Valerie Jarrett
Senior Advisor to the President
Incumbent
Assumed office January 20, 2009 Serving with David Plouffe
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Barry Steven Jackson
Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office January 20, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Julie E. Cram
Personal details
Born	(1956-11-14) November 14, 1956 (age 55) Shiraz, Iran
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	William Jarrett (1983–1988)
Children	Laura
Alma mater	Stanford University University of Michigan
Profession	Lawyer

Valerie Bowman Jarrett (born November 14, 1956) is a senior advisor and assistant to the president for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration. She is a Chicago lawyer, businesswoman, and civic leader. Prior to that she served as a co-chairperson of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.^[1][2]

Personal[link]

Jarrett was born in Shiraz, Iran to American parents James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman. Her father, a pathologist and geneticist, ran a hospital for children in Shiraz, as part of a program where American doctors and agricultural experts sought to help jump-start developing countries' health and farming efforts. When she was five, the family moved to London for one year, returning to Chicago in 1963.^[3]

In 1966 her mother, Barbara T. Bowman, was one of four child advocates that created the Erikson Institute. The Institute was established to provide advanced knowledge in child development for teachers and other professionals working with young children.^[4]

As a child she spoke Persian and French.^[5]

Jarrett graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon in 1974. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University in 1978, and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.^[6]

In 1983 Jarrett married Dr. William Robert Jarrett, son of famed Chicago Sun-Times reporter Vernon Jarrett. She attributes her switch from a private to a public career to their daughter Laura's birth and her own desire to do something that would make the daughter proud.^[7]

To one reporter's e-mailed question about her divorce, she replied, "Married in 1983, separated in 1987, and divorced in 1988. Enough said."^[7] In a Vogue profile, she further explained "We grew up together. We were friends since childhood. In a sense, he was the boy next door. I married without really appreciating how hard divorce would be."^[7] William Jarrett died of a sudden heart attack in 1993.^[7]

Career[link]

Chicago politics[link]

Jarrett got her start in Chicago politics in 1987 working for Mayor Harold Washington^[8] as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development.^[9]

Jarrett continued to work in the mayor's office in the 1990s. She was Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard Daley, during which time (1991) she hired Michelle Robinson, then engaged to Barack Obama, away from a private law firm. Jarrett served as Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development from 1992 through 1995, and was Chair of the Chicago Transit Board from 1995 to 2005.^[9]

Business administration[link]

Until joining the Obama Administration, Jarrett was the CEO of The Habitat Company, a real estate development and management company^[10] which she joined in 1995. She has been replaced by Mark Segal, a lawyer who joined the company in 2002, as CEO. Daniel E. Levin is the Chairman of Habitat, which was formed in 1971.^[11] Jarrett was a member of the board of Chicago Stock Exchange (2000–2007, as Chairman, 2004–2007).

She is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago Medical Center,^[9] Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago and a Trustee of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.^[12] Jarrett serves on the board of directors of USG Corporation, a Chicago based building materials corporation.

Jarrett's previous year's income, in a 2009 report, was a $300,000 salary and $550,000 in deferred compensation from The Habitat Executive Services, Inc. The Wall Street Journal also reported she disclosed payments of more than $346,000 for service on boards of directors that reflect her political ties, and work in Chicago real estate and community development. She was paid $76,000 for service as a director of Navigant Consulting, Inc. a Chicago-based global consulting group with governmental clients. She received $146,600 from USG, and $58,000 to serve on the board of Rreef American REIT II, a real estate investment trust based in San Francisco. The Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc., paid her $34,444.^[13]

Despite her impeccable social credentials, Jarrett’s record before she went to Washington was spotty at best. After Mayor Daley made her commissioner of planning, she became embroiled in a massive screw-up in the city’s public housing revitalization plan, which cost Chicago millions of dollars in overruns. Daley fired her without explanation.

After she left city hall, Jarrett became CEO of Habitat Executive Services, where she earned $300,000 in salary and $550,000 in deferred compensation. She managed a federally subsidized housing complex that was seized by the government after inspectors found crime-infested slum conditions and widespread blight.

Throughout her career, Jarrett has failed upward. ^[14]

Advisor to Barack Obama[link]

Obama speaks to Jarrett and other aides during a senior staff meeting in August 2009.

Barack Obama chats with Valerie Jarrett in the Blue Room, White House, 2010.

