First Lady Michelle Obama is offering advice to parents who are struggling to help their children understand the horrific Tucson massacre that killed six and wounded 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)

Mrs. Obama accompanied President Obama to the Tucson memorial service for the victims Wednesday at the University of Arizona, sitting next to Mark Kelly, the NASA astronaut who is Giffords' husband.

Her main advice: use the tragedy to teach kids about faith, compassion, hope and community service.

A White House official told Politics Daily, "It was something she personally wanted to do and knew exactly what she wanted to say. She decided to do it before the memorial service."

Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend. Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and both of us were deeply moved by their strength and resilience in the face of such unspeakable tragedy.

As parents, an event like this hits home especially hard. It makes our hearts ache for those who lost loved ones. It makes us want to hug our own families a little tighter. And it makes us think about what an event like this says about the world we live in - and the world in which our children will grow up.

In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well. The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have - and they don't lend themselves to easy answers. But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons - about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away.

We can teach our children that here in America, we embrace each other, and support each other, in times of crisis. And we can help them do that in their own small way - whether it's by sending a letter, or saying a prayer, or just keeping the victims and their families in their thoughts.

We can teach them the value of tolerance - the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us. We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree.

We can also teach our children about the tremendous sacrifices made by the men and women who serve our country and by their families. We can explain to them that although we might not always agree with those who represent us, anyone who enters public life does so because they love their country and want to serve it.

Christina Green felt that call. She was just 9 years old when she lost her life. But she was at that store that day because she was passionate about serving others. She had just been elected to her school's student council, and she wanted to meet her congresswoman and learn more about politics and public life.

And that's something else we can do for our children - we can tell them about Christina and about how much she wanted to give back. We can tell them about John Roll, a judge with a reputation for fairness; about Dorothy Morris, a devoted wife to her husband, her high school sweetheart, to whom she'd been married for 55 years; about Phyllis Schneck, a great-grandmother who sewed aprons for church fundraisers; about Dorwan Stoddard, a retired construction worker who helped neighbors down on their luck; and about Gabe Zimmerman, who did community outreach for Congresswoman Giffords, working tirelessly to help folks who were struggling, and was engaged to be married next year. We can tell them about the brave men and women who risked their lives that day to save others. And we can work together to honor their legacy by following their example - by embracing our fellow citizens; by standing up for what we believe is right; and by doing our part, however we can, to serve our communities and our country.

Sincerely,

Michelle Obama

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First Lady Michelle Obama is naming Tina Tchen her new chief of staff, picking a Chicago attorney already in the White House to replace Susan Sher.

Mrs. Obama said in a statement provided to Politics Daily, "I am thrilled to welcome Tina to my team."

Tchen and Sher will work together this month during a transition that will include a state dinner on Jan. 19 for Chinese President Hu Jintao. Sher, whose departure was announced last year, had long planned to move back to Chicago, where her husband, a Cook County Circuit Court judge, had remained.

Tchen will oversee Mrs. Obama's main agenda items, including marking the completion next month of the first year of her "Let's Move!" anti-childhood-obesity drive.

"What the East Wing does is very much shaped by her interests and passions as have been seen for the last two years, so I see most of myself as continuing to serve her and the administration and carrying that vision out," Tchen said in an interview Wednesday morning.

In appointing Tchen, Mrs. Obama did not stray far from a familiar circle. Tchen works for White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett as the director of the Office of Public Engagement and as executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls. Tchen will continue to run the council.

Tchen, Sher, Jarrett and Mrs. Obama all come out of an interlocking Chicago circle whose relationships go back years. Tchen said, "When you do Democratic politics, progressive politics in Chicago, it is not that big a community and you all get to know each other." She met Mrs. Obama sometime "in the early '80s, as we were doing that kind of work, political progressive grassroots work." Tchen was also a major fund-raiser for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, ranked as a "superbundler" who raised more than $200,000.

