Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Obama Draws From GU Community

As President-elect Barack Obama begins to pick his leadership team, three Georgetown faculty members and one Georgetown graduate have already been appointed to Obama’s transition team and two have been nominated for positions in his administration.

Former Senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), a visiting professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, has been chosen to serve as Obama’s Secretary for Health and Human Services.

Daschle has a hefty résumé, including holding the distinction as the first South Dakotan to attain a high Senate office as well as the only Senator to have held both the majority and minority leader Senate positions twice. He currently serves on the board of trustees of the Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit group medical practice. According to The New York Times, Daschle is an adviser to health care clients at Alston & Bird, a Washington law and lobbying firm. Daschle will lead the health care policy working group during the transition.

According to several media sources, including The New York Times, Georgetown graduate and former Hoya basketball player, retired General James L. Jones (SFS ’66) is being strongly considered for the position of national security adviser in the Obama administration. Jones is a Vietnam War veteran and is known for his refusal to join a political party; he was often mentioned by both John McCain and Barack Obama as a possible ally during their presidential bids. According to The Wall Street Journal, while the general is interested in keeping troops in Iraq, he, like the president-elect, is advocating for the immediate closure of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp.

Two other members of Georgetown’s faculty have also risen to prominent positions in Obama’s transition team. Law Center Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff and law professor Daniel Tarullo will also lead policy working groups as part of the transition team. Over the next two months, they will develop policy proposals for the incoming administration and could be offered positions in the administration itself.

Tarullo has been named chair of the economic policy working groups and Aleinikoff has been appointed head of the immigration policy working group.

Tarullo is an economic expert who advised Obama throughout his campaign and also served in the administration of President Bill Clinton (SFS ’68). He has been actively involved in negotiations surrounding the proposed bailout of the Big Three automakers and is being considered to serve as “auto czar,” a new position which would oversee federal aid to the automotive industry and seek to ensure its future viability.

Tarullo had also been considered a leading candidate to head the National Economic Council, but that post was recently offered to former Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers.

Aleinikoff served as an official for the Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Clinton administration. He has been a member of Georgetown’s faculty since 1997 and the dean of the Georgetown Law Center since 2004. He is also a member of the board of trustees for the Migration Policy Institute. Aleinikoff will be sharing the immigration policy group with Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar, a professor from the Stanford University Law School who served in the Treasury Department under Clinton.

The working groups, which also include education, energy and environment, national security, technology, innovation and government reform, will meet for the next two months as part of Obama’s transition to the White House.

Aleinikoff, Daschle and Tarullo all could not be reached for comment.

CORRECTION: The Hoya originally reported that two members of the Georgetown community had been “nominated for positions in [Obama’s] administration.” In fact, while the Obama campaign has reported that Senator Tom Daschle will be nominated for Secretary for Health and Human Services, the nomination has not yet been officially announced.

General James L. Jones has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Obama’s National Security Adviser, but no official announcement has been made.

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