spursncowboys
01-12-2010, 04:37 PM
80. Bo Obama (-)
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First Dog of the United States (FDOTUS)
A gift to the President from the late Senator Edward Kennedy last April, the new First Dog immediately became a media sensation – and a potent symbol of the uncritical, adoring coverage that the new President has received from the mainstream media. During the campaign, Obama talked often of having promised a puppy for his daughters Malia and Sasha, stipulating that it had to be a hypoallergenic breed because of Malia’s allergies.
After flirting with the idea of getting a “mutt like me”, Obama instead chose a Portuguese Water Dog with an American Kennel Club lineage. The Washington Post was given an “exclusive” for the story and its reporter dutifully described the dog thus: “Bo's a handsome little guy. Well suited for formal occasions at the White House, he's got tuxedo-black fur, with a white chest, white paws and a rakish white goatee.” The White House doles out regular photos of Bo, who has his own blog and several imitators on Twitter. No doubt a book deal cannot be far off.
79. Jon Favreau (-)
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Presidential speechwriter
The subject of numerous gushing profiles, no end of superlatives have been attributed to President Obama’s lead speechwriter - though given his boss’s pen power Favreau has probably a less onerous task than many predecessors.
The former John Kerry staffer is attributed with having a natural understanding of the president’s views and thought patterns, and has played a part in most of the orations that carried a little known senator to the White House.
At 28, he is horribly young and is often described as being highly desirable to the capital’s single female population. As Ana Marie Cox twittered: “No matter what happens in the Obama transition, 1 thing is for sure: Jon Favreau will still get laid as often as he wants.”
78. Colin Powell (23)
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Although officially a Republican, Powell secretly met then Senator Barack Obama in 2006 and urged him to run for President. Then, he endorsed the Democratic candidate in the home stretch of the 2008 election at the most damaging possible time for his old friend Senator John McCain.
A former National Security Adviser under Ronald Reagan and Secretary of State under George W. Bush, Powell was central to making the case for the Iraq war at the United Nations, an act for which he now appears determined to atone. He has denied wanting a seat in Obama’s cabinet but as the former Gulf War military commander he would be a natural choice for Pentagon chief when Bob Gates eventually steps down. Alternatively, Powell would probably jump at being Secretary for Education – the subject closest to his heart since George W. Bush dispensed with his services as Secretary of State after the 2004 election.
Having passed up the opportunity to bid to become the first black President when he pondered running against Bill Clinton in 1996, Powell appears heavily invested in doing everything he can to help the man who subsequently achieved that feat.
77. Max Baucus (-)
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Senator for Montana
As chairman of the Senate finance committee, Baucus plays a crucial role in formulating a bill that won the support of all 60 in the Democratic caucus – though he failed to entice a single Republican.
Reflecting his state’s conservatism – and his own need for political survival - he has often clashed with the party’s leadership, especially when supporting Bush’s 2001 tax cuts. Already something of a bête noire for liberals - American Prospect dubbed him Bad Max – his role in diluting health care proposals will make him even more unpopular on the Left.
Baucus has attracted unwelcome headlines recently after he split from his second wife Wanda Minge and began a relationship with his state office director Melodee Hanes, whom he then nominated to be a US attorney in Montana. The Senator appears to have survived the kerfuffle and the couple live in Capitol Hill’s trendy Eastern Market neighbourhood.
76. James Carville (74)
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Long known as the “Ragin’ Cajun” – a nickname he dislikes – Carville was the model for the profane redneck adviser to Jack Stanton in the novel and movie Primary Colors. The portrait was drawn from Carville’s finest hour when he was the manager of Bill Clinton’s winning presidential campaign of 1992 and coined the immortal slogan “it’s the economy, stupid” to masterful effect. He is married to Mary Matalin, a leading Republican strategist, in one of the rare bipartisan marriages in Washington.
