President Barack Obama is expected to name Denis McDonough as his new chief of staff and Jennifer Palmieri as the new White House communications director. Both have served as guest bloggers for the left-leaning website ThinkProgress. (Getty, AP photos)
President Barack Obama on Friday is expected to name Denis McDonough as his new chief of staff and Jennifer Palmieri as the new White House communications director.
Something they have in common? Both have served as guest bloggers for the left-leaning website ThinkProgress.
McDonough -- currently Obama's deputy national security adviser -- and Palmieri -- currently the White House deputy communications director -- each posted a handful of ThinkProgress blog items in the final years of George W. Bush's presidency. Both wrote critically of former Bush adviser Karl Rove: Palmieri on the Valerie Plame leak and McDonough on the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program.
ThinkProgress touted the appointments on Twitter Friday:
Former ThinkProgress blogger Denis McDonough will be named the new White House Chief of Staff today thkpr.gs/WUQhHG— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) January 25, 2013
Former ThinkProgress blogger Jennifer Palmieri will be named the new White House Communications Director thkpr.gs/WURqiB— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) January 25, 2013
McDonough was formerly a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank before joining Obama's Senate staff in 2006 and remaining with him since.
Palmieri spent time with the Center for American Progress as well, serving as president of the organization's political action fund. She was a spokeswoman for John Edwards' failed 2004 presidential bid and worked extensively in the Clinton White House.
