Ben Rhodes

He then attended New York University seeking an MFA in creative writing, penning an unfinished novel called

"Oasis of Love," in which "a woman breaks the guy's heart because she becomes a member of a megachurch."

But politics called, and Rhodes soon joined the 2001 campaign of a New York city council candidate. He ended up becoming more serious about the vocation after witnessing the attack on the World Trade Center from the Brooklyn waterfront on New York's primary day.

Washington Start

Motivated, Rhodes moved to Washington in June 2002 to take a job as an assistant to former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), then president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Rhodes worked closely with Hamilton on several projects, including co-authoring the book Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission.

Rhodes also helped draft policy recommendations for the 9/11 Commission and wrote large chunks of the Iraq Study Group report. He briefly composed policy speeches for former Democratic Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who called him "one of the real rising talents on the policy message side."

After Warner dropped out of the 2008 presidential race, Rhodes joined Obama's campaign as a speechwriter. He was one of Obama's closest foreign policy aides, and one of only two international policy advisers who was on salary at the campaign's Chicago headquarters.

He drafted most of Obama's major addresses on foreign policy and helped fellow campaign worker Denis McDonough filter daily thoughts from over 300 foreign policy advisers into a coherent message. He was not named to the Obama campaign's national security working group, a decision that drew criticism from several liberal bloggers, including Ezra Klein.

Show less