Increasingly a television personality rather than campaign operative, he fiercely supported Hillary Clinton in the primary and then quickly got onboard with Obama once he won the nomination. Carville is well practiced in the darker arts of politics and was the designated hit man for Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, whom Bill Clinton believed had betrayed him by backing Obama. After being quoted as calling Richardson a “Judas”, Carville gleefully stated: “I said it. I was quoted accurately. I was quoted in context. I thought it was an appropriate metaphor.” He then expanded on his point in an op-ed in the New York Times. November’s mid-term elections will tell us whether he will live to rue the day he titled his latest book: 40 More Years - How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.
75. Robert Bauer (-)
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White House Counsel
Yet another old face from Chicago, Bauer was brought in to replace Gregory Craig in the most controversial episode of the administration so far when Craig – a favourite of the Left – was pushed out when Obama moved to the centre on issues like closing Guantanamo and constitutional rights for Guantanamo Bay inmates.
Bauer was both Obama’s personal lawyer and lawyer for his presidential campaign, when he negotiated all legal contracts. He is best remembered during the campaign for having crashed a Clinton campaign conference call, taking vigourous issue with the claims of Clinton apparatchiks. In a case of revolving doors, Bauer arrived at the White House as his wife Anita Dunn, White House communications director and the man voice in the “war” on Fox News, was leaving.
74. John Paul Stevens (64)
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Supreme Court Justice
In his 90th year, Stevens is in apparent good health but is rumoured to be considering retirement. Such a decision would allow Obama to choose a successor in good time – as the most liberal member, the balance of the court would not change. Although appointed by the President Gerald Ford, a Republican, Stevens is beyond the pale for conservatives.
He has led judicial attempts to phase out the use of the death penalty and to rein in the Bush administration as it used what he viewed as unconstitutional methods to interrogate and detain Islamist suspects.
73. Donna Brazile (17)
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Strategist and Commentator
Brazile worked on every presidential campaign from 1984 to 2000 but sat out 2008 as a commentator for CNN. Although she remained officially neutral, as the primary campaign wore on it became increasingly clear that her heart was with Obama. In an appearance on the Stephen Coilbert show, she quipped: “Look, I'm a woman, so I like Hillary. I'm black; I like Obama. But I'm also grumpy, so I like John McCain.”
In 2000, she became the first black operative to run a major presidential campaign when she headed up Al Gore’s bid for the White House. These days, consultancy, book writing and punditry are more her forte but she remains a very powerful voice in Democratic politics. In an age of hyper-partisanship, it is also notable that few Democrats are liked and admired by as many Republicans as Brazile.
72. George Mitchell (-)
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Special Envoy to the Middle East
The former Senate Majority Leader and chairman of the long-running and fractious talks that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, Mitchell has one of the most difficult jobs in government. Cut his teeth in the Senate facing down Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra hearings and turned down a seat on the US Supreme Court under Bill Clinton – an honour few pass up.
With the Israeli-Palestinian situation deadlocked, Mitchell is due to visit Paris and Brussels next week to try to inject some momentum into the political process before heading to the Middle East later in the month. His boss Hillary Clinton has just stated that the US will seek an agreement that reconciles two competing visions: "the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security requirements”. If the famously calm and even-handed Mitchell cannot help pull this off then perhaps no one can.
71. Rod Blagojevich (-)
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Former Governor of Illinois
His arrest on charges of trying to sell Obama’s vacant Senate seat were a quick reminder, coming early in the transition, that awkward events, and awkward people, have a habit of disrupting the best laid plans.
The jaw-dropping brazenness of his conversations with advisers, recorded by Chicago police, was then matched by an unforgettably bizarre press conference, when he refused to resign, and ended with by quoting Kipling. "If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you," he said, reciting If.
The episode has done nothing for Chicago's image, and has been a serious nuisance for a president whose opponents would taint him with the brush of the Windy City’s famously corrupt politics. The upshot may also be that his old seat ends up in Republican hands in November. Watch out for Blago’s book, which came with a six-figure advance to pay down some down of his mountainous debts and could deliver bombshell accusations about his involvement with members of Obama’s inner circle.
