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Obama Posse List
Jul
24
Ketanji Brown Jackson graduated magna cum laude and cum laude from Harvard and HLS where she was an editor on the Harvard Law Review. She then clercked for three federal judges not the least of which was Justice Stephen G. Breyer. (Wonder what she did with that big bonus firms like to lavish SCOTUS clerks…) Before joining Morrison Foerster, Ms. Jackson was an an Assistant Federal Public Defender. After all that, the only thing left for a girl to do is join the Obama Posse. From TheBLT:
President Barack Obama has nominated Ketanji Jackson, of counsel to the D.C. office of Morrison & Foerster, to fill a spot on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Jackson, 38, would be one of seven voting members of the commission, which overseas the sentencing guidelines used by federal judges and advises Congress on criminal law. The position is part-time, requires confirmation by the Senate, and would end in October 2013.
Jun
22
White House Advisor, Melody C. Barnes Jumps The Broom
Filed Under Obama Posse List, Style • Leave a Comment
At the moment broadcasters proclaimed Barack Hussein Obama the next president of the United States, a friend cued Sam Cooke’s, “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Yesterday, we couldn’t help but recall those lyrics as we read The New York Times Sunday Vows column featuring President Obama’s chief domestic policy adviser, Melody and her new husband, Marland Buckner Jr.
The song opens with Sam explaining, “I was born by the river…” as was Mrs. Buckner whose birthplace rests on the James River.
Oh and just like the river I’ve been running ever since.
MELODY C. BARNES and Marland Buckner Jr. first bumped into each other about a decade ago in a breezy chance meeting on Capitol Hill. …Ms. Barnes, now 45 and President Obama’s chief domestic policy adviser, was then chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Mr. Buckner was a legislative aide for Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York. “I was a random junior staffer so she quite appropriately paid me no mind,” Mr. Buckner, 42, said…What he didn’t know was that Ms. Barnes, who is known for her sharp mind and impeccable dress, was still searching for a soul-mate.
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
It’s been too hard living…
She and her friends often joked about the cast of characters who came courting, including the date who announced that his primary passion was whittling. But one of those conversations left Ms. Barnes in tears, recalled Laurie Rubiner, her good friend.
“We laughed about it, but it was heartbreaking,” Ms. Rubiner said. “Here is a 45-year-old woman who is so successful, yet the one thing that really defined success for her, family and love, was something she didn’t have.”
More details of the romance and a bit of Sam Cooke after the jump. Read more
Mar
18
The “Obama Women”
Filed Under Everything Obama, Obama Posse List • Leave a Comment
That’s what the Washington Post has termed the black women in President Barack Obama’s inner circle. Many of them are lawyers–Valerie Jarrett, Melody Barnes, Cassandra Butts–who we’ve introduced you to previously. A few new ones have been added to the mix.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson has become fast friends with Washington insider, Donna Brazile, and the women in the federal government.
When Jackson, with bodyguard in tow, walks through the corridors of the EPA’s vast complex in the Federal Triangle, she invariably is stopped by one of her employees, often an African American woman, who says, “Thank you for being here.” She is reminded not only of the history Obama made but also of the history she is making. Black women make up about 192,000 of the more than 1.7 million members of the federal workforce, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
The article goes on discuss further the role of African American women in past administrations.
Women earn about two-thirds of the associate and bachelor’s degrees awarded to black students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and Bureau of Labor data show that more than 2.6 million black women were employed in management and professional jobs last year. The women working for Obama have helped run Chicago city government, led nonprofit organizations, held top jobs at think tanks and influential positions on Capitol Hill.
Even so, women and minorities still lack representation in proportion to their numbers on the federal level. In Congress, only 90 members are women, 42 are African American, 28 are Latino and nine are Asian. Of late, black women have done better in Cabinet-level appointments and senior White House positions. President Bill Clinton appointed two black women to his Cabinet and several served in senior White House positions. President George W. Bush named Condoleezza Rice his national security adviser and later secretary of state, making her the highest-ranking black woman in the country’s history.
It was only 32 years ago that President Jimmy Carter appointed Patricia Roberts Harris to serve as secretary of housing and urban development, making her the first black woman in the presidential line of succession. Harris said at the time of her HUD appointment that her gender and race made her a “two for one” and called the hoopla around her nomination the result of “tragic exclusion.” In stories about her experience as the first, she described herself as lonely.
Mar
2
Ron Kirk, nominated as U.S. Trade Representative in the Obama administration, owes an estimated $10,000 in back taxes from earlier in the decade and has agreed to make his payments, the Senate Finance Committee said Monday.
The committee said the taxes arise from Kirk’s handling of speaking fees that he donated to his alma mater, and for his deduction of the full cost of season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team.
The disclosure made the former Dallas mayor the latest in a string of top-level Obama administration appointees found to have underpaid their taxes, following Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle, who withdrew as candidate for Health and Human Services secretary. Nancy Killefer, Obama’s pick for chief performance officer, also bowed out amid tax problems.
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said Kirk was working to clear up “a few minor issues” uncovered by the committee and expressed confidence he would be confirmed.