Jarrett is one of President Obama's longest serving advisors and confidantes and was "widely tipped for a high-profile position in an Obama administration."^[15][16]

On November 14, 2008, President-elect Obama selected Jarrett to serve as White House Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison.^[17]

She has also been responsible for much of the incompetence and amateurism that have been the hallmarks of Obama’s time in office. Indeed, Jarrett has been on the wrong side of practically every consequential issue to come across the president’s desk. Some examples of her advice:

● Though both Emanuel and political strategist David Axelrod warned Obama time and again that he didn’t have the votes to ram a comprehensive healthcare bill through Congress, Jarrett was among those who persuaded the president to ignore their advice and go for broke. The result: the hugely expensive, unworkable, unpopular, and probably unconstitutional program known as Obamacare.

● Emanuel tangled with Jarrett over her effort to put the prestige of the presidency behind Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Emanuel believed that Jarrett was working on behalf of her old boss, Mayor Daley, and his political cronies, who stood to benefit from the billions of dollars that would be spent on the Olympics. That idea seemed to be lost on the president, who went to Copenhagen to make an impassioned plea for the Olympics, and came back home with egg on his face.

● Jarrett gave her stamp of approval for the $535 million taxpayer-funded loan guarantee to Solyndra, the California solar company that went belly up. Jarrett had close ties to the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which controlled 35.7 percent of Solyndra. The foundation had made a sizable donation to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where Jarrett once served as chairwoman and where one of Obama’s best friends, Eric Whitaker, is currently executive vice president.

● When Jarrett pushed Obama’s proposal to require church-run hospitals and universities to give their employees free contraception, chief of staff Bill Daley secretly arranged an Oval Office meeting between the president and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops, who argued that the policy violated the principle of religious freedom. When Jarrett learned about Daley’s end-run, she went to the president and vented her anger. After that, Daley realized his days were numbered and resigned.

● Like Obama, Jarrett has a fundamental lack of respect for businessmen. In a typical blunder that sent shudders through the business community, she dismissed Tom Donohue, the highly regarded CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as irrelevant, saying that she preferred to deal with “real” industry executives.

● Jarrett’s lack of judgment in domestic affairs has been matched by her inexperience in international and military affairs. She urged the president not to send in a Navy SEAL team to get Osama bin Laden — the one time that we know of when Obama failed to take Jarrett’s advice.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/22/who-is-valerie-jarrett/#ixzz1wZ824DWa ^[18]

Jarrett is one of three Senior Advisors to President Obama.^[19] She holds the retitled position of Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement,^[19] managing the White House Office of Public Engagement, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of Urban Affairs, and Chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls, and White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and Youth Sport.^[20] She said that the 2011 report Women in America which the administration produced for the Council on Women and Girls would be used to guide policy-making.^[21]

The New York Times said that while there is no evidence of political favoritism, that Gregory Nelson, an aide to Jarrett, met with lobbyists from Solyndra at least three times. The company's failure could cost taxpayers more than a half-billion dollars.^[22]

Relationship with President Obama[link]

Obama speaks with Jarrett in a West Wing corridor.

In 1991, as Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Richard Daley, she interviewed Michelle Robinson for an opening in the mayor’s office, and offered her the job immediately.^[23] Michelle Robinson asked for time to think and also asked Jarrett to meet her fiancé, Barack Obama. The three ended up meeting for dinner. After the dinner, Michelle took the job with the mayor's office, and Valerie Jarrett reportedly took the couple under her wing and “introduced them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own,” and taking Michelle with her when she left the mayor's office to head Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development.^[24]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Valerie Jarrett

• Valerie Jarrett at Whitehouse.gov
• Valerie Jarrett at WhoRunsGov at The Washington Post
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Valerie Jarrett on Charlie Rose
• Valerie Jarrett collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Valerie Jarrett in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Valerie Jarrett at the Notable Names Database
• Obama's keeper: Valerie Jarrett, The Independent, 10 August 2009

v t e Assistant to the President for Public Liaison Special Counsel to the President, Special Assistant to the President, Assistant to the President for Public Liaison, Assistant to the President for Public Outreach, Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Charles Colson · William J. Baroody, Jr. · Midge Costanza · Anne Wexler · Elizabeth Dole · Faith Whittlesey · Linda Chavez · Mari Maseng · Rebecca Range · Bobbie Kilberg · Cecile B. Kremer · Alexis Herman · Maria Echaveste · Minyon Moore · Mary Beth Cahill · Lezlee Westine · Rhonda Keenum · Julie E. Cram · Valerie Jarrett

Michelle Malkin
At the RightOnline Summit in Dallas, Texas (2008)
Born	Michelle Marie Maglalang (1970-10-20) October 20, 1970 (age 41) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Residence	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Ethnicity	Filipino
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Oberlin College - (B.A., 1992)
Occupation	Author, syndicated columnist, television personality and blogger
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]
Spouse	Jesse D. Malkin (1993–present)
Children	2
Website
Michelle Malkin

Michelle Malkin (née Maglalang; born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative blogger, political commentator and author.^[2][3] Her weekly syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites.^[2] She is a Fox News Channel contributor and has been a guest on MSNBC, C-SPAN, and national radio programs. Malkin has written four books published by Regnery Publishing.

