Obama Seeks Counsel From Friends, Foes

Ideology Plays Little Role In Deciding Who Presidential Hopeful Asks For Policy Advice

(The Politico)  By The Politico's Ben Smith.

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Soon after Barack Obama, D-Ill., took his seat in the Senate in 2005, his new Senate chief of staff called Jason Grumet, who heads the broad-based National Commission on Energy Policy.

"He asked if we could help them bring together a kind of unusual group of energy experts," Grumet recalled. "It's the first time any Senate office contacted me to say, 'Can you bring together a group of people who will have disagreements?'"

To their dinner at Washington's Hotel George, Grumet brought a group that ranged from a senior official of the Steelworkers Union to former CIA director and ardent Iraq war backer James Woolsey.

The energy meeting was one of a series of such gatherings, seminars of a sort, that the freshman senator quietly convened beginning in his first months in office. They reflected both Obama's inexperience with many of the nuances of the national policy debate and his immediate sense of himself as a player on the national stage — if not a candidate for president in 2008.

These policy primers also showed Obama's eagerness to hear voices across the ideological spectrum, even if his conclusions would typically fall well within the Democratic Party's mainstream.

On Capitol Hill, Obama was a mere freshman, and he initially set his sights on relatively uncontroversial measures. The first piece of legislation he introduced, co-sponsored by Democratic centrist Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, was an amendment aimed at combating bird flu.

But, unlike many senators, Obama staffed his Senate office with a "policy director" as well as a legislative director. The aide, Karen Kornbluh, a veteran of the Clinton administration and a fellow at the New America Foundation, was hired in part to coordinate the seminars. Her role was a mark that Obama didn't intend to be limited by the congressional agenda or by his junior standing.

"The bigger issues that are being dealt with by the country are not necessarily being dealt with on a day-to-day basis by the Senate," said Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director in the Senate and on his presidential campaign.

Obama has shown a willingness to lean on experts whose views are outside the Democratic Party's orthodoxy — one of his economic advisers co-authored a proposal to privatize Social Security, something that Obama opposes and that has been criticized by his rivals' supporters. And Obama's Senate press secretary, Ben LaBolt, declined to give a full list of the experts with whom Obama had met, offering instead three who he said were representative.

Interviews with those, and with a handful of others who participated in the Obama seminars, suggest, unsurprisingly, that the senator's discursive, academic style — which can come as a surprise to audiences who expect partisan red meat — was catnip to policy wonks. Though Obama hasn't spent decades participating in the national domestic policy conversation to the extent that Bill Clinton had when he first sought the presidency, guests said they were struck by both Obama's immersion in the policy details and his interest in the politics of policy.

"I've been here for 28 years, I've seen them come and go, I've seen the smart ones and the not so smart ones, and I was really impressed with his intellect and his sensitivity to the politics," said Bill Klinefelter, who was then the legislative director of the United Steelworkers of America.

"I remember being quite impressed by how much he had gotten into making these things work," said Woolsey.

Klinefelter, and Obama's aides, said the energy meeting helped generate the Fuel Economy Reform Act, a bill currently before the Senate that would tighten emissions limits but also change the structure of the standards regime to offer more flexibility to automakers.

The bill won bipartisan support from some senators who had previously opposed tightened sandards. But Obama is currently trying to insert elements of the bill as an amendment to the pending energy bill, LaBolt said.

Other meetings touched on other areas of policy. There was a meeting in Obama's office, over takeout Chinese food, on trade with China, one participant recalled. Another was on the Central American Free Trade Agreement — an agreement Obama, along with most Senate Democrats, voted against.

Economic policy advisers included Dan Tarullo, a former Clinton administration official who has since become an informal policy adviser to Obama's presidential campaign and who campaign aides suggested a reporter speak to. Another economic voice was Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, which has been skeptical of the advantages of the trade deals struck by Clinton in the 1990s.

"He outlined his view of the economy," Bernstein said. "He's very bullish on market forces but doesn't view them as fragile as all that."

Another briefing, on the topic of education, included Jon Schnur — the founder of New Leaders for New Schools, a group focused on improving the quality of school principals — whom the campaign also suggested contacting. Schnur's group isn't directly engaged in the running battles over who controls public schools, but his focus on principals, and his embrace of charter schools, has put him at odds with teachers' unions, a powerful force in the Democratic Party.

