President Obama continued to round out his White House staff late last week with several key appointments, including one that will shape the West Wing.
On Friday, Mr. Obama announced the appointment of longtime foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough as his Chief of Staff. McDonough would replace Jack Lew, who was nominated to become Treasury Secretary.
McDonough has been an invaluable White House fixture on matters of national security, including the end of the war in Iraq, the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in support of openly gay service members, as well as the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011. McDonough was photographed sitting next to the president and other senior officials watching as the raid unfolded.
In last week’s announcement of McDonough, President Obama called him indispensable and “a great friend to me and everybody who works here at the White House.”
Mr. Obama also announced former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White as his choice to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, which should at least temporarily silence those who have been waiting for him to name a female to his team. He also renominated Richard Cordray, a former state attorney general, to continue as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The president lauded both White and Cordray by recognizing them as key to implementing the 2010 overhaul of financial regulations and for their protection of consumers and the financial system from the “kinds of abuse that nearly brought the economy to its knees.”
