Valerie Jarrett
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If you had to pick the half-dozen most influential people in the Obama campaign, your list would have included Valerie Jarrett.
Now Jarrett is going to follow Obama to the White House as a senior advisor. But that catch-all title probably doesn’t come close to describing her influence over, and access to, the new president.
Jodi Kantor is up with a profile of Jarrett in the Times. Here are some interesting tidbits:
- She has been a mentor to both Obama and his wife and has known them for over twenty years. Says Michelle: “I can count on someone like Valerie to take my hand and say, You need to think about these three things,” Mrs. Obama said. “Like a mom, a big sister, I trust her implicitly.”
- Jarrett can be pretty intense, so much so that Obama has joked, “You can’t look Valerie in the eye, she’s going to make you cry.”
- Valerie Bowman Jarrett was born in Shiraz, Iran. Her parents moved there after her father, a physician, was offered less pay in Chicago than his white peers.
- Ms. Jarrett and Mr. Obama bonded over their far-flung childhoods and initial confusion about race. “I wasn’t burdened by a personal history of prejudice,” she said. “It’s part of why I thought Barack could win.”
- Jarrett’s rule: Never argue back. “She almost refuses to react,” said MarySue Barrett, a former colleague, adding that Ms. Jarrett often surprises opponents by agreeing with them and then suggesting concrete measures to help. (Sound familiar?)
- Jarrett’s cousin is married to Vernon Jordan who has this to say about Jarrett’s style: “What Valerie developed is the art of telling people to go to hell and making them look forward to the trip.”
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