WASHINGTON — Pete Rouse, President Obama’s “indispensable man” with a low profile and big footprint, is the quirky insider who built the Obama organization, hired nearly everyone from the White House chief of staff on down, plotted strategy and regularly said he was about to leave.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Rouse has been highly credited for his working relationship with the President.
He has been as crucial to Mr. Obama as any presidential adviser in history, like Harry Hopkins to Franklin D. Roosevelt, said former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, for whom Mr. Rouse worked for 19 years, including as chief of staff for a decade, when Mr. Daschle was the Democratic Senate leader. One colleague said Mr. Rouse has “almost a peer relationship” with the 52-year-old president, providing unvarnished advice.
Rouse has helped shape the President's policy and cabinet since before the first term began. And most interesting from this
New York Times piece is his relationship to now Senator Warren.
He maintains ties to newer lawmakers as well as their leaders. Colleagues call Mr. Rouse “the Warren Whisperer” for his relationship with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a liberal whose independence and national following make her a potentially formidable intraparty opponent. Mr. Rouse advised Ms. Warren on her campaign and setting up an office. Ms. Warren’s chief of staff, Mindy Myers, once was his Senate assistant — reflecting the reach of Mr. Rouse’s network of protégés.
This seems to bode well for Senator Warren's future as she is held in high regard by Oval Office insiders.