The New York Times reports on the goings on inside the West Wing as President Obama and his team prepare for reelection in 2012:
WASHINGTON — President Obama is planning the first major reorganization of his administration, preparing to shuffle several positions in the West Wing as he tries to fortify his political team for the realities of divided government and his own re-election.
The president is studying how to maximize the power of the executive branch, advisers said, seeking insight from veterans of previous administrations and fresh advice from business leaders to guide the second half of his term.
He is reviewing the restructuring plan during the holidays, aides said, and intends to make the first announcements in the opening days of January.
Among the changes:
• David Plouffe will join the White House staff as President Obama's top political adviser as David Axelrod returns to Chicago to work on the reelection campaign, which will be managed by Jim Messina, who is also heading to Chicago from the White House.
• Rebuilding his economic team, including hiring a replacement for Larry Summers as director of the National Economic Council.
• Staffing up on lawyers to handle the expected increase in Congressional witch hunts with the GOP taking over the House
• Robert Gibbs may leave the administration to purse private sector opportunities, with potential successors including Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton.
According to The Times, President Obama has been focused on the reorganizing the White House for the next two years of his administration since the mid-terms. He has paid particular attention to the Clinton administration, reading The Clinton Tapes and talking with former Clinton officials including President Clinton himself.
Despite all his time studying the Clinton administration, Mr. Obama told his aides that he had no intention of following the precise path of Mr. Clinton, who after the Democratic midterm election defeats of 1994 ordered a clearing of the decks inside the White House, installed competing teams of advisers and employed a centrist policy of triangulation. In fact, several advisers confirmed, the word “triangulation” has been banned by Mr. Obama because he does not believe it accurately describes his approach.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said that Republican takeover of the House requires a shift in approach. Because Obama will have a less pliable Congress, he said, part of change in approach needs to be a focus on using executive power to get things done without Congress. But he also said that part of the task is winning a debate on the issues. As he put it, over the next two years, President Obama will be “using the bully pulpit of the presidency to make a political argument about the direction of the country.”