Jan
30
GULC or Obama White House?
Filed Under Obama Posse List, Something Else • Leave a Comment
Joshua DuBois was settling into his first year at GULC when he opted to leave law school in order to campaign for then Senator Obama. DuBois, pentecostal preacher, says that God lead him to find a way to merge his passion for ministry and public service. According to the NYTimes, President Obama plans to name the 26-year-old to head the office of faith-based initiatives. See, had you used God as your compass rather than having a 30 year relationship with student loan creditors, you too could be a friend of President Obama who had this to say about DuBois:
“Josh is a great friend and has really led the way for Democrats in terms of faith outreach,” Sen. Obama said in an email. “The grassroots conversations we’ve held across the country, our landmark evangelical meetings…are helping to change our nation, person by person.” - WSJ
From the BostonGlobe:
DuBois graduated cum laude from BU in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. From BU, he went to Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and National Affairs, where he earned a master’s degree in public affairs in 2005. He then enrolled in the part-time program at Georgetown University Law School, but he left for the campaign.
DuBois got his feet wet working for Reps. Holt and Rangel, but all the while, he had his eyes fixed on Team Obama.
DuBois decided he wanted to work for Obama, then a candidate for the US Senate. He wrote to Obama’s campaign manager and got a form rejection. After Obama arrived in Washington, DuBois twice drove to his office but failed to get a job interview. After a third appeal, Obama hired him as a Senate aide. Part of his job was addressing faith issues.
Jan
29
Danielle with Mom and President Obama
We’ve reported before on the bright future that awaits SCOTUS clerks. Well, Danielle Gray’s star is on the rise. A former clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer, Danielle took a leave of absence from Skadden to be Deputy National Policy Director for the Obama campaign. Now she’s headed to the White House. TheNewsReview has a great profile on Gray.
Here are some tidbits from UnderneathTheirRobes:
(a) after clerking for Big Pimpin’ Feeder Judge Merrick Garland, Danielle Gray worked on the policy staff of Barack Obama’s Senate campaign, then joined the Washington office of O’Melveny & Myers (her current place of employment);
(b) originally from Long Island, she went down south to Duke for college;
(c) not surprisingly, she is “an ardentBlue Devils fan,” who “adores J.J. Redickand most of all Coach K”;
(d) “she performed superbly in a 1L Ames [moot court] competition against two current members of the Elect, Michael Gottlieb and [Dorothy] Hien Tran (who were also outstanding, and who are now Danielle’s good friends)”;
(e) Danielle “came up with an incisive interpretation of Shaw v. Reno during a Law of Democracy class at Harvard Law School that was thereafter known as the ‘Gray Thesis’ (I’m not positive, but the Gray Thesis may have shown up on the exam)”;
(f) she was one of the three primary authors of the Harvard BLSA (Black Law Students Association) amicus brief in Grutter v. Bollinger;
(g) she was voted “most likely to be a Supreme Court justice” by the HLS class of 2003 (the honor won by future Stevens clerk Sam Spital in 2004);
(h) she has “a keen sense of humor”; and
(i) she is “an all-around delightful person,” “one of the most charming people you’ll ever meet” — “[i]f you don’t like Danielle, you are per se a bad person!”
OBABL searched high and low for a picture of Jason Green. Though we were unable to find one, the facts we picked up–raised in the affluent black DC suburb of Prince George’s County, the son of a minister, his ease with the audience at an A.M.E. church–give us confidence that Green is indeed a brother. A profile we found on Green suggests either Green is a genius or Yale isn’t as tough as one might think. While attending YLS, the campaigner headed religious outreach efforts in PG County for now-Maryland Gov. O’Malley then spent his 3rd year mailing his law exams back to Yale from the Obama campaign trail. Way to get your hustle on, son. From LasVegasSun:
At First African Methodist Episcopal Church in North Las Vegas on Sunday, Green, in a conservative blue suit, grooved to the fast, virtuosic performance of the choir. Then when the Rev. Ralph Williamson introduced him and gave a taste of his bio, the crowd nodded their heads in deep approval. He stood poised in a front pew.
“Hello, church,” he said, which is the proper greeting at A.M.E.
“You know, these are turbulent times. We are in the midst of an escalating war. Economic reports show that we aren’t producing jobs at the rate we should. More than 47 million Americans don’t have health care. And here in our community children are senselessly shooting one another. And yet, despite these trials and tribulations, I know that we are on the precipice of great things - that we are on the verge of triumph. My friends, I know that we, as a people of faith, can visualize a brighter day. When others see turmoil we see an opportunity to uplift; when others see conflict we find synthesis; and when others look down we stand up!”
The crowd responded: “That’s right.”
“All the great social movements of American history began in the church - from the banning of the scourge of slavery from our shores to the enfranchisement of women to the civil rights movement.”
Mmmhmmm, said the crowd.
If Obama himself had been there, it’s not clear he would have won any more caucus votes than 26-year-old Green did.