Jarrett said in an interview on Wednesday Tchen brings more than a comfort factor to the post. She comes with "trust, confidence, knowing that Tina shares our philosophy about public service and why we are here and her enthusiasm and passion for the issues which Mrs. Obama cares deeply about and she will be a terrific bridge between the East and the West Wing."

Tchen becomes Mrs. Obama's third chief of staff and her appointment comes as part of a midterm personnel shuffle at the White House. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced Wednesday he is stepping down. And another Chicagoan, former Commerce Secretary William Daley, is in the running to be the new Obama White House chief of staff, as is interim chief of staff Peter Rouse.

In her statement about Tchen, Mrs. Obama further said, "I have admired her work with the White House Council on Women and Girls and her leadership with the Office of Public Engagement. Tina's tenure at the White House has focused on ensuring that communities across the country have a voice and a presence at the White House, and her office has worked closely with mine to develop many of our outreach efforts, so she was the natural choice for this role. We particularly share a commitment to nurturing young women and utilizing the White House as a platform for education and inclusion, and I look forward to continuing that work together.

"As sad as I am to see Susan go, I always knew she would return to her family and her community in Chicago. She arrived here in January of 2009 intending only to stay for a year and her extended tenure as my Chief of Staff has been a gift. She has led my team with an even hand and a clear vision and I am so grateful to her and her family for her time here in Washington.

"When selecting a replacement, I looked for someone who had the right experience to lead my team and am grateful to bring on Tina, whom I've known and respected for 20 years. Tina's success leading the Office of Public Engagement, reaching out to people across the country and encouraging Americans from all walks of life to feel connected to this White House, makes her uniquely qualified to step up to this position. I look forward to working with her in the years ahead to develop effective strategies for the Let's Move! campaign, to broaden our work on behalf of military families, to continue the arts and cultural events in the White House, and to advance our international agenda."

Tchen, 54, is a Chinese-American and mother of two children: Emma, 14, a student at a private school in Washington and Patrick, a student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe/Harvard and her law degree from Northwestern University. Before moving to Washington, Tchen was a partner at the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom for 23 years.

First Lady Michelle Obama's 2010 included a clearly defined high (the launch of her "Let's Move" anti-childhood obesity campaign) and a notable low (her controversial vacation at an expensive resort in Spain). The year also marked her first solo international travel, to Haiti and Mexico, and having the very cool experience of Paul McCartney singing "Michelle" to her at a White House concert.

Here are Mrs. Obama's top 10 for 2010:

On Feb. 2, Mrs. Obama formalized her healthy eating and exercise agenda into the "Let's Move!" campaign with an executive order from President Obama creating a Task Force on Childhood Obesity. The task force report, released on May 11, outlined potential paths to solving the childhood obesity crisis in a generation.

As part of "Let's Move," the first lady joined an administration-wide effort to pass the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, signed into law by the president on Dec. 13, with Mrs. Obama by his side.

Though the first lady never testified before Congress or even visited Capitol Hill on the issue, she made calls behind the scenes and used her bully pulpit to raise the profile of the obesity problem and the need for legislation.

Through the year, she also made speeches before food manufacturers, the National Restaurant Association, school lunch administrators, and others, recommending voluntary improvements to cut calories and offer healthier choices. She also worked to revitalize a program of linking up chefs with local schools, bringing hundreds of toque-wearing chefs to the South Lawn.

Joked Obama at the bill signing, "Not only am I very proud of the bill, but had I not been able to get this passed, I would be sleeping on the couch."

After avoiding any controversy since the 2008 presidential election, Mrs. Obama faced her first criticism as first lady after an August vacation with daughter Sasha at a lavish hotel on Spain's Mediterranean coast. Mrs. Obama was warned that the trip would likely cause a flap, but she went anyway. She decided to make the trip because she promised to spend time with a longtime Chicago friend who just lost her father. Before jetting back to Washington, the first lady had lunch with Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at their summer palace on the island of Majorca.

First solo foreign travel

In April, Mrs. Obama visited Haiti and Mexico, the first time she traveled on official business to a foreign country without the president.