70. Bernie Sanders (-)
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Independent and self-proclaimed Socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was elected as Vermont’s junior senator in 2006 after 16 years as the tiny state’s only member of the House of Representatives. A consistent opponent of legislation he perceives as benefiting corporations and rich people, Sanders caucuses with the Democrats, along with fellow Independent and foreign policy hawk Joe Lieberman. But his acceptance by the Democrats came at the end of a rocky road along which Sanders routinely insulted Obama’s party. Liberal Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts observed that Sanders “offends just about everyone” - but his New England constituents haven’t seemed to care.
True to style, Sanders announced in December that he would put a hold on the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term. Bernanke, who has since been reconfirmed, was named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year in the same month. “Clearly this guy is part of the problem,” Sanders said in an interview, referring to Bernanke.
69. Kal Penn (-)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01556/kal-penn_1556898a.jpg
White House liaison officer
The White House’s gain has been the loss of viewers of Fox TV’s House. The 32-year-old actor gave up the biggest and most lucrative role of his career alongside Hugh Laurie to serve as Obama’s associate director of the White House office of public engagement.
Acting as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, he has gone back to using his birth name, Kalpen Modi. Born in New Jersey, both his parents are immigrants from Gujarat, an experience that informed his best film role, in Mira Nair’s The Namesake. Politically active before entering the White House, he has been keen to avoid accusations of celebrity favouritism, and has kept a surprisingly low profile.
68. Dan Pfeiffer (-)
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White House Director of Communications
Starting the administration as deputy director of communications, he was the obvious choice to succeed Anita Dunn when she left in late 2009. One of the many graduates of Tom Daschle’s Senate office to work in Obama’s campaign team, Pfeiffer, just 34, quickly carved a reputation for mature and sound management and adroit use of video to connect with voters.
He isn’t one to court the limelight but has become an increasingly acerbic blogger, castigating former Vice-President Dick Cheney for criticising Obama over the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack without first condemning al-Qaeda. He forms one half of one of Washington’s new Democratic power couples - his wife Sarah Feinberg is a senior advisor to Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.
67. Keith Olbermann (67)
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Presenter, MSNBC
A former sports reporter and baseball expert, Olbermann has used his MSNBC cable show Countdown to style himself the alternative to Bill O’Reilly, promoting an increasingly liberal agenda and engaging in a periodical feud with his rival on Fox. In terms of ratings, it has not been a roaring success, but he will be a force on the Left for some time to come.
He has been diagnosed with Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome, also known as “restless legs syndrome” and “Jimmy jitters”, which critics have connected to his broadcasting style. Hasn’t been afraid to criticise Obama, not least for going easy on Bush administration officials involved in excessive war on terror practices. Failure to prosecute, he said that a future would “look back to what you did about Mr Bush or what you did not do and see precedent. Prosecute, Mr President. Even if you do not get one conviction you still will have accomplished good for generations unborn”.
66. Arne Duncan (-)
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Hoop Dreams have come true for 45-year-old Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, whose basketball games with best friend John W. Rogers Jr (an Obama adviser and ex-husband of the White House’s Social Secretary Desiree Rogers), and Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother, helped secure his spot in Obama’s Cabinet. Duncan, a Chicago native and former CEO of the huge Chicago Public Schools system, grew up tutoring students at his mother’s after-school program on the city’s South Side and has referred to schooling as “the civil rights issue of our generation” He has played professional basketball in Australia.
Duncan’s challenge is the reshaping of President George W. Bush’s controversial No Child Left Behind Act, which Duncan supported. It’s perhaps a good thing for Duncan that Obama is concentrating on golf rather than basketball because the Education Secretary has his work cut out. A pragmatist, Duncan supported charter schools and merit pay for teachers in Chicago – stances that pit him against the powerful Democratic players in the teachers’ unions.
