Report: Top Obama aide leaving W.H.

[EC]

Via Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/white-house-alyssa-mastromonaco-104451.html

A top White House official who has been with President Barack Obama since he first became a senator nine years ago is resigning.

Alyssa Mastromonaco is Obama's deputy chief of staff for operations and often described as the most influential person inside the White House who isn't well known outside of it.

She is responsible for planning presidential events, hiring staff and overseeing the White House complex.

A White House official said Mastromonaco is leaving in May to look for a job in the private sector.

The official said Obama insisted as a condition of her departure that she continue to act as an outside adviser. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on a condition of anonymity.

Mastromonaco joined Obama's Senate office in February 2005 as scheduling director, and oversaw scheduling and advance for his 2008 presidential campaign and during Obama's first term at the White House. She was promoted to deputy chief of staff in 2011.

Figured I'd use the Politico story to start with. Let's see the spin.

[mountaineer]

New York Times excerpts: 

...  By all accounts, her White House titles — deputy chief of staff for operations for the past three years, and scheduling director before that — do not fully convey Ms. Mastromonaco’s role in helping decide how Mr. Obama spends his time, whom he sees, where he goes and whom he appoints.

“She has a power that is relatively scary to people,” said one Democratic activist who declined to be identified.

Nor do the titles hint at Ms. Mastromonaco’s close relationships with both the president and Michelle Obama, after coordinating their lives for so long.

“She’s like family to them,” said Pete Rouse, another of the original circle and Ms. Mastromonaco’s mentor, who left in December. In the 2010 magazine interview, she repeatedly referred to the president as “Barack,” a familiarity almost unheard-of among aides to any president. (Colleagues say she calls him “Mr. President.”)

Ms. Mastromonaco has the lowest profile of that original Obama brain trust, which included Mr. Rouse, David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs and David Plouffe. One reason: Only Mr. Rouse is as reticent with reporters. (Ms. Mastromonaco declined to speak on the record for this article.)

Since January 2005, Ms. Mastromonaco not only has managed Mr. Obama’s schedule and global travel — like secret trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, and the election-eve tour of damage from Hurricane Sandy with Gov. Chris Christie, Republican of New Jersey — but also has had a voice in the strategy behind it all. ...

Ms. Mastromonaco was a bridge to some senators long before she married David Krone, chief of staff to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. They took two days off in November to be married by Justice Elena Kagan at the Supreme Court, witnessed only by Ms. Mastromonaco’s aides.

A big loss, colleagues say, will be her institutional memory, which Ms. Mastromonaco has tapped to inform deliberations with reminders of presidential promises made, favors done and debts owed by and to others.  ...

:nometalk:

[mountaineer]

A 2013 story from National Journal:

In no building is the location of your office more a sign of your influence than in the White House. And in the Obama White House, no one has moved up more than Mastromonaco. In most of the first term, her office was on the ground floor. Then, her title was director of scheduling and advance.

 But now, in the second term, she has moved upstairs. Her office is right next to the president's study, reflecting her new title as deputy chief of staff for operations.

 Pete Rouse, counselor to the president, has said that when the president "thinks his life is out of control, or there's too much going on, he calls Alyssa."

David Axelrod, the president's longtime aide, says her influence goes well beyond her job title. "A master of logistics, she began as the scheduler in Obama's Senate office and has become the go-to person in the White House for all administrative matters," says Axelrod.

Mastromonaco, 37, is a native of the Hudson Valley town of Rhinebeck, N.Y. She attended the University of Vermont before she was bitten by the political bug as an intern to then-Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. She then transferred to the University of Wisconsin, where she majored in political science. Mastromonaco worked for Obama when he was a senator, played a key scheduling role in the presidential campaign, and has been one of the president's top advisers since.

It never ceases to amaze me just how many radical leftists there are in this country.

[Gazoo]

Via Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/white-house-alyssa-mastromonaco-104451.html

Figured I'd use the Politico story to start with. Let's see the spin.

I imagine you tend think to the center, if not pretty far left left being where you are from. From that standpoint do you objectively see the U.S. media bias for Obama, or not? I have seen you comment the MAIL UK is right leaning or was it just that they are unreliable? Is the other UK paper that is more left-leaning more reliable news?

[Gazoo]

Does anyone have a link to a running list of all of the turnovers in the Obama WH? Is it me or could Obama hold the record for the most turnovers/people that quit? I know several on his economic team left and then spoke out how insane it was. Were they audited?

[musiclady]

She is responsible for planning presidential events

Well, this part doesn't take much time.......   

[massadvj]

A 2013 story from National Journal:It never ceases to amaze me just how many radical leftists there are in this country.

They groom them.  They're like the Borg.

[EC]

I imagine you tend think to the center, if not pretty far left left being where you are from. From that standpoint do you objectively see the U.S. media bias for Obama, or not? I have seen you comment the MAIL UK is right leaning or was it just that they are unreliable? Is the other UK paper that is more left-leaning more reliable news?

I suppose, yeah, I am more of a centerist than anything else, which makes me pretty right wing in the UK! 

From here though, it is hard to find any of the mainstream US media who do not show bias for Obama. Sometimes it is subtle - CNN is pretty good at simply not covering certain stories, for example, but it is often ridiculously blatant.
I know Fox seems to be the exception - so far - but it's only one channel.

