Salon.com > Denis McDonough

Aloof, shifty Obama: Nixon times ten thousand!

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:07:00 +0000

According to Jay Carney, everyone in the White House knew about the big IRS scandal for a few weeks before it went public. Everyone except the president because this whole month has been a season-long plot arc on HBO's "Veep." (Speaking of, where's Joe Biden been lately?) Everyone was afraid to tell their boss about this dumb thing the IRS did, and then he learned about it on the news, and now he is probably super pissed.

Clearly Obama is a horrible boss, and the White House is a toxic work environment, probably, where people are afraid to report bad news to their superiors. Just like Nixon, times ten thousand.

Who’s held accountable for Iraq?

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:45:00 +0000

After 10 years, $2 trillion spent, an estimated 1 million civilians casualties, and almost 37,000 U.S. troops deceased or injured, one of the biggest enduring stories of the Iraq War has to be how little the debacle changed anything in the United States (or, arguably, in Iraq).

Marco Rubio threatens White House leaked immigration bill would be “dead on arrival”

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:05:00 +0000

While he's said that he would prefer to let a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers draft their own bill, President Barack Obama also revealed last month that the White House had already worked on draft legislation that could offer more than 11 million undocumented immigrants a pathway to residency.

And today, that legislation leaked.

According to USA Today, the proposal would create a new visa that would allow illegal immigrants to become legal permanent residents within eight years, then opening up a pathway to citizenship. Other features of the draft proposal, as reported by USA Today:

Sunday morning show roundup: On the GOP’s Twitter problem, Hagel, immigration and political “scrum”

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 18:20:00 +0000

The political talk shows focused on (surprise!) Hagel, guns, immigration and -- in a rare appearance from Mitt Romney's former senior strategist Stuart Stevens -- the GOP's Twitter aversion.

Highlights below:

On whether or not the Republican party has a "140 character" problem

Shortly after the presidential elections, Stuart Stevens managed to alienate many on the Right for assigning blame for Mitt Romney's loss on everything but the campaign itself. When ABC’s chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl asked Stevens about a cover story in the New York Times Magazine asking if the GOP has a technology problem -- and Stevens' own campaign Twitter aversion -- the former strategist stayed the course, saying:

Obama picks foreign policy aide as chief of staff

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:47:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has chosen longtime trusted adviser and national security expert Denis McDonough as his fifth chief of staff.

A White House official said Obama will announce McDonough's appointment Friday in the East Room. McDonough, 43, will take over the key West Wing role from Jack Lew, Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary.

McDonough has advised Obama on foreign policy for nearly a decade and most recently served as the president's deputy national security adviser. He is highly regarded by White House staffers.

McDonough's place in Obama's inner circle was illustrated during the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011. He is among those whose images are captured in a White House photograph seated in the situation room with Obama and other senior officials watching the raid unfold.

The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak before the president's announcement, said McDonough has played a key role in all of Obama's major national security decisions in recent years, including the end of the war in Iraq, winding down the war in Afghanistan, responses to natural disasters in Haiti and Japan and repeal of the military's ban on openly gay service members.

AP sources: Denis McDonough likely for chief of staff

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:14:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is likely to name Denis McDonough, one of his closest national security advisers, as his next chief of staff, according to people familiar with the White House thinking.

However, White House officials say a final decision has not been made.

In tapping McDonough, Obama would be relying on an inner circle ally for the key West Wing post. McDonough, 43, currently serves as the president's deputy national security adviser and is highly regarded by Obama and White House staffers.

McDonough would replace current White House chief of staff Jack Lew, the president's nominee for treasury secretary.

The people familiar with the White House thinking spoke on condition of anonymity because there has been no announcement an appointment.

Before his tenure in the White House, McDonough served as Obama's main adviser on foreign policy issues during the 2008 presidential campaign. Earlier, he worked as a foreign policy specialist in Congress, including as a senior foreign policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

McDonough would be Obama's fifth chief of staff. Rahm Emanuel, William Daly and Pete Rouse, as interim chief of staff, preceded Lew in the job.