65. Jim Webb (14)
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Senator for Virginia
Decorated for bravery in Vietnam, Webb wrote Fields of Fire, an unvarnished account of platoon-level combat drawn from his own war experience and several other novels. A Republican up until a decade ago and one-time Navy Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, Webb became one of the most trenchant critics of the Iraq war long before the 2003 invasion, arguing in 2002 that it would mean having to “physically occupy territory in the Middle East for the next 30 to 50 years” and charging that “those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade and stay”.
Since narrowly defeating Senator George Allen in a major upset in 2006, Webb has focussed on foreign policy, visiting Myanmar to meet General Than Shwe, the junta’s leader, and the pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. A long-time critic of the American penal system, he sponsored a bill to compare it with those of other countries. Floated as a possible vice-presidential running mate for Obama, he ruled himself out early on and is always more at home plowing his own furrow. Distrusted by feminists for his previous tough stance against women serving in combat roles.
64. Steven Chu (-)
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Nobel prize-winning physicist Chu is the first Nobel Laureate in history to be appointed to a Cabinet post. A former national laboratory director and a physics professor at Stanford University, Chu has focused on climate change warming and the need for carbon-neutral, renewable energy sources, which he says is "the greatest challenge facing science". A member of the Copenhagen Climate Council, he has called for urgent action on climate change, and for putting a price on carbon to send a signal to the markets.
His department has focused on energy efficiency, biofuels, artificial and solar energy research. "The path to finding solutions is to bring together the finest, most passionate minds to work on the problem in a coordinated effort, and to give these researchers the resources commensurate with the challenge.”
63. Mary Landrieu (-)
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Senator for Louisiana
One of the Senate’s most conservative Democrats and a strong supporter of both the death penalty and the expansion of US off-shore oil drilling, Landrieu has voted with the GOP more than any other Democratic senator except Ben Nelson of Nebraska. From a long lineage of New Orleans politicians, 54-year-old Landrieu entered politics at the tender age of 23, moving from state representative to state treasurer to US Senator in 1996.
Last month, Landrieu caught flak for her hardball style in allegedly trading her vote for the health care bill in exchange for taking $100m in Medicare subsidies back home. The two-page section of the Reid bill increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster” seems to apply to only one state---Senator Landrieu’s Louisiana. Critics dubbed it the “Louisiana Purchase”. She won re-election in her anti-Obama state in 2008 and so will be a centrist power for some years to come.
62. James Clyburn (56)
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The most senior black member of Congress and only the second black congressman to become House Majority Whip, Clyburn – who was in his 50s when he first arrived in Washington in 1992 – is a former civil rights activist who organised sit-ins in the segregated South and met his wife while in jail. Although he declined to back publicly a candidate in the 2008 Democratic primary contest, he was widely viewed as favouring Obama.
When Obama did prevail over Hillary Clinton, he said: “I thought this day would come, but I didn’t think I’d live to see it. I got home, and I was so emotional I couldn’t feel myself. I was numb.” A very effective whip, he has been praised for ensuring Democratic majorities for contentious votes on the financial bailout and healthcare legislation.
61. Pete Rouse (-)
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Senior White House adviser
A long-time aide to Tom Daschle, including a decade when he was leader of Senate Democrats, Rouse was occasionally referred to as the “101st Senator” – a tribute to his encyclopedic knowledge of Congress and deal-making abilities. When Daschle lost his seat in 2004, Rouse switched to becoming chief of staff to the rookie Senator Barack Obama and played a key part in his Washington education.