Jan
23
Obama Posse List Roundup
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NYTimes features, “Obama’s People,” but OBABL told you first. OBABL Posse List
Richard Parsons probably wasn’t feeling a salary freeze in an Obama Administration. He opts instead for Chairman of Citigroup. WSJ
Eric Holder still can’t exhale. TheRoot
Mayor Fenty and DC play staring roles in the inauguration. WaPo
Hill Harper can’t stop talking about President Obama and the inauguration. Perfspot
From now on black tie parties will have a fair share of black lawyers. WaPo
Dec
10
Earlier, we reported The Honorable Jesse Jackson Jr.’s strong desire to be the new “one” in the US Senate. Now the congressman has been caught on tape “interviewing” with recently arrested Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Rep. Jackson says he did nothing wrong. We sure hope that’s true, but at the very least, please don’t let him have a mouth like his father.
Dec
3
Obama Posse List (Hill Harper & Crystal Nix Hines)
Filed Under Obama Posse List, Something Else • 3 Comments
“Something Else” is a new category we’ll be featuring here at OBABL. It was inspired by an anonymous commenter who confessed that after investing an enormous amount of money, time and energy on a Top-Ten-Tier (TTT) T-14 law school, he now believes the law isn’t for him. We here at OBABL think that might very well be the case…
But be encouraged! Many have had such a revelation and gone on to more fulfilling and, dare we say, lucrative careers. And doing “something else” doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be out of the legal loop. To the contrary, today in our on-going Obama Posse List series we feature two individuals who chose “alternative careers.”
Hill Harper
Brown University
Harvard Law School
Currently: Actor, Author, Lecturer, and FOB (Friend Of Barack)
Born Frances Harper, we know him from the popular spin-off, “CSI: NY” where he plays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, the fallen surgeon who left regular practice after a few patients died on his table. (His film credits include Spike Lee’s He Got Game and the Oprah Winfrey-produced slave drama Beloved.) You can also spy him in the “Yes, We Can” viral video and People magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive.”
Hill always dreamed of being an actor. (You can do that when your parents are doctors). But Hill knows Hollywood is about as reliable to African Americans as law firms are, which is to say not very. To that end, Hill has established himself a nice side hustle (we should all have one). He’s involved in several nonprofits and his “Letters” book series has really taken off.
Hill attended HLS with the President-elect where they no doubt bonded over their midwestern roots. A member of Obama’s national campaign finance committee, the thespian also campaigned for Mr. Obama.
From YahooNews:
Long before he was toiling in the morgue deciphering murders on primetime TV, Frances Harper was born May 17, 1966 in Iowa City, IA to father, Henry Harper, a psychiatrist, and mother, Marilyn Hill, one of the first practicing black anesthesiologists in the U.S. Although Harper started acting at the age of seven, education was his main focus throughout his young life. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1988, also earning a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School and a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government. It was during his Harvard years, that he found himself classmates with future U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, Barack Obama. While studying law, he also became a regular in Boston’s acclaimed Black Folks Theater Company.
Crystal Nix Hines
Princeton University
Harvard Law School
Currently: Television writer
This one is a television writer who doesn’t like being in front of the camera. (We had to go back decades to uncover a picture). Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate, Crystal Nix Hines, has just as inspiring a story as Hill’s. Read it after the jump. Read more
Nov
24
Obama Posse List (Cassandra Butts & Melody Barnes) (Update)
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This month the American Bar Assoication’s (ABA) magazine makes some legal picks for an Obama Administration. We’re taking a look at the black lawyers featured therein and making a few predictions of our own. Full list here.
When the election was called these two ladies were probably doing fist bumps and singing, “Whoomp There It Is.” Both women went to North Carolina, worked on the Capitol Hill and before joining the Obama Campaign, were executives at The Center for American Progress. Dare we say they are a tag team?
Cassandra Butts
Cassandra Butts
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
Harvard Law School
Current: Transition team General Counsel
THIS is why you go to Harvard—to bond with future presidents. Butts met Obama in HLS’s financial aid office.
Butts from a PBS interview: “We were going through the process of filling out a lot of paperwork that would make us significantly in debt to Harvard for years to come. We bonded over that experience.”
He obviously really trusts this woman because few have been allowed to do such a “let’s psychoanalyze Barack Obama” type interview.
She left her post as senior vice president for domestic policy at the Center for American Progress to join Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign as domestic policy adviser. A background in government, she served as a senior adviser to Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.).
Melody Barnes. Courtesy of American Progress.
Melody Barnes
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
University of Michigan Law School
Currently: Co-Director of Agency Review
Before Obama - American Progress as Executive Vice President for Policy.
Before boarding the Obama train, Barnes held stints as Executive Vice President for Policy at American Progress and Chief Counsel to Sen. Ted Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Butts and Barnes may have a lot in common, but in one area of, we can’t be sure. While Butts has remained mum on her shopping habits, Barnes has been labeled a fashion plate. See her bare arms and feet here.
Update (11-24-08; 8:18 p.m.): Today, President-elect Obama introduced Melody Barnes as his director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. We believe she is the first African American to hold this position. We also believe you’ll be hearing that phrase a lot. ThinkProgress
