Jesse Lee (politician)

For other uses, see Jesse Lee.

Jesse Lee

White House Director of Progressive Media & Online Response
Incumbent
Assumed office April 23, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Personal details
Born	1979 (age 36–37)^[1]
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut

Jesse Lee (born 1979) was named the White House Director of Progressive Media & Online Response on May 23, 2011. This is a newly created position to help maintain the President's online presence as he prepares for his 2012 Presidential reelection bid. The duties of this position, dealing with negative or factually incorrect stories about the President, was formerly handled by the Democratic National Committee's rapid response team.^[2] Lee’s first tweet about his new position included a picture of The Terminator.^[3]

Lee was formerly the Online Programs Director under the Barack Obama Administration. Lee spent his early life in Takoma Park, Maryland, and graduated with a degree in philosophy from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 2002. He was hired to do Internet work for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in 2003, and worked in their online division from 2004 to 2006.

Lee served as Senior New Media Advisor to Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi during the 110th United States Congress. During the 2008 United States presidential election, Lee performed online response for the Democratic National Committee. He worked in online outreach during the Presidential transition of Barack Obama, in the New Media department. On February 23, 2009, President Barack Obama announced Lee was hired as Online Programs Director for his administration.

Early life and education

Lee was raised in Takoma Park, Maryland.^[1] In 2002, Lee graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.^[4] Lee graduated with an academic major in philosophy from Trinity College, and was also close to obtaining a major in politics from the college but was short one thesis.^[1] After college, Lee did temporary work as a paralegal.^[1]

Political career

Lee was hired in 2003 to do Internet-related work for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).^[1] From 2004 to 2006, Lee worked for the online division of the DCCC.^[4] Rahm Emanuel became DCCC chair in 2005, and allowed Lee discretion in his online postings.^[5] Lee served as the Senior New Media Advisor to Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi during the 110th United States Congress.^[4] Lee blogged for Pelosi on the Speaker's official blog called "The Gavel".^[6] During the 2008 United States presidential election, Lee performed online rapid response for the Democratic National Committee.^[1] Lee worked in the Presidential transition of Barack Obama, in the New Media department, performing online outreach during the transition and work on the website Change.gov.^[4]^[7] The Washington Post noted "Lee is well respected in the blogosphere".^[8] Greg Sargent, a blogger with The Washington Post partner WhoRunsGov.com, wrote positively of Obama's choice of Lee for his transition team.^[8] "Lee, meanwhile, is highly regarded by liberal bloggers. He wrote the first-ever blog for the House Speaker, and in the closing days of the campaign he did online rapid response for the DNC, helping the Obama camp frame its message outreach to the blogosphere," wrote Sargent on Talking Points Memo.^[9]

On February 23, 2004, President Barack Obama announced Lee was hired as Online Programs Director for his administration, in a release from the White House Press Secretary of "key White House staff".^[4] Part of Lee's duties as White House Online Programs Director include running Whitehouse.gov, and innovating techniques to engage individuals on the Internet.^[1] Lee came up with a program called "Open for Ideas", and this led to a town hall meeting in March 2009 where President Obama answered questions that had been submitted online.^[1] "I think the online town hall is the coolest thing I've seen come to fruition. I'd like to get to the point where that kind of stuff replaces the comment forums you typically find on government websites," said Lee to the National Journal.^[1] In September 2009, Lee posted to the White House blog defending the Obama Administration against criticism from conservative political commentator, Glenn Beck.^[10] Lee criticized Beck for what he asserted to be factual inaccuracies,^[11] and recommended the Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact.com for further information about "Fox lies ... repeated by Glenn Beck and others on the network".^[10] Jim Kuhnhenn of the Associated Press wrote that "calling a news networks' assertions 'lies' is unusually confrontational".^[12]

Personal life

Lee has been married to Nita Chaudhary, former campaign director at MoveOn.Org and co-founder of UltraViolet, a community to fight sexism and to expand women's rights.^[13]

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Herbert, David (June 17, 2009). "Decision Makers: Profiles of Key Players in the Obama Administration - Jesse Lee". National Journal (Atlantic Media).
↑ White House Dedicates New Position to Deal with Unfavorable Online Media
↑
1 2 3 4 5 Office of the Press Secretary (February 23, 2009). "President Obama Announces More Key White House Staff". Whitehouse.gov. Barack Obama Administration. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
↑ Carr, Carlin (Winter 2008). "Jesse Lee, 2002, Blogging from Inside the Beltway". Trinity Reporter (Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut).
↑ Bowen, David (October 25, 2007). "Evolution, not revolution". Financial Times.
↑ Vargas, Jose Antonio (December 31, 2008). "e-Hail To the Chief - Obama Won With Web's Help. Now, How to Govern Using That Community?". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company). p. C1.
1 2 The Washington Post staff (February 11, 2009). "Federal City Digest". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company). p. A17.
↑ Sargent, Greg (November 12, 2008). "Obama Transition Team Staffs Up Internet Outreach Crew". Talking Points Memo. TPM Media LLC. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
1 2 Associated Press (October 1, 2009). "Relationship cold between Obama , Fox News". Bennington Banner (MediaNews Group).
↑ TV Guide (October 2, 2009). "White House, Fox News in Olympic Struggle". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
↑ Kuhnhenn, Jim (Associated Press) (October 2, 2009). "White House meets Fox News jabs with counterpunches of its own Beck story that was called ‘lies' is latest example of level of acrimony". Houston Chronicle. p. A4.
↑ Mark Hemingway (12 June 2014). "Petition to Fire George Will Launched By Wife of White House Media Director". Retrieved 12 June 2014.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Author:Jesse Lee

