First Lady Extends Her Reach at the White House

Washington took note when first lady Michelle Obama suddenly sacked her chief of staff in favor of her old boss from Chicago at the beginning of June.

It was widely seen as a sign that the first lady wanted to start pumping up policy as well as her biceps.

The new chief of staff, Susan Sher, had helped Obama move from an unsatisfying job as a corporate lawyer grinding out billable hours to a lush, $317,000-a-year community relations job at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Sher, Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett and the first lady are close friends. They were all lawyers with political clout in Chicago Democratic politics, and they all learned how to make public service pay — for themselves. Obama is the youngest of the group and the only one with a husband, but they have long been close allies.

The woman booted from the East Wing in order to get the troika back together was Jackie Norris, an Iowa politico who hit the trail for Barack Obama in 2007. Norris’ husband, John, was a longtime aide to former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and came east when Vilsack became secretary of agriculture.

In what seemed like compensation for being bounced out of the inner circle, Jackie Norris was made the head of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees government-run programs like AmeriCorps. A few days after that, John Norris was tapped for a seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has oversight of America’s energy businesses from power plant to plug.

But there may be more to the Jackie Norris move than getting her out of the way and then providing sinecures for her and her husband.

The first lady has long nurtured a deep interest in AmeriCorps and the other programs Norris is now overseeing.

And the president made clear he shares his wife’s passion last week when he summarily fired the Corporation for National and Community Service’s inspector general, Gerald Walpin.

Walpin had a high-profile showdown with Kevin Johnson, a former NBA basketball star who was elected mayor of Sacramento, Calif., last year.

Walpin said Johnson’s charity for “at risk” kids was a slipshod operation that had soaked up more than $800,000 in federal money to no discernible benefit beyond helping Johnson do political favors and keep his car clean.

But Johnson is still mayor, and Walpin’s report and public statements about it came to little effect — beyond making sure Johnson was ineligible to ever again receive federal grant money.

But Walpin’s more recent work had much bigger potential. He said there was $75 million in federal funds unaccounted for at the City University of New York. The money was from the teaching fellows program, which provides scholarship money for qualified AmeriCorps volunteers and is the largest expense in the whole organization.

Walpin was just getting warmed up when he was given an hour to quit or be fired Wednesday. He had already started turning up the heat on CUNY, which he said might be double dipping on grant money by taking AmeriCorps cash for kids who already had free rides.

One could easily see the probe expanding to other schools and jeopardizing the goal of making government-run public service a precondition for free higher education.

As Michelle Obama and her reunited team of Chicago friends look to expand the first lady’s portfolio, government-run public service is the top area of interest. Her specific agenda for AmeriCorps is unclear, but during the 2008 election the Obama campaign’s plan for “universal voluntary public service” was her favorite.

The idea was to put any American ages 18 to 30 who signed up into a civilian corps to work at state-approved charities and government offices. A boot camp and weekly meetings would help keep up participants’ zeal.

Conservatives disliked the Orwellian name and the implications of having so many young adults being trained as community organizers, and the concept went back in the closet with its ersatz presidential seal.

But why startle people with a creepy-sounding plan when you can just keep dumping money on AmeriCorps to eventually reach the same end?

And having some hard-nosed, headline-seeking, Republican-appointed inspector general running around wouldn’t make that any easier.

As Michelle Obama exerts her will more and more on her husband’s administration, expect the showdown with Walpin to be the first of many inside the bureaucracy.

Once upon a time, I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with the President. I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces memory chips for computers and portable electronics. There was some talk that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a free country. There’s nothing that the government can do to me if I’ve broken no laws. My wealth was earned honestly, and an invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor

I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the President in a yellow dining room. We sat across from each other at a table draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the china. Uniformed staff served our dinner. The meal was served, and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out, plucked a dinner roll off my plate, and began nibbling it as he walked back to the kitchen. “Sorry about that,” said the President. “Andrew is very hungry.” “I don’t appreciate...” I began, but as I looked into the calm brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty. It was just a dinner roll. “Of course,” I concluded, and reached for my glass. Before I could, however, another waiter reached forward, took the glass away and swallowed the wine in a single gulp.”And his brother Eric is very thirsty.” said the President.

I didn’t say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought. I will play along. I don’t want to seem unkind. My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite. “Eric’s children are also quite hungry.”
With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from under
me. I stood, brushing myself off angrily, and watched as it was carried from the room. “And their grandmother can’t stand for long.” I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool. Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I reached for my coat, to find that it had been taken. I turned back to the President.”Their grandfather doesn’t like the cold.”

I wanted to shout- that was my coat! But again, I looked at the placid smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled. Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table. I learned shortly that my credit cards had been maxed out, my bank accounts emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had vanished, and my wife had been thrown out of our home. Apparently, the waiters and their families were moving in.

The President hadn’t moved or spoken as I learned all this, but finally I lowered the phone into its cradle and turned to face him. “Andrew’s whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven’t planned
for retirement, and they need a house. They recently defaulted on a subprime
mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more than you do.” My hands were shaking. I felt faint. I stumbled back to the table and knelt on the floor.

The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his steak and drank his wine. I lowered my eyes and stared at the small grey circles on the tablecloth that were water drops.”By the way,” He added, “I have just signed an Executive Order nationalizing your factories. I’m firing you as head of your business. I’ll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind.. There’s a whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out there and they can’t come to you for jobs groveling like beggars.” I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which had been his creme brulee. He drained the last drops of his wine. As the table was cleared, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. He stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table as if were a ledge and I were a man hanging over an abyss.

I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had lived. The life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle. Why was I punished? How
had I allowed it to be taken? What game had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some surprise that there was no game board between us. What had I done wrong? As if answering the unspoken thought, the President suddenly cocked his head, locked his empty eyes to mine, and bared a million teeth, chuckling wryly as he folded his hands he said:

“You should have stopped me at the dinner roll,” he said.

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