In Haiti on April 13, she was joined by Second Lady Jill Biden for a five-hour tour of Port-au-Prince, devastated, along with much of the country, in the Jan. 12 earthquake. The women took a helicopter tour of the city and met with Haitian President Rene Preval and his wife, Elizabeth.

In a 40-hour visit to Mexico City, Mrs. Obama delivered a major speech about civic engagement to some 3,000 college and high school students at the Universidad Iberoamericana, met with some of Mexico's young leaders from around the county and spent time visiting with Mexico's first lady, Margarita Zavala.

Though the visit was billed as the launch of Mrs. Obama's international "youth engagement" agenda, she never made another solo foreign trip in 2010.

In October, after avoiding politics following the 2008 presidential campaign, Mrs. Obama returned to the campaign trail to help Democrats in the Nov. 2 contests. One of the most popular political figures in the nation, she appeared mainly before friendly crowds at fundraisers but did join Obama for a few rallies in key states and also called in to several radio talk shows to help get out the vote. To encourage early voting, Mrs. Obama did so herself at a site near the Obamas' South Side home while in Chicago to headline fundraisers for Illinois Democrats.

Mrs. Obama's East Wing organized two state dinners in 2010 for the leaders of Mexico and India, but the standout dining event she presided over was the United Nations spouses luncheon, according to Eddie Gehman Kohan, the editor of Obama Foodorama, the website of record for anything having to do with food and the Obama White House.

Mrs. Obama hosted 31 spouses of leaders at a "Farm to Table" four-course luncheon Sept. 24 at Barber's Blue Hill restaurant, located at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, about 25 miles from New York City. At the lunch, Mrs. Obama "cast a global spotlight on the importance of children being educated in every step of the food chain, from growing through eating, as she simultaneously gave smaller, localized, sustainable agriculture practices the White House seal of approval," Kohan told Politics Daily.

Some of the most iconic images of Mrs. Obama over the past year came during her four-day trip to India with the president in November. At Mumbai University on Nov. 6, she kicked off her shoes and danced to a Bollywood hit tune. The next day, at the Holy Name School in Mumbai, she watched children perform folk dances and joined in herself, showing off her moves.

No surprise that Fox host Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and himself a weight-loss advocate, recently defended Mrs. Obama after Sarah Palin accused her of waging a war against desserts. In February, Mrs. Obama chose Huckabee's show to make her first appearance on Fox as first lady. The show was taped in Philadelphia and the two talked about food "deserts," areas that are not served by grocery stores.

In a July 23 christening ceremony, Mrs. Obama smashed a bottle of champagne across the bow of the Coast Guard cutter Stratton at the Northrop Grumman shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. She became the first first lady to sponsor a Coast Guard cutter (this one was named for Capt. Dorothy Stratton, who led the Coast Guard Women's Reserves during World War II).
Said Mrs. Obama: "I have the honor of christening a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the Stratton, named after . . . one of the finest women in uniform, and I'm very excited and honored to do that."

Mrs. Obama loves clothes and dressing up, and her outfits are often stunning. At a Dec. 17 "Christmas in Washington" concert, she may have become the only first lady to wear a vintage dress -- a tea-length tulle skirt by the late designer Norman Norell, purchased at a vintage boutique in New York.

The White House kitchen garden continued to yield crops -- and inspiration for school and home gardeners and tons of positive press for Mrs. Obama in 2010, just as it did the year before. On March 31, the first lady welcomed school children to the South Lawn for the second spring planting, joined by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Sam Kass, who then had the title assistant White House chef and food initiative coordinator. (In July Kass got an upgraded title, becoming the White House senior policy adviser for healthy food initiatives.)

The garden this year was expanded by two rows -- an additional 400 square feet -- bringing the total to 1,500 square feet. Ground for the original 1,100-square-foot garden on the west side of the South Lawn was cleared on March 20, 2009, with its initial planting the following month.

Speaking to students, Mrs. Obama said, "Everybody is talking about that garden, not just here in Washington, not just here in the United States, but all over the world. And we've been able to start thinking about things like getting kids to try new foods that they've never tried, vegetables that they've never had."

