FW: WSJ

From: Sepp, Eryn
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2014 4:17 PM
To: Podesta, John
Subject: WSJ

 

http://online.wsj.com/articles/for-podesta-does-the-president-take-precedence-1412882897

 

By 

COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON And 

PETER NICHOLAS 

Oct. 9, 2014 3:28 p.m. ET

 

John Podesta, a top adviser to President Obama, has been juggling his current duties with helping Hillary Clinton lay the groundwork for a presidential run. Here, Mr. Podesta and Mrs. Clinton share the stage at an energy conference in September. Getty Images

John Podesta, nine months into his stint as a top adviser to Barack Obama, is finding himself caught between serving a sitting president and helping a close friend with her eye on the job.

At the White House, Mr. Podesta has wide-ranging responsibilities in both domestic and foreign policy. He arrived in January with a pledge to stay just one year, and the White House would like to extend his tenure. “We will keep John Podesta until the last minute of the last day that he will stay,” said White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.

Meantime, Mr. Podesta already has joined informal meetings of Hillary Clintonadvisers who are pondering a possible presidential bid. Should she enter the race, Mr. Podesta, a longtime Clinton confidante, is widely expected to sign on.

The parallel lives of John Podesta represent a classic Washington transition that’s beginning to affect the conduct of business in the capital. In year six of the Obama administration, focus is shifting from the current occupant of the White House and toward the coming 2016 campaign.

“Certainly around this time in any administration the center of gravity starts to shift from the incumbent to who the challengers are going to be,” said Tommy Vietor, a former Obama campaign and White House aide who assisted Mrs. Clinton with her book rollout this summer. He described a changing focus as Washington begins “looking toward 2016.”

Democratic operatives and consultants—and at least one current White House official—are making overtures to people tied to Mrs. Clinton. Some have already aligned themselves with the Clinton camp, notably Jim Messina, the former Obama 2012 campaign manager who now is co-chairman of the pro-Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA Action.

Mrs. Clinton might not end up the party’s standard-bearer, of course. She could choose not to run or be bested for the nomination again. Vice President Joe Biden, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have all voiced interest in running. But with a formidable campaign-in-waiting, and entrée to a number of wealthy donors, Mrs. Clinton today is dominating the conversation.

The moment is potentially problematic for the White House, and not only because of Democratic candidates maneuvering in the background. Some longtime aides are also looking at options in the private sector, and the months immediately after the midterm elections typically offer an exit ramp for long-serving White House aides.

Already, the past month has seen the announced resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder, leaving just two members of Mr. Obama’s original cabinet remaining.

The sixth year of any presidency will spur a “brain drain,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian and Princeton University professor. “The feeling for many advisers is that nothing good is going to happen, and that is only amplified in this era of congressional gridlock.”

One administration official said the possibility of some White House aides leaving to work for Mrs. Clinton is just part of “the life cycle in politics.”

For his part, Mr. McDonough said he is working to ensure the White House retains its best talent. With a few months left in Mr. Podesta’s tenure, however, he said he isn’t yet focusing on that particular departure. “Obviously, I’ll want to continue to talk to John about how long he…would be willing to do this,” Mr. McDonough said.

Mr. Podesta, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has previously said he plans to stick to his original deadline.

Keeping Mr. Podesta on board wasn’t ever going to be easy. He has been close to Mrs. Clinton for years after rising to the chief-of-staff position in her husband’s administration and keeping the White House functioning amid the Monica Lewinsky scandal. One former Clinton aide remembers that during Mrs. Clinton’s 2000 New York senatorial bid she would ask advisers to make sure they sought Mr. Podesta’s opinion.

He founded Washington’s major liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress, which is likely to be a pipeline of policy positions and staff for a Clinton presidential bid. Speaking at the 10-year anniversary party for CAP in 2013, with Mr. Podesta beside her on stage, Mrs. Clinton called him the “indispensable man.”

In the current White House, Mr. Podesta is viewed much the same way. Although he joined Mr. Obama’s small inner circle of senior advisers just this year, he has commanded a broad portfolio, including efforts to cap carbon emissions and regulate big data. He’s also provided counsel on topics from Ebola to immigration.

And as the president has grappled with simultaneous security crises around the globe, Mr. Podesta has been regularly attending Mr. Obama’s meetings with his national-security team. Last week, Mr. Podesta led the U.S. delegation to Afghanistan for the inauguration of the country’s new president.

On a few occasions, he has divided his time between the current president and a probable presidential candidate. In early September, when Mr. Obama attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Wales, Mr. Podesta made a quick trip to Las Vegas to appear with Mrs. Clinton at the National Clean Energy Summit, tossing her friendly questions onstage.

It’s just one example of how Mrs. Clinton is beginning to supplant Mr. Obama as the leading force in the party. Hastening that move are Mr. Obama’s low approval ratings and a policy agenda stuck on Capitol Hill, prompting some Democrats to look to the 2016 election as the best way to revive unfinished policy goals. That would be particularly true if Democrats lose the Senate this fall.

“People are making their desires known,” said Harold Ickes, a former adviser on Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 campaign. “I bump into people who say in typical Washington fashion, ‘Whatever list you have, put me on it because I want to either support her in a serious way or I want to work in the campaign.’ ”

Clinton fundraisers tied to Priorities have been making overtures to some of Mr. Obama’s most loyal fundraisers, seeking to reconstitute the Obama political coalition as the Clinton campaign apparatus. That’s not always going well.

One Obama fundraiser recounted a call from a Priorities emissary urging him to align himself with the former secretary of state should she run. The fundraiser said he isn’t sold on Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy and told the Priorities official as much.