Gregory B. Craig

Former White House Counsel (January 2009 to January 2010)

Why He Matters

When President Obama selected Craig for the White House counsel job, he probably thought nobody was more suited to the tough tasks than the seasoned Washington hand. But even veteran insiders stumble, which Craig did in promising to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp by January 2010. It quickly became clear this wouldn't be possible, much less politically feasible by the deadline Craig said.

The White House failure to forsee the fierce political blowback from Congress on such a move, intended to signal a clean break with the Bush administration's war on terror, was Craig's demise. Craig announced his resignation in November 2009, and was replaced by Bob Bauer.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: White House counsel (January 2009 to December 2009) Adviser, Barack Obama presidential campaign (2006 to 2008); Attorney, Williams & Connolly LLC (1972 to 2009); White House special counsel (1998 to 1999)
Birthday: March 4, 1945
Hometown: Norfolk, Va.

Alma Mater: Harvard, B.A., 1967; Cambridge University, MA, 1968; Yale Law School, JD, 1972
Spouse: Margaret "Derry" Craig
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Path to Power

Craig was born in Norfolk, Va. but grew up in California, where his father was dean of students at Stanford University.

Craig attended Philips Exeter Academy, where he earned a reputation of being genuine. In a letter of recommendation, one teacher described him as "Adam before the fall."

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At Harvard University, Craig was one of the most vocal opponents of the Vietnam War. He graduated in 1967 and earned his master's at Cambridge University in England before starting law school at Yale. It was in New Haven that he became friends with Hillary Rodham Clinton and her then-boyfriend, Bill Clinton. They would remain close for decades.

After graduating from law school in 1972, Craig accepted a position at Williams & Connolly, one of the most prestigious firms in Washington. At the firm, he was given several high-profile assignments including defending some reporters at the Washington Post Company in connection with the Watergate scandal. He also represented the first FBI agent to be indicted for illegal wiretapping and, in 1981, successfully won a not-guilty ruling for John Hinckley, who was charged with the attempted assassination of former President Ronald Reagan.

In 1984, he went to Capitol Hill to serve as Edward Kennedy's (D-Mass.) senior adviser on defense, national security and foreign policy issues. He was a key player in getting economic sanctions imposed against apartheid South Africa.

Craig returned to Williams & Connolly in 1990, where he represented the State Department, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Treasury Department, and the Securities and Exchange Commission in court.In 1990, he represented Sen. Kennedy as a witness in the rape trial of Kennedy's nephew, William Kennedy Smith, in a Palm Beach court.

In 1997, he accepted a position as director of policy planning at the State Department for former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. There he focused on China's treatment of Tibetan culture and religion, serving as a negotiator between the Dali Lama and the mainland government.

Clinton Impeachment

In 1998, as Clinton faced impeachment charges, he called on Craig to "quarterback" his defensive legal team as special White House counsel. Craig was initially reluctant to leave his State Department post, but said he felt compelled to serve his president. He pioneered the team's successful legal strategy in which he argued that though Clinton's conduct was morally wrong, he could not be impeached for it.

In 2000, Craig was back in private practice, representing the father of the five-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzales, and successfully arguing that the boy should be returned to the island nation. In 2006, he represented former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in the investigation of the Oil-for-Food program.

Craig first met Barack Obama at a speech when he was running for Senate in 2003. He saw in the young leader someone who could capture the youthful idealism he felt at Harvard in the 1960s. He was so enamored that friends teased he had "fallen in love."

He bought Obama's books - The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father - and met him a few more times, including a chance encounter on a Washington shuttle.

After he heard Obama speak in 2006, Craig set out to convince him to run for president in 2008. He and friend George Stevens raised money and buzz so persistently that Obama created a nickname for them: "the Kool-Aid boys."

2008 Democratic Primary

During the 2008 Democratic primary - despite his previous good relationship with the Clintons - Craig played a key role in deflating Hillary Rodham Clinton's claims of experience, a move that shocked his former friends.

In one noteworthy instance, Craig sent a blistering memo systematically debunking Clinton's argument that she had gained significant foreign policy experience while in the White House.

