The Woman Beside Obama…and I’m Not Talking About Michelle
Posted by Michelle Moquin on November 13th, 2009
The saying used to be, ‘Behind every great man, there’s a great woman, ‘ no longer applies to the modern woman….well maybe except for those modern women who are happy to walk behind their men. A nod to Ruth who posted, ‘Behind every man there’s a smart woman,’ a few days ago. Just love that Ruth.
So, I’m changing the tune one more time and saying, ‘Beside every great man is a smart woman.’ And Obama is lucky; he has two. We all have had the chance to get to know Michelle Obama over this past year, and I can safely say, we all think she is the cat’s meow. But what about his other leading lady?
She is a woman who doesn’t like to be in the limelight. She would rather have the attention off of herself and the focus be on ‘the team’. So it’s no surprise that we don’t see her often in the media. But from what I have read and heard, every important decision that Obama needs to make is run by her first. She is the other woman beside Obama. The woman I am referring to is Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s official advisor.
Ms. Jarrett is one cool lady; I’d like her on my personal team. Here’s the article that I think you will enjoy too, just in case you want a quick read instead of watching the video:
Washington (CNN) — Valerie Jarrett does not like to talk about herself.
I know this because we’ve sat down on numerous occasions for interviews, going back to the early days of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. But this one was perhaps the most challenging because the focus was on her.
She is fiercely loyal to Obama, as one of his closest friends. But she also advises him as president, with the title of Senior Adviser and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison.
The ultimate insider does not spill the beans. But doing a series on the power players inside the White House would not be complete without looking at Jarrett’s role.
She has called her relationship with the president a “mind meld.”
“We’re good friends who have known each other for a long time,” Jarrett says. “Eighteen years, you get a pretty good sense of him.”
Her first sense of him came in 1991 when Obama was a young law professor in Chicago, Illinois.
Jarrett was interviewing his fiancée, the future first lady, Michelle Robinson, for a job in Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s office. The protective partner, Obama, was making sure Jarrett was on the up and up.
Jarrett first explained the scene when I interviewed her in May 2008.
“They sat next to each other and when she was speaking he would just look at her with this adoring look,”Jarrett said with a laugh, “but he was really tough on me in the nicest possible way.”
The three became fast friends. Now Obama says he runs every important decision by Jarrett, trusts her completely and considers her family.
When I bring this to her attention she accepts her role humbly.
“Well, I hope he would trust me the way any close friend does. He knows I have his best interest at heart and that I understand, because I’m part of the administration, the myriad of challenges he faces,” Jarrett says. “So I hope he views me a sounding board, someone who’s going to be honest, direct and candid with him at all times.”
She laughs when I suggest perhaps she is his consigliere.
“You can tell I’m uncomfortable with this,” she says when I try to get her to focus more on her role.
She does not like to be singled out from the rest of the White House team.
Instead she paints a picture of what it would be like if I were in an Oval Office meeting with the president.
“When everyone’s done talking, if there’ve been a couple of people who’ve been quiet, he’ll say, ‘Well, Suzanne, what do you think of this issue?’ ” Jarrett says.
She describes his style in running the meetings as “accommodating.”
“He reads people very well. He’s extraordinarily perceptive. He can tell from the body language if someone is uncomfortable with something,” Jarrett says.
But she can also read the president’s body language when he’s heard enough talk.
“He’s not moody, but you can tell when he’s ready for a conversation to end,” Jarrett says. “He enjoys making sure there is robust debate, but when he’s finished with debate he’s finished. He’s ready to move on. So I can detect when enough is enough, let’s bring in the next issue.”
Jarrett says newcomers to the administration have pulled her aside to get her take on how things were going.
“Particularly early on, people who didn’t know the president as well as I did would come to me after a meeting and say ‘What did he really mean? I know he said this, but what is he really thinking?’ and I took such delight in being able to say he meant exactly what he said. That’s who he is.”
It’s the intangibles that Jarrett sometimes brings to the table.
“People are always looking for the hidden intent, the body language, and he is about as straight a shooter as you’re going to ever come across. So I think part of what I do is go around and give people some comfort to really trust what he said. He meant exactly what he said. You can take him at face value.”
