Though little birdies tell me that the nightmares of the Obama administration’s vetting process are very real (Note to Greg Craig: you may want more than 10 people on this spending more than a day per person…?!), they haven’t yet actually deterred many folks from wanting to join up and serve at the pleasure of the president (ahem, legions of eager beaver former Biden staff).
That said there are a fair number of Democrats heading the other way, after all someone needs to help guide the subjects to the throne room on audience days. Politico, for example, had this story about Matt Nugen and Jeff Berman. Two of Obama’s best friends elected to stay with their families in Chicago: Marty Nesbitt and Eric Whitaker. And I’ve always wondered what job Jamal Simmons might be holding out for a few years from now – not to mention the 800-pound gorilla in this category, David Plouffe.
The latest in this mini brain drain is Karen Finney who, after nearly six years in the Clinton White House and four years at the DNC as Howard Dean’s indispensible public face, is heading out to do some of her own political consulting. “I’m gonna enjoy the fruits of having helped get Dems back in power now that DC will be fun again!” she tells me. The silver lining: at least some of those “political consultants” on tv will actually be involved in consulting. And politics.