Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


0

Harvard Pals Mastermind Transition

Law school network continues to propel Obama's rise

Share

(Newser) – Barack Obama has tapped his Harvard Law School connections to staff his transition team, with 20 of his classmates among the dozens of grads shaping the next administration, Politico reports. “The numbers seem very large to me,” said one presidential historian (from Princeton) about what looks like the most crimson administration since that of JFK, Harvard College '40.

The group has been instrumental, if low profile, in Obama’s ascension. Eying national office, “he didn’t have a national network of people he could call on,” says Cassandra Butts, a classmate who’s the transition’s general counsel. “The Harvard group was helpful on that front.” The exodus to DC is a mixed blessing, according to the Harvard Law Record: “Obama’s gain is Harvard’s drain,” read a recent headline.

Barack Obama teaches at the University of Chicago Law School in this undated file photo.
Barack Obama teaches at the University of Chicago Law School in this undated file photo.   (AP Photo)
In this Nov. 13, 2008, file photo, people walk through Harvard Yard at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass.
In this Nov. 13, 2008, file photo, people walk through Harvard Yard at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass.   (AP Photo)
This undated photo shows Barack Obama while a student of Harvard Law School, where he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, of which he is holding a copy.
This undated photo shows Barack Obama while a student of Harvard Law School, where he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, of which he is holding a copy.   (AP Photo)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.6.09
Galleon Scandal: Shocked, Shocked by Insider Trading
11.5.09
Rupert Murdoch Is Mad but Cute
0 comments
VIEWING:
 
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

876 Stories

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

Tuesday Proves Obama Victory Was a Fluke

Reports of a great liberal realignment are greatly exaggerated

Nov 6, 09 7:37 AM CST
(Newser) - The outcome of Tuesday's elections dispel the myth of a great political re-alignment supposedly heralded by the election of Barack Obama last year, writes Charles Krauthammer . Believers swore young and minority voters would establish a new liberal majority and bury the GOP. But Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • New Jersey • Virginia • election • conservatives • President Obama • Creigh Deeds • Bob McDonnell • election day November 2009 • realignment

Joe Klein

 Tension Builds Between 
 Hillary, Obama 

Clinton a strong secretary, but not yet administration's voice

Nov 5, 09 6:50 PM CST
(Newser) - Ask Hillary Clinton or her staff about President Obama and they’ll praise him and tell you the relationship between the two really is strong. But the tensions between the State Department and White House are starting to show, writes Joe Klein . The president’s foreign policy hasn’t yet... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Middle East • Pakistan • State Department • secretary of State • Benjamin Netanyahu • Obama administration • President Obama • Obama Cabinet

Arianna Huffington

 Hey, Barack: Yes, You Still Can 

Plouffe book recalls a historic campaign that got lost in transition

Nov 3, 09 10:24 AM CST
(Newser) - 'Yes, we can" was the rallying cry of a game-changing campaign that swept Obama to victory on the shoulders of a grass-roots tidal wave one year ago—and President Obama would do well to remember Candidate Obama, writes Arianna Huffington in a lengthy look at David Plouffe's new campaign memoir.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Obama 2008 • memoir • David Plouffe • Arianna Huffington • Barack Obama supporters • President Obama • Obama campaign • The Audacity to Win

HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT?

Dems Chip Away at Agenda, One Bill at a Time

GOP keeps its eye on the prize, lets smaller bills sail through

Nov 2, 09 7:10 AM CST
(Newser) - Health care reform may not be sailing through Congress, but a wave of smaller bills that Democrats have been eying for years have done so under President Obama—in most cases without much fanfare or objection. Republicans, focused on bigger fish, are giving a pass to legislation they once forcefully... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • legislation • bills • congressional Democrats • President Obama • hate crimes

Charles Krauthammer

Time to Act Presidential on Afghanistan

After 'yearlong drift,' Obama can't keep passing buck to Bush

Oct 30, 09 11:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama loves to blame things on George W. Bush, and on Monday he did it again, referring to the “long years of drift in Afghanistan.” He must be trying to “explain away his own, well, yearlong drift on Afghanistan,” writes Charles Krauthammer . In March, Obama... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Bush administration • Barack Obama • Iraq war • George W. Bush • Afghanistan war • Obama administration • President Obama • Charles Krauthammer • counterinsurgency

876 Stories


Harvard frets over Obama brain drain
Harvard Law Record

Profile of another classmate key in the transition
New York Times

Tough times muddy the picture even for Harvard Law students
Harvard Crimson


Politics 
TwitterFollow @NewserPolitics on Twitter

 
Barack Obama • Ivy League • Harvard Law School • Harvard • transition team • President Obama • Cassandra Butts

from our news partners