WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly-named White House chief of staff Jack Lew is the model Washington insider — a savvy policy technocrat with roots in Congress and a long and impressive administration resume. He is as low key as Rahm Emanuel, one of his predecessors, was high octane.
Lew, 56, is often defined as a “pragmatic liberal” who embraces core progressive notions about the role of government but understands the need for bipartisan solutions to control deficits and reduce the national debt.
Those who know him say Lew is slow to get frustrated, a useful trait at a time of high partisanship.
Lew has been at the center of power for three decades. He was a top aide in the 1980s to then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill and was budget director under President Bill Clinton.