The Mail is right leaning, yes. Unfortunately it believes in the finest traditions of yellow journalism and scare mongering. You are better off with the Telegraph. They at least usually fact check before running a story.

 

[Chieftain]

Mastromonaco, 37, is a native of the Hudson Valley town of Rhinebeck, N.Y. She attended the University of Vermont before she was bitten by the political bug as an intern to then-Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. She then transferred to the University of Wisconsin, where she majored in political science. Mastromonaco worked for Obama when he was a senator, played a key scheduling role in the presidential campaign, and has been one of the president's top advisers since.

Ms. Mastromonaco was a bridge to some senators long before she married David Krone, chief of staff to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. They took two days off in November to be married by Justice Elena Kagan at the Supreme Court, witnessed only by Ms. Mastromonaco’s aides.

Does this speak volumes about what the hell has been going on for the last five years??  We're talking a virtual shadow government here, and that's before we bring people like Valerie Jarrett into the picture. 

I have to wonder how often her email address has popped up in IRS correspondence and whether she knew Lois Lerner when she worked at the Federal Elections Commission.

For starters.

Most of the original Obama Brain Trust have long fled back to academia and that isn't unusual.  Most second termers have tremendous Staff turnover simply because the pace during the first term was brutal on them, and they are grateful to hand off the baton to someone else in the second.  This one is a bit more than that though.  Think about all of the Obama events we have seen over the past five years and wondered who in the hell set that up and exposed the President to ridicule.  I wonder which event was the final straw...perhaps the selfies with the hot Danish cupcake....

It will be interesting to see how things change, and change they will.....

[Howie66]

A 2013 story from National Journal:It never ceases to amaze me just how many radical leftists there are in this country.

Just further evidence that the late Senator Joe McCarthy was right on target. The Obama Regime validates and vindicates McCarthy, daily.

[Chieftain]

Just further evidence that the late Senator Joe McCarthy was right on target. The Obama Regime validates and vindicates McCarthy, daily.

Yes, but this goes a lot deeper with the direct line to Harry Reid...

[Bigun]

Just further evidence that the late Senator Joe McCarthy was right on target. The Obama Regime validates and vindicates McCarthy, daily.

Joe McCarthy was right on target for sure and this has been validated many times but the media still hides the fact from most!

Anyone who buys into the "Communism is dead" line is severely delusional!

[Howie66]

Does this speak volumes about what the hell has been going on for the last five years??  We're talking a virtual shadow government here, and that's before we bring people like Valerie Jarrett into the picture. 

I have to wonder how often her email address has popped up in IRS correspondence and whether she knew Lois Lerner when she worked at the Federal Elections Commission.

For starters.

Most of the original Obama Brain Trust have long fled back to academia and that isn't unusual.  Most second termers have tremendous Staff turnover simply because the pace during the first term was brutal on them, and they are grateful to hand off the baton to someone else in the second.  This one is a bit more than that though.  Think about all of the Obama events we have seen over the past five years and wondered who in the hell set that up and exposed the President to ridicule.  I wonder which event was the final straw...perhaps the selfies with the hot Danish cupcake....

It will be interesting to see how things change, and change they will.....

Very interesting take, Chieftain.

For myself, I'm praying to wake up one fine morning to reports that our military has decided to go "Egyptian" on Obama....... "For The Children", of course.

[Howie66]

Yes, but this goes a lot deeper with the direct line to Harry Reid...

Indeed. That's exactly what Senator McCarthy was warning us about.

[Howie66]

Joe McCarthy was right on target for sure and this has been validated many times but the media still hides the fact from most!

Anyone who buys into the "Communism is dead" line is severely delusional!

One only needs to visit the CPUSA website http://cpusa.org/to see that Communism is very much alive and active in the democRAT Party. They made no bones at all in endorsing Obama in 2008 and again in 2012.

[Fishrrman]

[[ Does anyone have a link to a running list of all of the turnovers in the Obama WH? Is it me or could Obama hold the record for the most turnovers/people that quit? I know several on his economic team left and then spoke out how insane it was. Were they audited? ]]

My guess is that in all of the above, they "crossed" Valerie...

[Gazoo]

I suppose, yeah, I am more of a centerist than anything else, which makes me pretty right wing in the UK! 

From here though, it is hard to find any of the mainstream US media who do not show bias for Obama. Sometimes it is subtle - CNN is pretty good at simply not covering certain stories, for example, but it is often ridiculously blatant.
I know Fox seems to be the exception - so far - but it's only one channel.

The Mail is right leaning, yes. Unfortunately it believes in the finest traditions of yellow journalism and scare mongering. You are better off with the Telegraph. They at least usually fact check before running a story.

 

Remember around the beginning of Obama's Presidencywhen the UK printed a story about Obama and the Baghdad Bob Jay said, something like, are you going to believe that overseas trash?

The US AP/Reuters now, prints a lot of MAIL UK stories.

[Oceander]

*  *  *

I have to wonder how often her email address has popped up in IRS correspondence and whether she knew Lois Lerner when she worked at the Federal Elections Commission.

*  *  *

You may be closer than you think.  The timing of Lois Lerner's promises to talk to Congress in the future, coupled with this leave, may indicate that she was involved in politicizing the IRS and that Lerner has been stalling to give the White House enough time to thoroughly scrub the WH computer systems of those emails as well as, perhaps, WH logs that would show who had been visiting her from IRS.