Valerie Jarrett, The Obama Whisperer
Even at this late date in the Obama
presidency, there is no surer way to elicit paranoid whispers or
armchair psychoanalysis from Democrats than to mention the name Valerie
Jarrett. Party operatives, administration officials—they
are shocked by her sheer longevity and marvel at her influence. When I
asked a longtime source who left the Obama White House years ago for his
impressions of Jarrett, he confessed that he was too fearful to speak
with me, even off the record.
This
is not as irrational as it sounds. Obama has said he consults Jarrett
on every major decision, something current and former aides corroborate.
“Her role since she has been at the White House is one of the broadest
and most expansive roles that I think has ever existed in the West
Wing,” says Anita Dunn, Obama’s former communications director. Broader,
even, than the role of running the West Wing.
This summer, the call to send Attorney General Eric Holder on a risky
visit to Ferguson, Missouri, was made by exactly three people: Holder
himself, the president, and Jarrett, who were vacationing together on
Martha’s Vineyard. When I asked Holder if Denis McDonough, the chief of
staff, was part of the conversation, he thought for a moment and said,
“He was not there.” (Holder hastened to add that “someone had spoken to
him.”)
is not as irrational as it sounds. Obama has said he consults Jarrett
on every major decision, something current and former aides corroborate.
“Her role since she has been at the White House is one of the broadest
and most expansive roles that I think has ever existed in the West
Wing,” says Anita Dunn, Obama’s former communications director. Broader,
even, than the role of running the West Wing.
This summer, the call to send Attorney General Eric Holder on a risky
visit to Ferguson, Missouri, was made by exactly three people: Holder
himself, the president, and Jarrett, who were vacationing together on
Martha’s Vineyard. When I asked Holder if Denis McDonough, the chief of
staff, was part of the conversation, he thought for a moment and said,
“He was not there.” (Holder hastened to add that “someone had spoken to
him.”)
Jarrett
holds a key vote on Cabinet picks (she opposed Larry Summers at
Treasury and was among the first Obama aides to come around on Hillary
Clinton at State) and has an outsize say on ambassadorships and
judgeships. She helps determine who gets invited to the First Lady’s Box
for the State of the Union, who attends state dinners and bill-signing
ceremonies, and who sits where at any of the above. She has placed
friends and former employees in important positions across the
administration—“you can be my person over there,” is a common refrain.
holds a key vote on Cabinet picks (she opposed Larry Summers at
Treasury and was among the first Obama aides to come around on Hillary
Clinton at State) and has an outsize say on ambassadorships and
judgeships. She helps determine who gets invited to the First Lady’s Box
for the State of the Union, who attends state dinners and bill-signing
ceremonies, and who sits where at any of the above. She has placed
friends and former employees in important positions across the
administration—“you can be my person over there,” is a common refrain.
Valerie Jarrett, The Obama Whisperer | New Republic
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