Obama’s New Deputy Chief of Staff a Former Blogger
More than that, but it is a sign of changing times and the mainstreaming of blogging.
Mona Sutphen, a former diplomat, Clinton NSC aide and Rahm Emanuel’s Chief of Staff, has been named White House Deputy Chief of Staff – a powerful, albeit very “insider”, post. Until last February, Sutphen was also briefly a foreign policy blogger at The Next American Century , which was a short-lived vehicle to promote The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise
a book Sutphen co-authored with Nina Hachigian.
I have not read their book ( nor heard of it before today, to be frank) but from listening to Sutphen and Hachigan opine on their infomercial video (see below) The Next American Century sounds more or less as a breezy and happy version of the themes in Thomas P. M. Barnett’s yet to be released Great Powers: America and the World After Bush
Be interesting if anyone out there has a copy of the Sutphen-Hachigan book to see if they cited PNM or BFA in the footnotes or index.
A final point, that Obama is moving such relatively young faces, like Mona Sutphen, to high posts is a good sign. Regardless of how my more liberal readers and fellow FP/mil/Intel/security bloggers may feel, the Democratic bench in these areas range from fair to decidely weak with a shortage of “stars” in the critical late 40’s to middle 50’s age band that normally fill the first through second tier appointive posts (of course, that deficit partly comes from liberal activist hostility toward more conservative Democrats like Sam Nunn or Lee Hamilton who are always shortlisted but never appointed). Normally, you need a talent pool at least 2-3 deep at each position to handle the burnout, transience and delay in confirmation hearings that every administration faces. The Democrats have to build up that pool instead of relying on ancient Carter and aging Boomer, Clinton retreads ( even so, look to seeing a lot of familiar GOP faces seatwarming in the first year in the bureaucracy, unless the Senate rushes through every Obama appointment in record time).
November 16th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
"the Democratic bench in these areas range from fair to decidely weak with a shortage of “stars” in the critical late 40’s to middle 50’s age band that normally fill the first through second tier appointive posts (of course, that deficit partly comes from liberal activist hostility toward more conservative Democrats likeSam Nunn or Lee Hamilton who are always shortlisted but never appointed)."I’d say the weak bench comes from being out of power for 8 years with no Democratic appointments in that area, as opposed to Clinton who appointed a fair number of Republicans (Woolsey, Cohen).Sam Nunn is 70 and Lee Hamilton is 78 – a bit old to be taking on SecDef.
November 16th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
She looks young for it. Jobs like that eat people alive. I want someone, male or female, with the eyes I see on Rahm: hard, even cruel, and used to fighting and winning pitiless bureaucratic and political battles, with no naivete. James Baker always struck me that way. He had a way of smiling, like old, very white executives used to have, that had no humor in it at all. His laughter was the chuckling condescension of power. Obama better find some more people like that, with faces like stone hatchets. If not, he is going to get rolled.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:40 am
"the Democratic bench in these areas range from fair to decidely weak with a shortage of “stars” in the critical late 40’s to middle 50’s age band"Yes, because people who think the Internet is a series of tubes are exactly the people we need to drive 21st century policy
November 17th, 2008 at 5:37 am
I think Obama intends to move in the Treasury, DHS, DoD, State, etc. apointees first, then move on to things that, frankly, aren’t quite as urgent, like HHS or Education. And by the way, Gunnar, I thought it was Ted Stevens who thought the Internet is a series of tubes. And Ted isn’t late 40s-mid 50s, he’s 85 tomorrow.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:44 am
It is not just being out of power for _8_ years. The Dems have had the White House with Clinton and Carter – before that was who, Johnson? Coupled with the general liberal/Dem distrust of "hard power," no wonder the bench is so thin.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Cool blog. A related issue is Obama’s membership in Generation Jones (between the Boomers and Generation X). I’ve seen quite a few very credible experts emphatically insist that Obama is part of GenJones; if Obama’s generational identity is of interest to you, you should definitely click this link…it goes to a page filled with lots of articles and video of famous people arguing that Obama is a GenJoneser: http://www.generationjones.com/2008election.html
November 18th, 2008 at 3:32 am
A little off topic but why hasn’t Barnett and John Robb done a "Bloggingheads" session? They’re by far the best thinkers on globalization today.
November 18th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Hi everyone,
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In no particular order:
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Lex – Agreed. Sutphen does not recall the stentorian bark of Al Haig or the cold, flinty, eye of a Harry Hopkins or the insider brass knuckles of a Richard Darman. I think Obama expects to get that from Emanuel and Podesta who looks sort of like a Roman senator of the mid-Republic. OTOH, deputies should complement their boss and not be their clones. Sutphen brings policy content to the table in foreign affairs and I can see some ppl on the Hill taking her calls because they can’t stand talking to Emanuel.
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Seerov – I’m not sure what "Bloggingheads" is – pretty sure Tom would not know either unless Sean Meade does.
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Sarah D – Thanks! It’s not all that cool though – more like a halfway house for national security junkies. The GenJones thing is also news to me though reasonable since there isn’t much agreement where the Boomers end and GenX begins.
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andrewdb – Agreed. Exactly.
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Gunnar – Not sure what your point is but that may be me as it is late and I’m feeling quite tired tonight. Expand if you like.
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Adrian – Yes. I think Clinton appointed moderate Republicans because of the thin bench and the fact that actual leftist progressive Dems simply are unconfirmable. Tony Lake was bonged immediately when he was floated as a CIA director by Clinton and he’s not even on the Left wing of the Left wing of the party
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Patton – you called it, State is in the news today w. HRC
November 20th, 2008 at 5:16 am
Zen, "Bloggingheads" is a website in which two people with differing views on a subject, discuss and debate their ideas while sitting in front of a web-cam. I’m including the link below, check out the past debaters and watch a session yourself. I think you and the other readers of this site will like it.
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http://bloggingheads.tv/