"Podesta, Schiliro to return to White House"

[applegrove]

Podesta, Schiliro to return to White House

By Juliet Eilperin and Karen Tumulty

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/podesta-schiliro-to-return-to-white-house/2013/12/10/194b22f4-61a7-11e3-94ad-004fefa61ee6_story.html?wprss=rss_politics

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The president and his aides have been discussing a possible reorganization with some trusted outside advisers for at least a month, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the topic’s sensitive nature. The staff ­changes will continue in the coming weeks, the official said.

The moves mark a recognition by the White House that it needed to change its operations in light of the botched Oct. 1 rollout of the health-care law, particularly given that Pete Rouse, the president’s longest-serving aide, will be leaving by the end of the year.

Obama has been hesitant to replace many within his small inner circle operating in the West Wing, in part because his limited time in Washington before the presidency left him with relatively few trusted advisers. While he replaced several key members of his Cabinet after his 2012 re­election — including his secretaries of state, Treasury and defense — it is a measure of how static White House staff has been that the recruitment of two former advisers, on a temporary basis, amounts to a staff shake-up.

“Obama still has an opportunity to get one or two major initiatives through Congress, possibly immigration reform, but he doesn’t have much gas left in the tank,” New York University public affairs professor Paul C. Light wrote in an e-mail. “Podesta and Schiliro may be able to ration Obama’s declining political capital, and hold the line on House Republican attacks. The door is closing on Obama’s presidency — these two advisers know how to do it as well as it can be done.”


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