Rouse spent a lot of time on the campaign trail in 2008. Drawing on his three years working for a Republican in Alaska and his links with Democrats in the state, he took on an important role in responding to the surprise announcement that Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska was John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate. Deserves credit for helping steer Obama’s vision of healthcare reform through Congress. Holds a Master’s from the London School of Economics.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6967340/The-most-influential-US-liberals-80-61.html
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First Dog of the United States (FDOTUS)
A gift to the President from the late Senator Edward Kennedy last April, the new First Dog immediately became a media sensation – and a potent symbol of the uncritical, adoring coverage that the new President has received from the mainstream media. During the campaign, Obama talked often of having promised a puppy for his daughters Malia and Sasha, stipulating that it had to be a hypoallergenic breed because of Malia’s allergies.
After flirting with the idea of getting a “mutt like me”, Obama instead chose a Portuguese Water Dog with an American Kennel Club lineage. The Washington Post was given an “exclusive” for the story and its reporter dutifully described the dog thus: “Bo's a handsome little guy. Well suited for formal occasions at the White House, he's got tuxedo-black fur, with a white chest, white paws and a rakish white goatee.” The White House doles out regular photos of Bo, who has his own blog and several imitators on Twitter. No doubt a book deal cannot be far off.
79. Jon Favreau (-)
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Presidential speechwriter
The subject of numerous gushing profiles, no end of superlatives have been attributed to President Obama’s lead speechwriter - though given his boss’s pen power Favreau has probably a less onerous task than many predecessors.
The former John Kerry staffer is attributed with having a natural understanding of the president’s views and thought patterns, and has played a part in most of the orations that carried a little known senator to the White House.
At 28, he is horribly young and is often described as being highly desirable to the capital’s single female population. As Ana Marie Cox twittered: “No matter what happens in the Obama transition, 1 thing is for sure: Jon Favreau will still get laid as often as he wants.”
78. Colin Powell (23)
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Although officially a Republican, Powell secretly met then Senator Barack Obama in 2006 and urged him to run for President. Then, he endorsed the Democratic candidate in the home stretch of the 2008 election at the most damaging possible time for his old friend Senator John McCain.
A former National Security Adviser under Ronald Reagan and Secretary of State under George W. Bush, Powell was central to making the case for the Iraq war at the United Nations, an act for which he now appears determined to atone. He has denied wanting a seat in Obama’s cabinet but as the former Gulf War military commander he would be a natural choice for Pentagon chief when Bob Gates eventually steps down. Alternatively, Powell would probably jump at being Secretary for Education – the subject closest to his heart since George W. Bush dispensed with his services as Secretary of State after the 2004 election.
Having passed up the opportunity to bid to become the first black President when he pondered running against Bill Clinton in 1996, Powell appears heavily invested in doing everything he can to help the man who subsequently achieved that feat.
77. Max Baucus (-)
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Senator for Montana
As chairman of the Senate finance committee, Baucus plays a crucial role in formulating a bill that won the support of all 60 in the Democratic caucus – though he failed to entice a single Republican.
Reflecting his state’s conservatism – and his own need for political survival - he has often clashed with the party’s leadership, especially when supporting Bush’s 2001 tax cuts. Already something of a bête noire for liberals - American Prospect dubbed him Bad Max – his role in diluting health care proposals will make him even more unpopular on the Left.
Baucus has attracted unwelcome headlines recently after he split from his second wife Wanda Minge and began a relationship with his state office director Melodee Hanes, whom he then nominated to be a US attorney in Montana. The Senator appears to have survived the kerfuffle and the couple live in Capitol Hill’s trendy Eastern Market neighbourhood.
76. James Carville (74)
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Long known as the “Ragin’ Cajun” – a nickname he dislikes – Carville was the model for the profane redneck adviser to Jack Stanton in the novel and movie Primary Colors. The portrait was drawn from Carville’s finest hour when he was the manager of Bill Clinton’s winning presidential campaign of 1992 and coined the immortal slogan “it’s the economy, stupid” to masterful effect. He is married to Mary Matalin, a leading Republican strategist, in one of the rare bipartisan marriages in Washington.