Jarrett says the president does not make deals after his meetings are done. People don’t trail him through the back door trying to change his mind.
“That’s just not the way he operates,” Jarrett says. “He likes to hear from everybody at the same time. Then he makes a decision.”
Jarrett’s job includes acting as a liaison to the business community and conducting outreach to African-American groups. But it’s her role as confidante to the president that makes her the ultimate insider.
Jarrett sits in on Obama’s daily briefings in the morning that deal with national security and the economy. She also attends policy meetings regarding the president’s agenda on health care, energy and education. She facilitates and hosts small groups of CEOs to have lunch with Obama. And she heads the Office of Public Engagement as the president’s contact with outside groups.
Jarrett says she also spends “a good deal of time” with Michelle Obama both personally and professionally. Part of her portfolio is working closely with the first lady’s team, “making sure there’s seamless interaction between the East and West Wings.”
Jarrett occupies the office previously used by Karl Rove and former first lady Hillary Clinton.
She is often the only woman in the room in briefings with the president. But she dismisses talk of tension with “the boys,” as some of the male power players are referred to in the White House.
“We really do pull together as a team,” Jarrett says.
While Jarrett’s ability to freelance as the president’s senior adviser has rankled some, Jarrett says being inside the circle of power is a “warm” and “inclusive” environment.
As for Obama’s all-male pickup basketball games, Jarrett says that’s not where the real power resides.
“I think what’s really important is who does the president surround himself with and give substantial responsibilities to.”
Jarrett’s got plenty of responsibility.
Her challenge is separating her friendship with the president from her job. Often she takes her cues from where she stands.
“If we’re in the Oval Office, I call him “Mr. President.” It’s very formal. I think it’s appropriate. It’s not just deferential to him but to the office,” Jarrett says.
“I really try to compartmentalize our friendship and what my role is outside the office, and my role as senior adviser.”
When I ask her if that’s a difficult thing to do, requiring her to flip a switch, she says “no.” She says when she’s in the Oval Office, they’re all about business, outside, “everything but business.”
“The one thing I don’t do is try to mix the two. I don’t try to be his friend when we’re having a business conversation and I try not to burden him with office issues when trying to have downtime,” Jarrett says.
When they’re hanging out as friends, it’s often indulging in their favorite pastime.
“We like to eat,” Jarrett says with a hearty laugh. “He’s a healthy eater. I’m not. We have a lot of wonderful conversations around the dinner table — something we’ve always enjoyed.”
But now that dinner table is in the White House. The movies they enjoy watching, they now take in at the White House movie theater. But despite that, Jarrett insists her longtime friend is the same.
She says what she finds “so appealing” is he’s still “grounded.”
“He has a very good sense of self, he’s steady. His temperament is very predictable,” she says.
A year after Obama captured the White House, Jarrett is still in awe.
“Not a day goes by I don’t pinch myself and treasure this experience and opportunity to serve this president who also happens to be my friend.”
*************
Hey Zen Lill: I was going to respond to your ditch digger comment, but the boys on the blog said it better than I ever could – thank you. BTW…liked the e-mail that you received – an oldie but a goodie. I hope work picks up for you.
Mike: I am tempted to join too. That Ann Coulter is a total trip. When ever I watch her my mouth is agape; I can’t believe she is for real. I feel the same way when I watch Rush -They need to bed each other if they haven’t already. - they’re perfect together.
Hi Anna - Hi Peter- Hafa Adai.
BTK: Thanks for posting. No disrespect to all of you veterans reading, but Veterans Day caught me on a bad day, and I was speechless that morning as you can tell from my post yesterday. In my mind there should be no other choice but to give the men and women that fight for our country the care and benefits that are due to them. If we can afford to spend billions on bombs, we can afford to take care of the people who risk their lives every day. This issue should never be an issue.
Linda: Good article -thanks for posting. And yes some men are loony…some women are too.
Kent: Hello Mate. Sorry for all of the trouble you have had making a comment but it looks like your wish has come true. If you have to join something to get on my blog, I certainly don’t know about it. So…I guess my blog address is still on your bar? :) Good luck with the Mensa girls…and school.
