success as she begins her new task.

[Jonni Rae]

hurrah, at last a progressive on board.

[Thevail]

Hurray...a progressive!! ..from Berkely yet.

The way that a country trends left or right is a subtle shift in perspevtive that is then disseminated from the top down. After 8 years, it will just seem silly not to go ahead and lump all that healthcare stuff under one department and control the costs, now won't it? Hee hee universal healthcare.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

I have always said Obama has a progressive vision and is pragmatic in process his two key appointments today show as much. Putting someone like Melody Barnes in this position shows his agenda with be progressive. While he has put people in top positions like Geithner to get things done for that agenda.

[smag]

We have to start slow. If we get too many folks on the left side of the left side of the street they will all be preoccupied with the cultivatoion of the weed and not the production.

[texanna]

Well, this seems like some changey stuff!

[ohmetoo]

This link for Iglesias doesn't lead to anything about him? Hum

[musselmanm]

While I am a left wing liberal, I have very much faith in our next President.
I feel we need to start out very reasoned about our agenda. Our country needs very large problem solving and we need both sides of the isle to fix our many problems
Our new American government is much more liberal than the Bush far right Christian agenda.
We have much hard work to do and cannot continue with division and hatred. It will no longer work.
I believe that the groups from the far left and the far right must be put to the side for now.
Lets fix our country!

e will do our best to repair the massive damage to our country and all of my ideas cannot be included right our of the gate.