Jesse Lee, profile at WhoRunsGov.com
Jesse Lee, profile at National Journal
The Blog, White House blog

Obama Administration personnel

Cabinet and cabinet-level

Office	Name	Term	Office	Name	Term
Secretary of State	John Kerry	2013–	Secretary of Treasury	Jack Lew	2013–
Secretary of Defense	Ashton Carter	2015–	Attorney General	Loretta Lynch	2015–
Secretary of the Interior	Sally Jewell	2013–	Secretary of Agriculture	Tom Vilsack	2009–
Secretary of Commerce	Penny Pritzker	2013–	Secretary of Labor	Thomas Perez	2013–
Secretary of Health and Human Services	Sylvia Mathews Burwell	2014–	Secretary of Education Secretary of Transportation	Arne Duncan Anthony Foxx	2009– 2013–
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Julian Castro	2014–	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Robert A. McDonald	2014–
Secretary of Energy	Ernest Moniz	2013–	Secretary of Homeland Security	Jeh Johnson	2013–

Vice President	Joe Biden	2009–	White House Chief of Staff	Denis McDonough	2013–
Director of the Office of Management and Budget	Shaun Donovan	2014–	Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Gina McCarthy	2013–
Ambassador to the United Nations	Samantha Power	2013–	Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers	Jason Furman	2013–
Trade Representative	Michael Froman	2013–	Administrator of the Small Business Administration	Maria Contreras-Sweet	2014–

Below solid line: Granted Cabinet rank although not automatically part of the Cabinet. See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet

Executive Office of the President

Office	Name	Term	Office	Name	Term
White House Chief of Staff White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy	Rahm Emanuel Pete Rouse William M. Daley Jack Lew Denis McDonough Mona Sutphen Nancy-Ann DeParle Rob Nabors	2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2013–15	National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan	Jim Jones Thomas E. Donilon Susan Rice Thomas E. Donilon Denis McDonough Tony Blinken Avril Haines Douglas Lute^†	2009–10 2010–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–13 2013–14 2015– 2009–13
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations	Jim Messina Alyssa Mastromonaco Anita Decker Breckenridge	2009–11 2011–14 2014–	Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security	Ben Rhodes John O. Brennan Lisa Monaco	2009– 2009–13 2013–
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning	Mark B. Childress Kristie Canegallo	2012–14 2014–	Deputy National Security Advisor and NSC Chief of Staff	Denis McDonough Brooke Anderson	2009–10 2011–12
Senior Advisor to the President	David Axelrod David Plouffe Daniel Pfeiffer Shailagh Murray	2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 2015–	White House Communications Director	Anita Dunn Daniel Pfeiffer Jennifer Palmieri Jen Psaki	2009 2009–13 2013–15 2015–
Senior Advisor to the President Counselor to the President	Pete Rouse Brian Deese Pete Rouse John Podesta	2009–10 2015– 2011–13 2014–15	Deputy White House Communications Director	Jen Psaki Jennifer Palmieri Amy Brundage	2009–11 2011–14 2014–15
Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Director of Public Engagement Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Director, National Economic Council	Valerie Jarrett Christina Tchen Jon Carson Paulette Aniskoff Cecilia Muñoz David Agnew Jerry Abramson Lawrence Summers Gene Sperling Jeffrey Zients	2009– 2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–10 2011–14 2014–	White House Press Secretary Deputy Press Secretary Director of Special Projects Director of Speechwriting White House Counsel	Robert Gibbs Jay Carney Josh Earnest Bill Burton Josh Earnest Eric Schultz Stephanie Cutter Jon Favreau Cody Keenan Greg Craig Robert Bauer Kathryn Ruemmler W. Neil Eggleston	2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2014– 2010–11 2009–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–11 2011–14 2014–
Deputy Director, National Economic Council Deputy Director, National Economic Council Chair of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board	Diana Farrell Brian Deese Jason Furman Paul Volcker	2009–11 2011–13 2009–13 2009–11	Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs	Phil Schiliro Rob Nabors Miguel Rodriguez Katie Beirne Fallon	2009–11 2011–13 2013 2013–
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors	Christina Romer Austan Goolsbee Jason Furman	2009–10 2010–13 2013–	Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs	Lisa Konwinski Amy Rosenbaum	2009– 2014–
Member of the Council of Economic Advisors	Katharine Abraham	2011–	Executive Clerk	George T. Saunders^† David Kalbaugh	2009–12 2012–
Member of the Council of Economic Advisors	Cecilia Rouse	2009–	Director, Office of Political Affairs	Patrick Gaspard David Simas	2009–11 2013–
Director, Office of Management and Budget	Peter R. Orszag Jack Lew Jeffrey Zients Sylvia Mathews Burwell Brian Deese Shaun Donovan	2009–10 2010–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014 2014–	Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Officer	Aneesh Chopra Todd Park Megan Smith Vivek Kundra Steven VanRoekel Tony Scott	2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–11 2011–14 2015–
Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Zients	2009–13	Director, Office of Presidential Personnel	Nancy Hogan Johnathan McBride Valerie Green	2010–14 2014–15 2015–
Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Liebman Heather Higginbottom Brian Deese	2010 2011–13 2013–15	Director of Scheduling and Advance Director, White House Military Office	Alyssa Mastromonaco Danielle White Crutchfield George D. Mulligan, Jr. Emmett Beliveau	2009–11 2011– 2009–13 2013–
United States Trade Representative	Ron Kirk Michael Froman	2009–13 2013–	Cabinet Secretary	Chris Lu Broderick Johnson	2009–13 2013–
Director, Domestic Policy Council	Melody Barnes Cecilia Muñoz	2009–12 2012–	Deputy Cabinet Secretary	Liz Sears Smith Rachana Bhowmik Michael Robertson Gaurab Bansal	2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 2015–
Deputy Director, Domestic Policy Council	Heather Higginbottom Mark Zuckerman	2009–11 2011–	Staff Secretary	Lisa Brown Rajesh De Douglas Kramer Joani Walsh	2009–11 2011–12 2012–13 2014–
Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships	Joshua DuBois Melissa Rogers	2009–2013 2013–	Assistant to the President for Management and Administration	Bradley Kiley Katy Kale Maju Varghese	2009–13 2013–15 2015–
Director, Office of Health Reform	Nancy-Ann DeParle	2009–11	Director, Oval Office Operations	Micaela Fernandez Brian Mosteller	2009–12 2012–
Deputy Director, Office of Health Reform	Jeanne Lambrew	2009–2011	Personal Aide to the President	Reggie Love Marvin Nicholson	2009–11 2011–
Director, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy	Carol Browner	2009–11	Personal Secretary to the President	Katie Johnson Anita Decker Breckenridge Ferial Govashiri	2009–11 2011–14 2014–
Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change	Heather Zichal Dan Utech	2009–2013 2013–	Special Projects Coordinator and Confidential Assistant to the President	Eugene Kang	2009–11
Director, Council on Environmental Quality	Nancy Sutley Michael Boots	2009–2014 2014–	Director, Office of National AIDS Policy	Jeffrey Crowley Grant Cofax Douglas Brooks	2009–2011 2012–2014 2014–
Chief of Staff to the First Lady	Jackie Norris Susan Sher Christina Tchen	2009 2009–10 2011–	Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy	Gil Kerlikowske Michael Botticelli	2009–14 2014–
White House Social Secretary	Desirée Rogers Julianna Smoot Jeremy Bernard Deesha Dyer	2009–10 2010–11 2011–15 2015–	Director, Office of Urban Affairs	Adolfo Carrión, Jr. Racquel Russell	2009–2010 2010–
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy	John Holdren	2009–

^*Senate-confirmation pending. †Remained from previous administration (s).

Office of the Vice President

Position	Appointee
Chief of Staff to the Vice President	Steve Ricchetti
Counsel to the Vice President	Cynthia Hogan
Counselor to the Vice President	Mike Donilon
Assistant to the Vice President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison	Evan Ryan
Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Communications	Shailagh Murray
Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President	Shailagh Murray
Deputy National Security Adviser to the Vice President	Brian McKeon
Residence Manager and Social Secretary for the Vice President and Second Lady	Carlos Elizondo
National Security Adviser to the Vice President	Tony Blinken

Position	Appointee
Chief of Staff to the Second Lady	Catherine M. Russell
Director of Administration for the Office of the Vice President	Moises Vela
Domestic Policy Adviser to the Vice President	Terrell McSweeny
Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to the Vice President	Jared Bernstein
Press Secretary to the Vice President	Elizabeth Alexander
Deputy Press Secretary to the Vice President	Annie Tomasini
Director of Legislative Affairs	Sudafi Henry
Director of Communications for the Second Lady	Courtney O’Donnell

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