"What I appreciated was that [Obama] was focused on what works for kids and what were the barriers for kids," said Schnur, who is not aligned with a presidential candidate. "He seemed open to hearing answers across the ideological and institutional landscape."

The seminars also reflected Obama's newness to the Senate and to national policy debates. Though he had offered some policy planks during his Senate campaign — such as raising fuel emissions standards and pressing for universal health care — he was not entirely familiar with decades of congressional close combat on key issues.

However, his aides were quick to brush aside any notion that Obama was, as some Democrats like to portray President Bush, in need of a basic education on matters of national policy.

"This is not like Condi comes to Texas," said Gibbs. "This is not, 'Here's the map. Here's Russia.'"

[roach9703]

Obama reminds me in many ways of Jack Kennedy. I have not doubt that he has the skills to do whatever he sets his mind to.
The sticking point for me is Rezko who seems to collect and invest in politicians like race horses. Rezko is facing indictments, has operated housing like a slum lord, had connections to George Bush, has been involved in procurement corrpution in Iraq, and finally even shares personal real property with Obama!
Rezko and Obama have been close for seventeen years. Rezko has given extensively to Obama's political efforts.
Obama wrote letters to enable Rezko to buy land and build apartments in Chicago that landed up abusing Obama's constitutants when Obama was a state senator. It is understandable to write for someone, but when they don't perform, should not Obama have acted on the part of his constituants? Is Obama his own man or is he controlled by Rezko?
Go the Sun Timea of Chicago website for details.

[sjc_1]

To me experience is actually being there and doing something very similar to the task that you want to take on. There are no surprises and there is no learning on the job.

You do not depend on advisers to show you the way. You listen to the advice of experts and you let them know the way you are going to go. You ask for feedback and you get their commitment to make it work.

I see nothing in this article that shows me those characteristics. He sounds like someone that is willing to talk to just about everyone to come to a better decision and that is good, just not good enough.

[xzavierbrown]

put this in your 'ideological spectrum' mr obama..dont rely on using the race card or you just nailed yourself to an al shaprton and jessie jackson category..HAVE YOUR OWN IDEOLOGY to abide to..and not someone elses ideology..

[uhenry7]

VP Cheney is an epitom of experience. He too was in need of counsel and advise on energy policy. The difference was obama willingness to listen to even his foes .
What do you define as experience ?

Obama has 8yrs in state senate, 2ys in washinton,
community organiser, lecturer etc. The campaign for presidency of USA in most part is about idea that will work for the American people. Obama is not in want of it. It is also about the ability to assemble advisers , the aptitude to pick the most appropriate advise they offer. Obama has these capacities.I expect a political operative like you to know that politics and governace is essentialy about consultations and execution of ideas. Tell me of any politician who does not seek good counsel the experts. It is one of the virtues of the process.

Mayor Juliani currently leading the republican contenders was a prosecutor and a mayor.
Why is experience not an issue for him .
Non of the contenders has been predidents before.
Any body elected will have to learn, mature into the job.This includes Hillary Clinton, her 2 for the price of one combo not withstanding.Bill clinton balanced the budget,presided over booming economy, the later which most repulicans dispute,.The problems of the clinton years are still here - Health care, terrorrism, social security, immigration, Global worming etc .Untill you bring a convincing arguement against obama programes , you just sound like a another political operative on the job .

[kansas1946]

sjc_1,
Enjoyed your post. It is so refreshing to see some rational thought going into these posts. I actually love Barack, although I do disagree with him on some issues. I am not sure about the experience thing, whether it is a hindrance to a good leader, but I am willing to consider it. What I like about him is his level of mature and pragmatic thinking. There was a quote somewhere, "War is always a catastrophic failure of imagination" and if you think about it, that is true. That is where I think Obama's strengh is, imagination to look at issues from unorthidox angles. He is a thinker and a calm reasioning humban being, and I think just by his beginnings and rise to power he has demonstrated leadership qualities. I would not mind seeing him as VP but I would not be worried with him in the Whitehouse either.

[sjc_1]

Obama has some interesting things to say, but he is going to have to have more than a few interesting things to say to win the national votes.

I personally think that he is too young and inexperienced to be running for President. That has nothing to do with who his mother or father were. We need people that actually know how it works.

We do not need more training on the job, we have had enough of that for more than 6 years now. I would endorse Obama for VP and I think he should start thinking about that.

[infidel_us]

OOOHhhhhhh........FOES!!!!! I thought they said the "H" word; those wacky nappy heads! :)