White House Chief of Staff Valerie Jarrett?
Despite an ever-changing White House senior staff, President Obama has had a remarkably stable Cabinet throughout his first term. Only two of the 16 Cabinet seats turned over: the secretaries of Defense and Commerce.
However, on average only one or two secretaries stay for the second term of any two-term presidency. Knowing this history and based on secretaries’ statements, in the coming year we can expect new faces around Obama’s table.
Although the president nominates individuals to each post, the Senate must confirm each appointment through committee hearings and then a vote. Each nominee must receive majority support from the committee as well as the entire Senate body.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has expressed his wish to step down after the fiscal cliff is muddled through. Jacob Lew, Obama’s current chief of staff, has expressed interest in the seat, but that would leave a gaping hole (again) in Obama’s White House staff. Other possibilities are Clinton’s former White House chief of staff, Erskine Bowles; former Goldman Sachs vice chairman Suzanne Nora Johnson; and Roger Altman, deputy Treasury secretary during Clinton’s administration.
There is no doubt that the secretary of Treasury has a tough job ahead of him or her: stagnant unemployment rates, restructuring of the budget, and a eurozone in threat of collapse.
If Lew were to take that seat then Obama would need to fill the office that sits directly adjacent to his own. Lew is already the third person to hold the chief of staff position in the Obama administration. Unless his successor remains for Obama’s entire second term, the president will have had more chiefs of staff than any of his predecessors. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton each had four.
Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett remains the only original loyalist in the White House and thereby well-positioned to take Lew’s place. Jarrett has been an adviser to Obama since his early days in Illinois and is a trusted confidante of the first couple.
The rest of Obama’s inner circle have each moved on. Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s first chief of staff, successfully ran for mayor of Chicago after a year and half in Washington. Robert Gibbs, a force behind the Obama campaign and the administration’s first press secretary, left the administration after two years to become an “outside” adviser. He did, however, return to the inner circle for the 2012 campaign. There has been no suggestion that Gibbs will return to the White House. David Axelrod is Obama’s top campaign strategist and was a senior adviser in the White House from 2009-2011. He left the White House to run Obama’s re-election campaign. However, Axelrod has publicly stated that the 2012 campaign was his last job as a political operative.
Jarrett is a somewhat controversial figure, though, with no international policy experience. The other contender for chief of staff could be Ron Klain, both Vice President Biden’s and Gore’s former chief of staff.
Asking Jarrett to lead his White House team would be telling of what we can expect from Obama’s second term. Jarrett has been seen as more liberal than Obama’s other Clinton-centrist advisers. If Jarrett leads the White House, we can expect bold moves.
Attorney General Eric Holder has suggested he has not decided whether to remain for a second term, but odds are he’ll be leaving the post soon. During a speech last Thursday at the University of Baltimore School of Law, he made off-the-cuff remarks about needing to make sure he still has “gas left in his tank” for a second term.
Current Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has expressed interest in the post. Napolitano was Arizona’s attorney general before being elected governor, but she is also rumored to be on a White House short list of Supreme Court nominees. Other candidates are former Rhode Island attorney general and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D), Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (who was assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration), and former governor and attorney general of Michigan Jennifer Granholm.
Valerie Jarrett, alongside Huma Abedin, belongs in jail, let alone as top aides. Here are just some of Val’s bonafides – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/11/02/valerie-jarrett-her-mischief-making-capable-of-upending-western-civilization-the-unofficial-buck-startsstops-at-her-door-addendum-to-barack-hussein-obamas-hidden-hand-commentary-by-a/
This nightmare is never ending!!
U.S. Attorney’s Office claims author’s of Blagojevich book “Golden” lying
http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2012/12/10/u-s-attorneys-office-claims-authors-of-blagojevich-book-golden-lying/
Valerie Jarret!! Who will be President then?
And I hope “Dick” Holder’s second term is life in prison After all I think he’s entitled to it.
Yes – why would she take a demotion?
On the money. Isn’t Jarrett the Chicago slumlord who told Obama to drink a warm glass of milk, go to bed and get a good night’s sleep during the attack on our facility in Benghazi?
Holder should be in jail for his part in Fast and Furious. He is still in Contempt of Congress and I wonder how that will play out this year, if at all. Seems like the Republicans in the House are not that anxious for yet another fight with Holder, but they should because of Holder’s very real part in Fast and Furious. As with the fiasco in Libya, Obama and his minions must be held accountable for their actions. Just remember, if there was a Republican in the White House, the mainstream media would be on this 24/7. We should not allow Obama and his merry group of criminals to get away with this simply because they are the darlings of the mainstream media. People like us need to keep a spotlight on these bums and we will because the mainstream media certainly will not.
I still think Holder leaves so Obama can put him on the Supreme Court, where he becomes completely unassailable.
Then when another judge leaves, he nominates a Muslim judge to take his place (probably the same one Chris Christie appointed in New Jersey).
If Obama thinks he would have strong opposition to Rice being secretary of state, wait till he tried to put Holder on the supreme court, now THAT would be controversy.
Valerie Jarrett, the Ivy Starnes of our era.
I haven’t really been able to figure out why Obama’s been on the receiving end of so much conservative wrath, during the same four years that his consistent siding with her faction in the WH (on policy) has been frequently reported.
She’s a puppetmaster. I mean, for heavens’ sakes, she decided who he’d marry…
Jarrett for chief of staff? Well, why not? She’s running the damn country anyway.
I don’t think so. The CoS has DUTIES, among which are speaking to the hoi polloi. As “Senior Adviser”, she gets to do whatever she wants, and doesn’t have to interact with the “little people”.
It’s almost as good as being a south-side slum lordette.
Man, the winter soldier traitor as Secretary of Defense would be quite the irony.
Just look at what has happened to the United States of America. The list of current cabinet members and the list of potential replacements reads like a who’s who list of racists, communists, rabid America haters, and organized crime criminals. What a shameful travesty.
Obama himself is a racist,with Communist friends and mentors,and his sayings and doings strongly suggest that he hates America, and he has lots of friends in Chicago politicians (an organized crime gang if there ever was one). So no DECENT person would be asked to join HIS cabinet, being around THEM would make him feel guilty and uncomfortable. So he appoints like minded people to be his yes men and toadies. He HIMSELF is a shameful travesty as a President,I feel sickened and ashamed whenever I see him or hear his name. 2017 can’t come soon enough, if they don’t impeach him this year. And if they can impeach Holder too, or instead, that maybe would be enough to disqualify HIM as a Supreme Court nominee. Maybe.
With the great and powerfull “O” in until 2017 there wont be anythig left in America worth keeping. Time to get locked and loaded the next four years are going to be the only chance were going to get to prepare.
Anything that occurs, does not occur without our God’s permission or allowance. I believe Obama was allowed along with his like kind to cause negative acts and havoc because of disobedience in the US as promised. One reaps what one sows. Realize who is really in charge. Nothing happens unless it is allowed. Homosexuality, greed, unfair treatments, racist, denying God in schools, etc.. When you deny our Creator, you leave a void. There is only one who replaces a void when good has been displayed. SATAN!