Increasingly a television personality rather than campaign operative, he fiercely supported Hillary Clinton in the primary and then quickly got onboard with Obama once he won the nomination. Carville is well practiced in the darker arts of politics and was the designated hit man for Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, whom Bill Clinton believed had betrayed him by backing Obama. After being quoted as calling Richardson a “Judas”, Carville gleefully stated: “I said it. I was quoted accurately. I was quoted in context. I thought it was an appropriate metaphor.” He then expanded on his point in an op-ed in the New York Times. November’s mid-term elections will tell us whether he will live to rue the day he titled his latest book: 40 More Years - How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.
75. Robert Bauer (-)
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White House Counsel
Yet another old face from Chicago, Bauer was brought in to replace Gregory Craig in the most controversial episode of the administration so far when Craig – a favourite of the Left – was pushed out when Obama moved to the centre on issues like closing Guantanamo and constitutional rights for Guantanamo Bay inmates.
Bauer was both Obama’s personal lawyer and lawyer for his presidential campaign, when he negotiated all legal contracts. He is best remembered during the campaign for having crashed a Clinton campaign conference call, taking vigourous issue with the claims of Clinton apparatchiks. In a case of revolving doors, Bauer arrived at the White House as his wife Anita Dunn, White House communications director and the man voice in the “war” on Fox News, was leaving.
74. John Paul Stevens (64)
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Supreme Court Justice
In his 90th year, Stevens is in apparent good health but is rumoured to be considering retirement. Such a decision would allow Obama to choose a successor in good time – as the most liberal member, the balance of the court would not change. Although appointed by the President Gerald Ford, a Republican, Stevens is beyond the pale for conservatives.
He has led judicial attempts to phase out the use of the death penalty and to rein in the Bush administration as it used what he viewed as unconstitutional methods to interrogate and detain Islamist suspects.
73. Donna Brazile (17)
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Strategist and Commentator
Brazile worked on every presidential campaign from 1984 to 2000 but sat out 2008 as a commentator for CNN. Although she remained officially neutral, as the primary campaign wore on it became increasingly clear that her heart was with Obama. In an appearance on the Stephen Coilbert show, she quipped: “Look, I'm a woman, so I like Hillary. I'm black; I like Obama. But I'm also grumpy, so I like John McCain.”
In 2000, she became the first black operative to run a major presidential campaign when she headed up Al Gore’s bid for the White House. These days, consultancy, book writing and punditry are more her forte but she remains a very powerful voice in Democratic politics. In an age of hyper-partisanship, it is also notable that few Democrats are liked and admired by as many Republicans as Brazile.
72. George Mitchell (-)
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Special Envoy to the Middle East
The former Senate Majority Leader and chairman of the long-running and fractious talks that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, Mitchell has one of the most difficult jobs in government. Cut his teeth in the Senate facing down Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra hearings and turned down a seat on the US Supreme Court under Bill Clinton – an honour few pass up.
With the Israeli-Palestinian situation deadlocked, Mitchell is due to visit Paris and Brussels next week to try to inject some momentum into the political process before heading to the Middle East later in the month. His boss Hillary Clinton has just stated that the US will seek an agreement that reconciles two competing visions: "the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security requirements”. If the famously calm and even-handed Mitchell cannot help pull this off then perhaps no one can.
71. Rod Blagojevich (-)
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Former Governor of Illinois
His arrest on charges of trying to sell Obama’s vacant Senate seat were a quick reminder, coming early in the transition, that awkward events, and awkward people, have a habit of disrupting the best laid plans.
The jaw-dropping brazenness of his conversations with advisers, recorded by Chicago police, was then matched by an unforgettably bizarre press conference, when he refused to resign, and ended with by quoting Kipling. "If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you," he said, reciting If.
The episode has done nothing for Chicago's image, and has been a serious nuisance for a president whose opponents would taint him with the brush of the Windy City’s famously corrupt politics. The upshot may also be that his old seat ends up in Republican hands in November. Watch out for Blago’s book, which came with a six-figure advance to pay down some down of his mountainous debts and could deliver bombshell accusations about his involvement with members of Obama’s inner circle.
