President Obama announced a shake-up of his top White House personnel on Friday, naming deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough as new chief of staff and saying good-bye to longtime senior adviser David Plouffe, a key architect of his political strategy.
Obama promoted McDonough, one of his most trusted and loyal deputies, to oversee White House operations as the administration tackles its major second-term legislative initiatives, including gun control measures, immigration reform and tax and budget issues.
McDonough, 43, replaced Jack Lew, whom Obama has nominated to run the Treasury Department. White House officials said Tony Blinken, a national security adviser to Vice President Biden, would replace McDonough as the No. 2 official in the National Security Council. Obama also named deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco to replace John Brennan as counterterrorism adviser. Brennan has ben nominated to lead the CIA.
Inside the West Wing, communications adviser Dan Pfeiffer, who like McDonough is a veteran of Obama’s 2008 campaign, was named to replace Plouffe, the foremost political adviser during Obama’s first term.
Announcing the moves in the East Room, Obama lavished warm praise on McDonough, calling him a “consummate public servant” and a “close friend” to everyone at the White House. The president recalled McDonough, a Capitol Hill veteran who worked for former senator Tom Daschle, helping set up his senate office in 2004, showing him where the bathrooms were and explaining how to pass a legislative proposal.
“Since then I’ve relied on his intellect and good judgement,” Obama said. “Denis has played a key role in every key national security decision in my presidency.”
Obama also paid tribute to Plouffe, who was sitting in the front row of the audience.
Plouffe earned a “well-deserved reputation as being a numbers genius--and a pretty tough combatant when it comes to politics.”
McDonough will be Obama’s fourth chief of staff, succeeding Rahm Emanuel, William Daley and Lew. He helped guide the military drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan and the response to earthquakes in Haiti and Japan. But his personal relationship with the president meant that the Minnesota native’s influence inside the West Wing was far broader.
McDonough, a devout Catholic, has served as an informal religious adviser, and Obama credited him with performing outreach to minorities communities. He continues to develop political strategy and acts as the enforcer for those who stray from administration talking points. He is described as a tireless, demanding and sometimes brusque boss who is not averse to dressing down senior staff.
“I know you’ll always give it to me straight, as only a friend can,” Obama said during his remarks, flanked by McDonough and Lew. “Telling me not only what I want to hear but what I need to hear to make the best decisions on behalf of the American people.”
The president also announced a slew of other moves, including naming Rob Nabors, currently the White House director of legislative affairs, to deputy chief of staff for policy. Nabors will be replaced by Miguel Rodriguez.
David Simas, a pollster for the Obama campaign, is joining the White House as deputy senior in the communications shop. And Danielle Gray and Katy Kale were named as assistants to the president.
Neera Tanden, president for the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, called McDonough, who spent two years working there in the mid-2000s, a champion of progressive values.
“Denis is a shrewd thinker, smart policy innovator, and cares deeply that America reach its promise for all its citizens,” she said.
Obama taps Denis McDonough as chief of staff
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Obama taps Denis McDonough as chief of staff
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