Obama fills chief-of-staff post, others

President Barack Obama announces Friday in the East Room of the White House that he is naming Denis McDonough (left), now deputy national security adviser, his next chief of staff.
President Barack Obama announces Friday in the East Room of the White House that he is naming Denis McDonough (left), now deputy national security adviser, his next chief of staff.

— President Barack Obama shook up his White House staff Friday, installing a new team largely made up of familiar faces moved to different positions as he gears up for an intense push on sweeping legislation early in his second term.

Obama named Denis McDonough, a longtime aide and currently the principal deputy national security adviser, as his new White House chief of staff and shuffled around a series of other officials in the West Wing.

“I have been counting on Denis for nearly a decade,” Obama said in announcing the appointment in the East Room, flanked by McDonough and the departing chief of staff, Jack Lew, the nominee for Treasury secretary. “I relied on his intellect and good judgment, and that has continued ever since.”

The president called McDonough “one of my closest friends” and an “indispensable member of my national security team” who has been central to every major foreign policy decision of the past four years, including the troop withdrawal from Iraq, the response to the earthquake in Haiti and the lifting of limits on service in the military by openly gay people.

McDonough, 43, has been in the president’s most inner circle, with influence that belied his title. Whenever he has advocated a position, other officials have understood that he is almost certainly channeling Obama. McDonough at times has left bruised feelings among officials elsewhere in the administration, particularly in the Pentagon and the State Department, where he is viewed by some as a brusque enforcer. But he is enormously popular within the West Wing, where his loyalty and work ethic are highly valued.

McDonough’s place in Obama’s inner circle was illustrated during the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011. He is among those whose images are captured in a White House photograph in the Situation Room with Obama and other senior officials watching the raid unfold.

His ascension was greeted by warm applause from his colleagues in the East Room on Friday, and the president poked fun at his round-the clock work habits.

“I actually began to think Denis likes pulling all-nighters,” he said. “The truth is nobody outworks Denis McDonough.”

He would become Obama’s fifth chief of staff, one of the most powerful positions in the White House because he serves as the president’s gatekeeper.

“I know you’ll always give it to me straight, as only a friend can, telling me not only what I want to hear, but more importantly, what I need to hear to make the best possible decisions on behalf of the American people,” Obama told McDonough.

McDonough’s new role was previously filled by Rahm Emanuel, William Daly and Pete Rouse, as interim chief of staff, before Lew.

Obama complimented McDonough for being so humble, visiting troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and wounded warriors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center without fanfare or cameras to learn about the needs of the troops. “Then he comes back here to the White House, and he gets it done. And that’s the kind of focus, but also the kind of heart, that I want in this White House,” Obama said.

He said McDonough also is tough, having been raised in Minnesota as one of 11 children. And he teased that the father of three and former St. John’s University football player “made up for modest talents with extraordinary dedication and a high threshold for pain.”

Earlier, McDonough worked as a foreign-policy specialist in Congress, including as a senior foreign policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., before moving to Obama’s Senate office. Obama joked that McDonough showed him where the Senate restrooms were and how to get a bill approved by Congress.

The selection of McDonough was even met by a rare show of approval from a prominent Republican: Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who described Obama’s new chief of staff as a smart, steady hand respected by members of both parties.

“President Obama’s decision to choose Denis McDonough was wise and I think he will serve the nation well,” Graham said in a statement.

Moving up to deputy chief of staff will be Rob Nabors, currently the president’s legislative affairs chief, and replacing McDonough at the National Security Council will be Tony Blinken, the national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director and another early Obama aide, will move up to senior adviser, replacing David Plouffe, who is departing this week.

Replacing Pfeiffer as communications chief will be his deputy, Jennifer Palmieri, a veteran of Bill Clinton’s White House. Serving as deputy senior adviser for communications and strategy will be David Simas, a former White House aide who served as head of polling and focus-group research for the president’s re-election campaign. Replacing Nabors running the legislative affairs office will be Miguel Rodriguez, a former aide to departing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and more recently Senate liaison for the Obama White House.

Lisa Monaco, currently the assistant attorney general for national security, will move over to the White House to replace John Brennan, the president’s adviser for homeland security and counter terrorism, who has been tapped to take over as director of the CIA if confirmed by the Senate.

The White House announced separately Friday that Christopher Lu, one of Obama’s early aides dating back to his Senate days, will be leaving as White House Cabinet secretary, the liaison to the various government departments. Replacing him will be Danielle Gray, the deputy director of the White House National Economic Council. Katy Kale will become the president’s assistant for management and administration, moving up from deputy.

Obama released a statement praising Lu and his “dedication and tireless efforts.” The president made clear that he does not accept Lu’s departure, saying he has asked him to return in another capacity.

“After he enjoys some time off, I hope he will consider those opportunities,” Obama said.

In a separate move, the first lady’s deputy communications director, Semonti Stephens, announced Thursday that she was leaving to move to San Francisco.

Information for this article was contributed by Peter Baker of The New York Times; by Roger Runningen and Hans Nichols of Bloomberg News and by Nedra Pickler of The Associated Press.

Denis McDonough

AGE: 43 FAMILY: Wife, Kari; three children.

EDUCATION: Graduate of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., 1992; master’s degree, foreign service, Georgetown University, 1996.

EXPERIENCE: Deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, October 2010-present; chief of staff, National Security staff, White House, September 2009-October 2010; deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, January 2009-September 2009. Before joining the administration, McDonough was a senior foreign-policy adviser on Obama’s transition team and 2008 presidential campaign, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress think tank, and an aide to then-Sens. Ken Salazar and Tom Daschle as well as to what is now the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

SOURCE: AP Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/26/2013

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