70. Bernie Sanders (-)
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Independent and self-proclaimed Socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was elected as Vermont’s junior senator in 2006 after 16 years as the tiny state’s only member of the House of Representatives. A consistent opponent of legislation he perceives as benefiting corporations and rich people, Sanders caucuses with the Democrats, along with fellow Independent and foreign policy hawk Joe Lieberman. But his acceptance by the Democrats came at the end of a rocky road along which Sanders routinely insulted Obama’s party. Liberal Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts observed that Sanders “offends just about everyone” - but his New England constituents haven’t seemed to care.
True to style, Sanders announced in December that he would put a hold on the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term. Bernanke, who has since been reconfirmed, was named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year in the same month. “Clearly this guy is part of the problem,” Sanders said in an interview, referring to Bernanke.
69. Kal Penn (-)
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White House liaison officer
The White House’s gain has been the loss of viewers of Fox TV’s House. The 32-year-old actor gave up the biggest and most lucrative role of his career alongside Hugh Laurie to serve as Obama’s associate director of the White House office of public engagement.
Acting as a liaison with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, he has gone back to using his birth name, Kalpen Modi. Born in New Jersey, both his parents are immigrants from Gujarat, an experience that informed his best film role, in Mira Nair’s The Namesake. Politically active before entering the White House, he has been keen to avoid accusations of celebrity favouritism, and has kept a surprisingly low profile.
68. Dan Pfeiffer (-)
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White House Director of Communications
Starting the administration as deputy director of communications, he was the obvious choice to succeed Anita Dunn when she left in late 2009. One of the many graduates of Tom Daschle’s Senate office to work in Obama’s campaign team, Pfeiffer, just 34, quickly carved a reputation for mature and sound management and adroit use of video to connect with voters.
He isn’t one to court the limelight but has become an increasingly acerbic blogger, castigating former Vice-President Dick Cheney for criticising Obama over the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack without first condemning al-Qaeda. He forms one half of one of Washington’s new Democratic power couples - his wife Sarah Feinberg is a senior advisor to Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.
67. Keith Olbermann (67)
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Presenter, MSNBC
A former sports reporter and baseball expert, Olbermann has used his MSNBC cable show Countdown to style himself the alternative to Bill O’Reilly, promoting an increasingly liberal agenda and engaging in a periodical feud with his rival on Fox. In terms of ratings, it has not been a roaring success, but he will be a force on the Left for some time to come.
He has been diagnosed with Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome, also known as “restless legs syndrome” and “Jimmy jitters”, which critics have connected to his broadcasting style. Hasn’t been afraid to criticise Obama, not least for going easy on Bush administration officials involved in excessive war on terror practices. Failure to prosecute, he said that a future would “look back to what you did about Mr Bush or what you did not do and see precedent. Prosecute, Mr President. Even if you do not get one conviction you still will have accomplished good for generations unborn”.
66. Arne Duncan (-)
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Hoop Dreams have come true for 45-year-old Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, whose basketball games with best friend John W. Rogers Jr (an Obama adviser and ex-husband of the White House’s Social Secretary Desiree Rogers), and Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother, helped secure his spot in Obama’s Cabinet. Duncan, a Chicago native and former CEO of the huge Chicago Public Schools system, grew up tutoring students at his mother’s after-school program on the city’s South Side and has referred to schooling as “the civil rights issue of our generation” He has played professional basketball in Australia.
Duncan’s challenge is the reshaping of President George W. Bush’s controversial No Child Left Behind Act, which Duncan supported. It’s perhaps a good thing for Duncan that Obama is concentrating on golf rather than basketball because the Education Secretary has his work cut out. A pragmatist, Duncan supported charter schools and merit pay for teachers in Chicago – stances that pit him against the powerful Democratic players in the teachers’ unions.