Alexander: Hi there. Thanks for the info to share. I want to know if there was anything to learn behind the space shuttle Columbia’s explosion on February 1st, besides the shocking organization problems discovered that we are already privy to, - any surprises we need to know about?
Readers: I am done. It is a tad early for me this morning to articulate as well as I would have liked to. And this weekend I am in a workshop from 8am-6pm Saturday and Sunday. Just giving you a heads up…I’ll still be here checkin’ in and writing a little, but don’t expect much from me.
Happy Friday….flap those lips if you wish…
Peace out.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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November 13th, 2009 at 8:53 am
As I read your post I knew you would input the phrase, “…woman beside…” That one was good. Jarrett shows how human this team is.
November 13th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Alexander H., I will not shoot you, you have been there and done that. However, I am a little disappointed in your behavior of late.
It must be wonderful to have a young Woman companion who you can have sexual relations with. It must be a long time since the last one.
I was honored to speak to you via this blog, but I feel the expression “Pussywhipped” applies to you lately. Anything Bita wants, Bita gets — all because she offers you entrance to her private parts.
Now you seem to be acting like a teenage boy infatuated with a female classmate.
Adam should feel like a third wheel. You pay all your attention to this Woman. There are many historical facts that Michelle’s blog readers might like to hear about other that your relationship with Vita. Do not forget that it was Adam who picked you up and brought you with him through time and space to observe history and be his companion at the same time.
Perhaps a little more attention towards Adam is called for.
I have invited all three of you to talk in person, yet I never received an answer either way. Where have your manners gone?
Tell us about what went on in 2003 when George Bush went to war with the Mideast. There are those who would love to know the facts.
HOWIE
November 13th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Viv, Adam, Tal, or any other Tao available, I miss hearing from the Tao on Michelle’s Blog. Where are you, and what are you up to? Why does no one chime in anymore?
Surely soomeone is within range of this blog. There Are many who would love to hear from you. Especially Me!
HOWIE
November 14th, 2009 at 3:24 am
Howie:
You are so very observant. I am very pleased that you will not shoot me. Your disappointment in my behavior is noted.
To say it is wonderful to have a young woman companion is the understatement of one who has given up on the pleasures of enjoying the pleasures of the energetic, naive, anxious to please sweet things. You have my sympathies.
Yes it is “wonderful” to have the pleasures of such a beautiful young woman. Sexual is indeed one of them, but their are others. She brings with her the simple pleasures of watching her in any dress or state of being. She has a mind that lends itself to discussion on her level and her terms. I am simply accepting her terms.
“Pussywhipped” you say, I like the term. I make no apologies about being “pussywhipped” by Bita. If you or any man were to have the pleasure of being “pussywhipped” by Bita, you would feel so you would feel so blessed that the world “pussywhipped” would be a badge of honor they would wear with pleasure.
As for the supposition that it has been a long time since I was with a beautiful woman before Bita, I beg to disagree. I have been pleasuring and being pleasured by every tender willing sweet thing I have encountered since Adam and I have become time traveling companions.
You should feel “honored” to speak to one of the fathers of your country. If I may be a bit immodest , but if your history were to be more accurate, you would already know that..
Oh to be “a teenage boy initiated with a schoolmate again.
Adam can no more feel like “a third wheel” than you can understand the nature of such beings as Adam. Ask what you will, but understand that you are talking to a man with huge physical desires. I have served my country when it needed it most, but even then it was tempered by my carnal desires.
Yes, I owe much to Adam, but I am a human with human desires and emotions. Adam knew that from the beginning.
AH
November 19th, 2009 at 2:52 am
[...] Hey Zen Lill: I was going to respond to your ditch digger comment, but the boys on the blog said it better than I ever could – thank you . BTW…liked the e-mail that you received – an oldie but a goodie. I hope work picks up for you . … No disrespect to all of you veterans reading, but Veterans Day caught me on a bad day , and I was speechless that morning as you can tell from my post yesterday. In my mind there should be no other choice but to give the men and women that …More [...]