Holiday Shuffle in the White House
from the New York TimesIn case you missed it with all of the holiday activities, President Obama is making a list and checking it twice, planning to make some changes in the West Wing in the New Year. Check out the New York Times article on the changes, and here is a brief summary:
David Plouffe will be the President's chief political adviser, replacing David Axelrod who is returning to Chicago to start working on the 2012 campaign.
Jim Messina, currently a deputy White House chief of staff, is slated to manage the re-election campaign. This move creates some vacancies that the President will have to fill.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a Bush Administration holdover, plans to leave
the Obama cabinet in 2011, maybe as early as January.White House press secretary Robert Gibbs is planning to leave his position. According to the Times article, he will either become a senior adviser to the president or work outside the West Wing defending the president and preparing for the 2012 campaign.
With Rahm Emanuel already departed to run for Mayor of Chicago, it remains to be seen whether Pete Rouse, who was appointed interim White House chief of staff, will fill that position after the transition work he has been leading, along with Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett and Robert Bauer, is finished.
Finally, Obama is lawyering up for the inevitable “oversight” expected from the Republican House majority in the 112th Congress.
Read the New York Times article here for in depth analysis.
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