Thread: John Podesta to formally join Obama inner circle

John Podesta to formally join Obama inner circle

Eric Jamison/AP -


John Podesta will join President Barack Obama’s inner circle as White House counselor for a year.

By Philip Rucker, Published: December 9

John D. Podesta, who was chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and is one of the Democratic Party’s most experienced strategists, is joining the White House to help President Obama salvage what has become a difficult second term.

Podesta, who has been an outside adviser to Obama since leading his presidential transition after the 2008 election, will formally join his inner circle as White House counselor for a year, according to sources familiar with the move.

Podesta’s arrival comes at a critical juncture for Obama, as the president tries to regain credibility after the flawed rollout of the insurance marketplaces under his signature health-care law. Obama also has recruited Phil Schiliro, the legislative affairs director during the president’s first term and a veteran congressional operative, to return to the White House and spearhead health-care issues.

News of Podesta’s appointment was first reported by the New York Times on Monday evening. People familiar with the move confirmed that White House chief of staff Denis McDonough helped recruit Podesta and that Podesta’s portfolio would be broad and would include climate-change issues and executive actions, as well as the troubled health-care law.

Podesta is one of the Democratic Party’s most seasoned political and policy operatives. He served as Clinton’s chief of staff during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and impeachment proceedings in his second term. He went on to found the Center for American Progresss (CAP), a leading Democratic public policy organization, where he served as president.

Podesta is an influential voice in the Clinton political orbit, informally advising Hillary Rodham Clinton in the year since she stepped down as secretary of state. In the past few weeks, he was in talks to help lead Priorities USA Action, the super PAC that supported Obama in 2012 and is positing itself to back Clinton if she runs for president in 2016.

This fall, Podesta founded of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a group within CAP that will study income-inequality issues. Podesta was slated to serve as chairman of the group.

Podesta’s appointment comes as some senior aides prepare to depart the White House. Senior adviser Pete Rouse, Obama’s counselor since he joined the Senate in 2005, is exiting, a person familiar with the move said. Podesta, like Rouse and McDonough, is a former top aide to then-Senate Democratic leader Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.), who has functioned as an outside adviser to Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...c5f_story.html

Obama Recruits President of Soros-Funded Group, NYT Fails to Mention Connection

By Mike Ciandella | December 10, 2013

President Barack Obama hired a new counselor for 2014, a man who used to lead a liberal Soros-funded group.

John Podesta, founder and president of the far-left Center for American Progress (CAP), was tapped by the administration and will focus on the health care law and climate change issues, according to a Dec. 9, New York Times article. That same article failed to mention any connection between CAP and Soros.

This isn’t the first time Podesta has worked with the president. He co-chaired the transition team when Obama first came into office. He was also White House chief of staff under Clinton. Neera Tanden, who has worked for both Obama and Hillary Clinton, currently runs CAP.

The Center for American Progress epitomizes everything that liberals claim that they hate about the right.

CAP was part of coalition of liberal groups in March of 2012 who targeted the pro-free market American Legislative Exchange Council for having corporate donors and promoting policy initiatives not in line with liberal goals. This attack resulted in several of ALEC’s corporate members pulling out. A similar attack was launched by some of the same groups against the State Policy Network.

CAP is a policy writing and advocating organization, complete with its own media outlet. Not only has CAP received more than $5.7 million from George Soros, it also has a membership program for corporations to be part of the discussion. The buy in for these corporate members stands at $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000 according to a Washington Free Beacon article from May 4, 2013.

In 2012, the Center for American Progress joined five other groups to attack the American Legislative Exchange Council for having corporate members and pushing free market principles. This attack was the pet project of veteran-journalist-turned-activist Bill Moyers. Moyers funded four of these six groups, including CAP, to the tune of more than a million dollars.

Think Progress, the “journalism” outlet for CAP Action, promotes a slew of liberal agenda talking points. These articles are often picked up by Alternet, and other members of the Media Consortium. The Media Consortium was created to be a progressive "echo chamber," where left-wing media outlets can network and share ideas, as well as cross-promote stories.

Think Progress was also part of a group of 23 liberal media outlets thatpressured the IRS to target conservative groups. After the story broke in May 2013, the IRS admitted to giving extra scrutiny to applications for nonprofit status from groups with words like “tea party” or “patriot” in their descriptions.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mike-ci...#ixzz2nBbooA2b