Early life[link]

Malkin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Philippine citizens Rafaela (née Perez) – a homemaker and teacher – and Apolo DeCastro Maglalang, who was then a physician-in-training.^[1] Several months prior to Malkin's birth, her parents had immigrated to the United States on an employer-sponsored visa.^[4] After her father finished his medical training, the family moved^[5] to Absecon, New Jersey. Malkin has a younger brother.^[6] She has described her parents as Reagan Republicans who were "not incredibly politically active."^[1]

Malkin, a Roman Catholic,^[1][7] attended Holy Spirit Roman Catholic High School, where she edited the school newspaper and aspired to become a concert pianist.^[1] Following her graduation in 1988, she enrolled at Oberlin College.^[1] Malkin originally planned to pursue a bachelor's degree in music, but changed her major to English.^[1] During her college years, she worked as a press inserter, tax preparation aide, and network news librarian.^[8] While attending Oberlin, Malkin was hired to write for an independent, right-of-center student newspaper by fellow student Jesse Dylan Malkin. Her first article for the paper heavily criticized Oberlin's affirmative action program and received a "hugely negative response" from other students on campus.^[1] She graduated in 1992^[9] and later described her alma mater as "radically left-wing."^[1][10]

Career[link]

Malkin began her journalism career at the Los Angeles Daily News, working as a columnist from 1992 to 1994. In 1995, she worked in Washington, D.C., as a journalism fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute,^[11] a free-market, anti-government regulation, libertarian think tank.^[12][13] In 1996, she moved to Seattle, Washington, where she wrote columns for The Seattle Times. Malkin became a nationally-syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate in 1999.^[14][15]

For many years, Malkin was a frequent commentator for Fox News Channel and a regular guest host of The O'Reilly Factor. In 2007, she announced that she would not return to The O'Reilly Factor, claiming that Fox News had mishandled a dispute over derogatory statements made about her by Geraldo Rivera in a Boston Globe interview.^[16] Since 2007, she has concentrated on her writing, blogging and public speaking, although she still appears on television occasionally, especially with Sean Hannity on Fox News and Fox & Friends once a week. In December 2009, Malkin began writing for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

In August 2004, following claims by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that presidential candidate John Kerry had exaggerated his record during the Vietnam War, Malkin appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and stated that there were "legitimate questions" over whether Kerry's wounds were "self-inflicted." When host Chris Matthews asked her eleven times whether she meant Kerry had shot himself on purpose, she dodged the question,^[17] but ultimately said that other soldiers had made this claim.^{[citation needed]} Malkin criticized Matthews and the MSNBC staff in her blog the following day.^[17] Georgia Senator Zell Miller accused Matthews of "browbeating" Malkin.^[18]

Books[link]

Malkin has written four books, all published by Regnery Publishing.

• Her first book, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces (2002)^[19] was a New York Times bestseller.

• In 2004, she wrote In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror,^[20] defending the U.S. government's internment of 112,000 Japanese Americans in prison camps during World War II, and arguing that the same procedures could be used on Arab- and Muslim-Americans today. The book engendered harsh criticism from several Asian American civil rights organizations.^[21] The "Historians' Committee for Fairness", a group of professors, condemned the book for not having undergone peer review and argued that its central thesis is false.^[22][23] As a result of the controversy, the Hawaii-based newspaper MidWeek dropped her column in August 2004;^[24] The Virginian-Pilot called her "an Asian Ann Coulter" and dropped her column in November 2004.^[25] Malkin responded: "I'm not Asian, I'm American," and described the comparison to Coulter as, "a compliment."^[26] Critics of Malkin's theory attempted to get the Manzanar National Historic Site, (a former relocation and internment camp), to ban her book from its' store, but failed.^[27]

• Malkin's third book, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild, was released in October 2005.^[28]

• Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies, Malkin's fourth book, was released in July 2009^[29] and was a The New York Times Non-Fiction, Hardcover Best Seller for six weeks.^[30][31][32] Malkin said she hoped the book would, "shatter completely the myths of hope and change in the new politics in Washington," described the Obama administration as run by, "influence peddlers, power brokers and very wealthy people," and called it, "one of the most corrupt administrations in recent memory."^[33] She later discussed chapter two of the book, "Bitter Half: First Crony Michelle Obama," on NBC's Today show. She described Michelle Obama as, "steeped in the politics of the Daley machine," and as having based her professional career on nepotism and "old white boy" network connections.^[34]