The Obama Family Christmas in Hawai
For years, the Obama family has traveled to Hawaii, Obama's native state, to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. The Obamas' are staying in a rented a house in Oahu about 12 miles from Honolulu. In years past, Obama would also use the trip to visit his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham and his half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and reconnect with school friends. Dunham died just before polls opened in the 2008 presidential election.

Chicago pal Eric Whitaker and his family are vacationing with the Obama's in Hawaii -- they were together last year -- and another Chicago friend, Marty Nesbitt and his family will be joining them. On Friday, Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha hung out at the Pyramid Rock Beach on a military base. On Thursday, the president played golf.

Since 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command in Colorado Springs, Col. has tracked the progress of Santa Claus as his eight (or nine, some years) reindeer fly around the world. The tracking started by accident; a newspaper Christmas ad misprint featured NORAD's number, prompting a youngster to call asking about Santa. NORAD has played along ever since.

For 40 minutes on Friday afternoon Hawaii time -- already dusk in parts of the U.S. -- Michelle Obama took calls coming into NORAD's Santa tracking line. The first lady talked to kids and traced the big man's whereabouts: when she started on the call Santa and his sleigh were in South Africa. And he was flying mighty fast because by the time she finished, he had flown over several African nations and was already moving above Italy, Slovakia and Austria.

Several times, Mrs. Obama, mindful of her healthy eating agenda, urged youngsters to not only put out cookies for Santa's reindeer, but veggies too. Talking to an eight-year-old girl, Juliana, Mrs. Obama said that her daughter Sasha, 9, is "bouncing off the walls. I know you are, too."

One caller, Sean, told Mrs. Obama he got an e-mail from Santa.

"You got an e-mail from Santa? Well, he's really moving up. He's pretty high-tech now," Mrs. Obama replied. "... The important thing to remember is that he doesn't come to your house until you're fast asleep, no matter where he is in the country. So you've got to make sure you get a good night's sleep. Leave out your cookies and some vegetables for the reindeer and you should be good to go."

In one exchange, a child named Austin asked Mrs Obama if being first lady was a hard job.

"You know, it is not as hard as being the president. My job is fun because I get to do stuff like this. I get to come to NORAD and look at the radar and help them track Santa. I get to work with kids like you guys and help make sure they're staying healthy. So it's a fun job. Thanks for asking," she replied.

Austin had another question. "Is it hard to have all that security around you?"

Said Mrs. Obama, "No, because the security -- the Secret Service, they're really professional and they're really nice guys. So they're fun. They're good with the girls... they do their jobs, but they're really nice guys. It's almost like they're family after a while. So it's not that hard having them around. And they're there to keep us safe, right? You can't be mad at that, right?"

Mrs. Obama asked Austin, "What else do you want to know?" And he said, "Is it hard to like be married to the president?"

Answered Mrs. Obama, "No, he's a pretty good guy. I mean, it's a tough job and sometimes you want to do everything you can to help him, but it's pretty easy being married to him. He's kind of funny -- fun to hang out with."

After that, Mrs. Obama gave Austin a Santa whereabouts report.

"All right. Hold on, let me look at the radar. Okay, it looks like -- all right, they've got a lock on a glowing object and they can confirm that it is in fact Santa's sleigh. It's over Africa right now -- Algeria, Africa. And they can see from here that it's pretty full of toys. Pretty full. So hopefully you've been good this year. But Santa is not going to come to your house until you go to sleep."

In a rare joint appearance in a Saturday video address taped at the White House, the Obamas urged support for the nation's military families. Helping soldiers families is one of Mrs.Obama's key agenda items.

"As first lady, I've had the honor to meet members of our military and their families on bases and in communities all across the country. I've gotten to know husbands and wives doing the parenting of two while their spouse is on another deployment... children trying their best in school but always wondering when mom or dad is coming home... patriots putting their lives on hold to help with a loved one's recovery... or carry on the memory of a fallen hero," she said. "When our men and women in uniform answer the call to serve, their families serve, too. And they're proud and glad to do it. But as long as that service keeps the rest of us safe, their sacrifice should also be our own. Even heroes can use a hand, especially during the holidays."

