Aug 30, 2009

The Obama Administration and the Teddy Kennedy Alumni Network (washingtonpost.com)

Right-to-left: Barack Obama and Maya Soetoro w...Image via Wikipedia

President Obama said that Sen. Edward Kennedy's "ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives." They are likely to be stamped on scores more. The Obama administration includes a number of prominent staffers who at one time served the late senator from Massachusetts.

Judith Appelbaum

A deputy assistant attorney general, worked as Kennedy's counsel on his Judiciary Committee staff and advised him on women's rights issues.

Melody Barnes

Obama's domestic policy adviser, served as chief counsel to Kennedy for nearly a decade and advised him on civil rights legislation and women's issues.

David Blumenthal

The national coordinator for health information technology, worked for Kennedy in the 1970s on a health subcommittee.

Gregory B. Craig

Obama's White House counsel, worked as a foreign policy adviser to Kennedy during the 1980s and traveled to Cuba on the senator's behalf to secure the release of the last prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Kenneth Feinberg

Whom Obama tapped as his "pay czar," was once Kennedy's chief of staff.

Dora Hughes

A medical doctor and counselor to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, was Kennedy's deputy director for health.

Cody Keenan

Kennedy alums provide more than policy expertise -- they also provide pirates. When the president needed a staffer in pirate dress for a correspondents' dinner gag, Keenan obliged. The former Kennedy aide and current Obama speechwriter donned pantaloons and the requisite eye patch-and even sported a parrot on his shoulder.

William J. Lynn

Deputy defense secretary, served for six years as Kennedy's liaison to the Armed Services Committee. "Senator Kennedy has been a superb boss, a great mentor, a loyal friend," Lynn said at his confirmation hearing in January.

Carmel Martin

Assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development at the Education Department and a former chief education adviser to Kennedy.

Jane Oates

Assistant secretary for employment and training at the Labor Department, served Kennedy for a decade on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Esther Olavarria

Deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, was Kennedy's general counsel from 1998 to 2007 and played a key role in his work on immigration reform.

James Steinberg

The deputy secretary of state, spent several years early in his career as Kennedy's aide on the Armed Services Committee.

Ronald Weich

Assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, was once chief counsel to Kennedy.

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