Neera Tanden, one of the senior-most Indian Americans in the Obama administration, has quit the administration to rejoin her former liberal and progressive think tank in Washington, DC. She was a key adviser on health-care reform policy and worked with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
In her new job, in a position created for her, Tanden has become the chief operating officer, Center for American Progress, which is headed by former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff John Podesta.
Before she joined her former boss then senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign as her confidante and adviser with the title of policy director, Tanden worked at CAP as senior vice president, academic affairs. After Hillary lost her bid for the Democratic nomination and advised all her top aides to join the Obama campaign, Tanden became domestic policy director for the Obama campaign and on him being elected President, found herself being offered a job to be a top health-care adviser in the new administration.
Although speculation was rife that Tanden had left the administration because health-care reform that she had worked so hard on had begun to unravel, sources said this was not so and that the timing behind her decision to join CAP was coincidental.
A source in the know said that Podesta had offered Tanden the job months ago and she had been hoping to take up his offer as soon as the health-care reform legislation was passed, but the job couldn't wait any longer and she had to decide.
Tanden told India Abroad that she was "excited to return" to CAP, "to help manage the institution as it faces new opportunities." CAP, she said, has "developed a number of the policies that make up the current progressive agenda and I look forward to strategizing with the institution as it creates the next generation of progressive ideas. I also look forward to putting forward new ideas for The New Republic's Web site."
The influential political magazine is CAP's flagship publication, and it was this magazine that had first reported Tanden's leaving the administration to join CAP.
Tanden acknowledged: "While I'm excited to start this new opportunity at CAP, I'm saddened that I will not be there to see health-care cross the finish line. But I will be working from CAP to help push the ball forward on health care and I look forward to celebrating its passage with my former colleagues in the administration."
Administration sources said had considerable input into Obama's health-care proposals unveiled last week and had prepared Sebelius and other administration sources for the White House bipartisan health-care summit held February 25 at Blair House.
"During his presidential campaign, then senator Obama was committed to reforming our health-care system to lower costs for all Americans, reform our insurance system to address pre-existing conditions and other protections for consumers and to ensure all Americans have health-care security," Tanden said.
"And, as President, he has worked tirelessly to accomplish the change he campaigned on. It was a great privilege of mine to work on health-care reform for the Obama-Biden campaign and then work to realize that vision in the administration, working with the President's health-care team as we negotiated with Congress on particular policies in the health-care legislation, worked with outside groups and basically translated the campaign vision into legislation."
CAP said in a statement that as COO, Tanden would be 'responsible for CAP's strategic planning and management of the institution.' Podesta said, "Her early leadership helped lay the foundation for making CAP the strong institution it is today.
But we are not standing still. We are thrilled to have Neera back on board, assuming a central management role, as American Progress enters the next phase of its continuing growth, maturity and evolution."
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