The president added, "So we're encouraging Americans to ask what you can do to support our troops and their families in this holiday season. For some ideas on how to get started, just visit Serve.gov."

First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia and family dog Bo will fly to Hawaii on Saturday for a winter vacation, Politics Daily has learned, while President Obama remains in Washington to deal with Congress.

In a pre-emptive move -- remembering the stinging criticism of her lavish vacation to Spain last summer -- the East Wing volunteered that Mrs. Obama will be flying to Hawaii in a military version of a business airplane -- not the jumbo jet that flew her to the Mediterranean coast in August.

The first family originally had been scheduled to head to Hawaii on Saturday; the Obamas for years have celebrated Christmas and New Years in the state where Obama was born.

"Given the uncertainty of the president's schedule, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters will be departing on Dec. 18 as originally scheduled to join their family in Hawaii for the holidays," Mrs. Obama's spokesman, Catherine McCormick Lelyveld, told Politics Daily.

"The first family and Bo will be traveling on a C40B, one of the smaller and most efficient planes available in the White House fleet for this trip. The president will join them when the congressional session is complete. The entire first family will return to Washington, D.C. Jan. 1, 2011."

President Obama is delaying his trip because Congress has yet to finish work -- or give up on taking action for now -- on a variety of issues as of Friday: the budget, the START Treaty with Russia, the DREAM Act and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Obama has a special urgency to get things done now, because when the 112^th Congress is sworn in on Jan. 5, the GOP will be in control of the House and the Senate Democratic majority will be diminished.

Mrs. Obama took a summer vacation to Spain that was billed as a "private mother-daughter trip with longtime family friends" that included a stop at the summer palace of Their Majesties King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain.

The Spain trip earned Mrs. Obama the harshest press of her tenure as first lady. The negative stories started as soon as she arrived in the Mediterranean coastal city of Marbella for a stay in the super-posh Villa Padierna, along with Sasha, her youngest daughter, and some friends. One of the enduring visuals of that trip was the picture of a big Air Force 757 parked at a Spanish airport. Many news outlets and blogs reported, inaccurately, about the size of Mrs. Obama's entourage, contributing to the bad press. But the East Wing declined at first to give out many facts about the trip. I set the record straight in an August Politics Daily column.

President Obama signed a nutrition bill on Monday with funding to improve food choices for children, a central element of First Lady Michelle Obama's anti-obesity crusade. Obama joked that getting Congress to pass it was a priority for him.

"Not only am I very proud of the bill, but had I not been able to get this passed, I would be sleeping on the couch," the president said as he introduced his wife at the bill signing event at a Washington, D.C., elementary school.

Mrs. Obama seemed to take the inference about their home life in stride, replying, "And all kidding aside, my husband worked very hard to make sure that this bill was a priority in this session, and I am grateful to you."

"Because I would have been sleeping on the couch," the president repeated.

Said Mrs. Obama, "But I am thrilled to be here -- we won't go into that. We'll just take -- don't have to go down that road. But I am thrilled to be here with all of you today as my husband signs the 'Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act' into law."

The first lady had urged passage of the legislation in more than 20 speeches over the past year.

The bill, which increases federal funding for school lunches for the first time in more than three decades, gives the secretary of agriculture the power to set standards for foods sold in schools, including those in vending machines. The legislation also combats child hunger by making more than 100,000 children on Medicaid eligible for free lunches.

The White House round of holiday parties kicks off this week. President Obama and First Lady Michelle hosted a Hanukkah party on Thursday night and the volunteers who helped decorate the White House for Christmas -- there are 19 trees -- were feted on Wednesday.

"And I have to say the house looks more beautiful than it did last year. It is really something special," Mrs. Obama said at a Wednesday morning preview where the main audience was the children of military families.

Planning for the 2010 White House Christmas started last Spring, with the theme this year, "Simple Gifts."

