Linda Douglass

Why She Matters Most reporters joke that going into public relations is akin to joining the ‘dark side,’ but Douglass doesn’t see it that way. The award-winning journalist became a top aide to the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama, travelling with the candidate and serving as his public face on the road. With her close connections to reporters and talent for translating message to news, Douglass was a key asset to the communications staff. Douglass helped plan the 2009 inauguration as a member of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.(1) She was expected to be named the assistant secretary for public affairs at the department of Health and Human Services run by Secretary-designate Tom Daschle.(2) But after Daschle withdrew his nomination over tax problems, Douglass was asked to run communications for the HHS Health Reform Office and assigned out indefinitely to the White House Office of Health Reform headed by Nancy-Ann DeParle. She's been charged with coordinating communications for one of the most important pieces of legislation in the early Obama administration, an overhaul of the nation's health-care system. Path to Power California native Douglass attended college at the University of Southern California. She started her journalism career as a researcher at a Los Angeles TV news channel in 1973. From there, she moved to a position as political editor in 1975, a job she held for five years. She took a job as CBS’s Los Angeles correspondent in 1981. Douglass was CBS’s lead campaign reporter for the 1984 presidential race, and took over as KCBS-TV’s political editor from 1983 through 1985, co-anchoring the evening news from Los Angeles, where the station is based. She covered the presidential campaign in 1992, and then moved to Washington in 1993 to work for CBS News from its D.C. bureau. There, she was the lead reporter covering the 1994 Clinton health plan and campaign finance. Douglass jumped to ABC news in 1998, covering the Clinton impeachment trial for the network. She travelled with presidential candidates during the 2000 election and was named ABC’s Capitol Hill correspondent in December 2000. In that post, she covered the 2002 Enron scandal, and chronicled the panic in Congress on Sept. 11, 2001.(3) Douglass retired from reporting in 2006 and took a fellowship at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press. She worked with New York University on a project to analyze how partisanship had paralyzed Congress. Douglass switched to print in 2007, writing about the 2008 election for the National Journal and hosting the magazine’s weekly radio program.(4) Joining Obama Douglass first met Obama is 2005 as a reporter, and said she was impressed with his “unusually calm demeanor.” When she was a Harvard fellow, Douglass offered him debate advice in 2007.(5) In May 2008, Douglass accepted a position as senior strategist and spokeswoman for the Obama presidential campaign. She explained her decision this way: “I have spent my lifetime sitting on the sidelines watching people attempt to make change. I just decided that I can't sit on the sidelines anymore.”(6) The move came as the Obama campaign was being attacked for a lack of women in top leadership positions.(7) Douglass's hiring prompted criticism from some media watchers, who said the move would only confirm what pundits had been saying for months – that the media was in the bag for Obama.(8) An official for Hillary Rodham Clinton's rival presidential campaign told Atlantic reporter Marc Ambinder in an email that “this is scandalous and further undermines the media’s ability to claim independence overall.”(9) On the campaign trail, Douglass served as one of the campaign’s public faces, and helped facilitate relationships between the campaign and reporters. David Axelrod called her an asset who is “fluent in national issues.”(5) After Obama's win, Douglass served as the chief spokeswoman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Health Reform In May 2009, Douglass was named to the Health and Human Services Department Office of Health Reform, and assigned out indefinitely to the White House Office of Health Reform, where she heads communications.(10) The Issues At the White House Office of Health Reform, it's Douglass's job to win the messaging war on Obama's proposed overhaul of the American health-care system. As the battle continues, Douglass is trying to craft a unified message when it comes to controversial issues like a publicly- funded insurance option. She's also charged with ensuring that the American people understand any big changes to the current system, such as a proposed new national exchange on which consumers could buy insurance. At the same time, she's become a point-person for deflecting spurious attacks on the Obama plan. She appeared in an August 2009 internet video circulated by the White House, to address Internet rumors, such as one claiming Obama wanted to abolish the private health insurance industry. "Nothing could be further from the truth," she said. (11) No Spin Zone As a senior campaign adviser, Douglass’s main role was to build good relationships with the press and to translate Obama’s message into news-ready information for the media. "My intention is that I won't spin … I absolutely vow that I will tell the truth,” she told a reporter at Media Bistro. Her hope was that this pledge would lead to a more trusting press corps.(12) The former TV journalist spent most of her time on the road with Obama as his traveling strategist and spokesperson.(13) The Network As a former reporter, Douglass has ties to many top reporters and personalities, including reporters at ABC, CBS, the Atlantic Media Group and most other major news outlets. At the White House Office of Health Reform, Dougleass works closely with Nancy-Ann DeParle and her deputy, Lauren Aronson. Douglass's husband, attorney John Phillips, was a major Obama campaign fundraiser.(14) Footnotes 1. Allen, Mike, "Time's Carney will be Biden Aide," Politico, Dec. 12, 2008 2. Kamen, Al, "Sen. Schumer Proves Worthy of 'The Amazing Race,'" The Washington Post, January 13, 2008 3. ABC News Website 4. Frederick, Don, "Linda Douglass, Well-known Journalist, Becomes a Partisan," LA Times, May 21, 2008 5. Kurtz, Howard, "As Obama Aide, Reporter Dons a Flack Jacket," Washigton Post, June 16, 2008 6. Ambinder, Marc, "Linda Douglass Joins the Obama Campaign," Atlantic, May 21, 2008 7. Brown, Carrie Budoff, "Obama camp adds women to top ranks," Politico, June 22, 2008 8. Zenilman, Avi, "National Journal’s Douglass Joins the Obama Campaign," Politico, May 21, 2008 9. Ambinder, Marc, "Linda Douglass's Decision: Beginning A Debate," Atlantic, May 21, 2008 10. News Release: "Secretary Sebelius Announces HHS Office of Health Reform Personnel," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, May 11, 2009 11. "The Truth about Health Care Insurance Reform," The White House's YouTube Channel, August 3, 2009 12. Shister, Gail, "Linda Douglass on Obama Job: I’ve Seen Something I Believe In," TVNewser, May 22, 2008 13. Rutenberg, Jim, "Ex-Network Reporter Leaves Journalism to Join Obama’s Campaign," New York Times, May 22, 2008 14. Ambinder, Marc, "Linda Douglass's Decision: Beginning A Debate," Atlantic, May 21, 2008