65. Jim Webb (14)
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Senator for Virginia
Decorated for bravery in Vietnam, Webb wrote Fields of Fire, an unvarnished account of platoon-level combat drawn from his own war experience and several other novels. A Republican up until a decade ago and one-time Navy Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, Webb became one of the most trenchant critics of the Iraq war long before the 2003 invasion, arguing in 2002 that it would mean having to “physically occupy territory in the Middle East for the next 30 to 50 years” and charging that “those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade and stay”.
Since narrowly defeating Senator George Allen in a major upset in 2006, Webb has focussed on foreign policy, visiting Myanmar to meet General Than Shwe, the junta’s leader, and the pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. A long-time critic of the American penal system, he sponsored a bill to compare it with those of other countries. Floated as a possible vice-presidential running mate for Obama, he ruled himself out early on and is always more at home plowing his own furrow. Distrusted by feminists for his previous tough stance against women serving in combat roles.
64. Steven Chu (-)
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Nobel prize-winning physicist Chu is the first Nobel Laureate in history to be appointed to a Cabinet post. A former national laboratory director and a physics professor at Stanford University, Chu has focused on climate change warming and the need for carbon-neutral, renewable energy sources, which he says is "the greatest challenge facing science". A member of the Copenhagen Climate Council, he has called for urgent action on climate change, and for putting a price on carbon to send a signal to the markets.
His department has focused on energy efficiency, biofuels, artificial and solar energy research. "The path to finding solutions is to bring together the finest, most passionate minds to work on the problem in a coordinated effort, and to give these researchers the resources commensurate with the challenge.”
63. Mary Landrieu (-)
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Senator for Louisiana
One of the Senate’s most conservative Democrats and a strong supporter of both the death penalty and the expansion of US off-shore oil drilling, Landrieu has voted with the GOP more than any other Democratic senator except Ben Nelson of Nebraska. From a long lineage of New Orleans politicians, 54-year-old Landrieu entered politics at the tender age of 23, moving from state representative to state treasurer to US Senator in 1996.
Last month, Landrieu caught flak for her hardball style in allegedly trading her vote for the health care bill in exchange for taking $100m in Medicare subsidies back home. The two-page section of the Reid bill increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster” seems to apply to only one state---Senator Landrieu’s Louisiana. Critics dubbed it the “Louisiana Purchase”. She won re-election in her anti-Obama state in 2008 and so will be a centrist power for some years to come.
62. James Clyburn (56)
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The most senior black member of Congress and only the second black congressman to become House Majority Whip, Clyburn – who was in his 50s when he first arrived in Washington in 1992 – is a former civil rights activist who organised sit-ins in the segregated South and met his wife while in jail. Although he declined to back publicly a candidate in the 2008 Democratic primary contest, he was widely viewed as favouring Obama.
When Obama did prevail over Hillary Clinton, he said: “I thought this day would come, but I didn’t think I’d live to see it. I got home, and I was so emotional I couldn’t feel myself. I was numb.” A very effective whip, he has been praised for ensuring Democratic majorities for contentious votes on the financial bailout and healthcare legislation.
61. Pete Rouse (-)
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Senior White House adviser
A long-time aide to Tom Daschle, including a decade when he was leader of Senate Democrats, Rouse was occasionally referred to as the “101st Senator” – a tribute to his encyclopedic knowledge of Congress and deal-making abilities. When Daschle lost his seat in 2004, Rouse switched to becoming chief of staff to the rookie Senator Barack Obama and played a key part in his Washington education.
Rouse spent a lot of time on the campaign trail in 2008. Drawing on his three years working for a Republican in Alaska and his links with Democrats in the state, he took on an important role in responding to the surprise announcement that Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska was John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate. Deserves credit for helping steer Obama’s vision of healthcare reform through Congress. Holds a Master’s from the London School of Economics.
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