"In the end, that spirit of kindness and generosity is really what the holiday season is all about. And it was the idea behind this year's theme...because in the end, the greatest blessings of all are the ones that don't cost a thing -- the time that we spend with our loved ones, the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, and the joy we feel from reaching out to those in need," she said.

As for holiday decor, here's what's new at the White House:

-- In the aptly named Green Room, a tribute to the environment, with recycled magazines and newspapers turned into wreathes and trees. Notes the White House in a decoration guide: "This year to promote conservation, the majority of the holiday decorations that fill the White House were repurposed from past years."

-- In a corridor of the East Wing called Booksellers Row, greeting visitors is a double life size statue of Bo, the Obama family dog, made out of pipe cleaners by the White House flower shop.

-- There is a children's tree, with gingerbread ornaments made by military children, and what Mrs. Obama called "a very special Military Appreciation Tree in honor of our men and women in uniform who can't always spend the holiday season with the people they love the most."

The appreciation tree was created by Deborah Mullen, the wife of Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Old at the White House:

-- Following tradition, there is a gingerbread White House in the State Dining Room, this year weighing 350 pounds and taking more than four weeks to create. The Red Room is decorated with cranberries and scarlet magnolia wreathes.

-- The White House Hanukkah party on the second night of the holiday will feature entertainment by saxophonist Joshua Redman and, of course, a menorah lighting. The White House kitchen -- as is customary in events targeted to Jewish invitees -- will be koshered under the supervision of a rabbi.

-- There will be two parties for the press, one for members of Congress, another for White House staff and Secret Service personnel, and seven receptions for a category called "Americans from across the country." A party for close Obama friends and family is Dec. 11. I'm not sure if these are separate parties but the White House tells me the president and first lady "believe it's a priority to include others like: community based leaders from across the country; military families, wounded warriors and veterans communities; faith leaders, business and civic leaders and grassroots constituency leaders and members."

First Lady Michelle Obama is hunting for her third chief of staff following the announcement Tuesday that Susan Sher, her longtime friend, will leave the job after the first of the year.

"Susan has been both a colleague and a dear friend for decades, and I have been grateful every day for her leadership and wise counsel in Washington," Mrs. Obama said in a statement.

"I also very much appreciate her generosity in staying longer than she initially planned -- spending so many months away from her family in Chicago -- to help me build my office in the East Wing. I wish her all the best."

President Obama said in a statement, "Susan has brought tremendous skill and dedication to the First Lady's office, as well as my Administration's outreach to the Jewish Community and our efforts to pass health care reform, and I thank her for her service."

Sher joined the Obama administration at the beginning, signing on as a White House associate counsel with several portfolios: providing legal advice for Mrs. Obama on issues relating to health care policy as well as serving as administration liaison to the Jewish community.

Sher moved over to the East Wing in June, 2009 to replace Jackie Norris, who was Mrs. Obama's first chief of staff. The switch was seen as Mrs. Obama wanting as her chief someone she had worked with for a long time and who could be a West Wing player along with the other Chicagoans in the White House, such as senior advisers Valerie Jarrett, David Axelrod and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who left in October to run for mayor of Chicago.

Sher had been telling friends she wanted to return to Chicago where her husband, Neil Cohen, is a Cook County Circuit Court judge.

In addition to the chief of staff job, Mrs. Obama also has to replace her former top spokesman, Camille Johnston, who resigned last August. Mrs. Obama's first social secretary, Desiree Rogers, quit earlier this year and was replaced by Julianna Smoot.

Sher, Jarrett and Rogers all came to Washington together and rented apartments in the same Georgetown building. Sher and Jarrett have long been professional and personal friends, dating back to when they both worked in Chicago's City Hall.

One day Sher passed on to Jarrett the resume of a promising young lawyer who was tired of corporate life and wanted a change -- one Michelle Robinson, engaged at the time to Barack Obama.

Sher and Mrs. Obama also worked together at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where Sher was vice president for legal and governmental affairs and general counsel before joining the Obama administration.