"The fact is, and this was established by the White House schedules, that she did not attend NSC meetings or routinely meet with the Secretary of State or the National Security Adviser," Craig stated. "She did not routinely get briefed by the intelligence community, and there is no evidence that she participated or asserted herself in any of the crises that took place during the eight years of the Clinton presidency."

But he also played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in convincing Hillary to endorse Obama once it was clear she had lost the Democratic presidential nod.

Craig spent four months prepping to portray Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during the 2008 debates. He was named to Obama's national security working group and was one of his closest foreign policy advisers.

In November 2008, he was selected as White House counsel. He faced his first challenge just weeks after the election, when Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was charged with trying to trade Obama's Senate seat for political favors. Craig ran the administration's internal investigation, eventually concluding that no one had acted illegally or proposed a trade for the Senate seat.

Craig was also put in charge of the administration's attempts to close the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay by January 2010. After criticism over the failure to predict the political backlash in Congress, he left the White House in December 2009.

Craig is also involved in politics on a local level. He has moderated debates among City Council candidates near his home in Northwest Washington.

The Issues

In "Changing America," a Center for American Progress publication, Craig laid out foreign policy priorities for the new administration. The main goals, he wrote, should be to improve the country's standing in the world, refresh diplomatic relationships with allies and build a global network to confront 21st century problems.

In the first 100 days of the new administration, Craig said the president should begin ending the war with Iraq, increase troop presence in Afghanistan, continue talks with North Korea and end the genocide in Darfur. In the first year of the administration, Craig would like to see a reduction in nuclear proliferation, a plan to address climate change and peace talks with Iran and the Israel. Many of these goals have become central to the Obama administration's mission.

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Latin America

Craig has called on the U.S. to move away from focusing solely on "bugs, drugs and trade" in Latin America, instead favoring a comprehensive approach to improve health, education, clean energy and poverty reduction efforts.

While he does not oppose free trade, he supports incorporating human rights protections into trade agreements.

He has come out in favor of community partnerships and cross-border exchange programs, and has criticized the Bush administration for intervening in elections when it doesn't like the outcome. He has called for a multilateral approach to diplomacy that would incorporate all democratic governments, no matter their political orientation.

However, his legal associations with Latin Americans have drawn some criticism and charges of conflict of interest. He represented Panamanian leader Miguel Gonzales Pinzon, who is wanted in the United States for allegedly killing a U.S. soldier in 1992. Obama and other leaders have refused to sign a free trade agreement with Panama until the leader is "brought to justice."

He also represented the Mevs, a wealthy Haitian family who called on Craig to defend their business interests during the overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. In July 2008, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and eight Cuban-American groups called on Obama to fire Craig because of his involvement in the Elian Gonzales case.

NATO

Craig believes in the importance of expanding the number of countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in order to build a stronger network of allied countries.

Guantanamo Bay

Craig was charged with implementing Obama's promise to close the enemy combatant detention center by January 2010, one year after the new president took office promising a dramatic shift from his predecessor.

But he, more than other White House aides, was blamed for underestimating the opposition to such a move in Congress, which worried about where the former detainees would go. Congress has repeatedly voted not to fund the closure, and the deadline for closing the detention center has slipped indefinitely as th White House has acknowledged the difficulties in placing detainees.

Craig conceded that he miscalculated the broadness of the support for closing Guantanamo. "I thought there was, in fact, and I may have been wrong, a broad consensus about the importance to our national security objectives to close Guantanamo," he told The Washington Post in September 2009.

In fall 2009, rumors began to swirl that Guantanamo was Craig's undoing, and that Craig would leave his job by the end of November. But Craig vociferously denied the claims. In October 2009, he told the National Law Journal that he had "no plans to leave whatsoever."

But contrary to his former statements, Craig announced in November 2009 he would be leaving the White House the following month. Obama's personal attorney and well-connected Democratic elections attorney, Bob Bauer, replaced him.

The Network

As a member of Obama's foreign policy inner circle during the 2008 campaign , Craig worked closely with Denis McDonough, Susan E. Rice, Anthony Lake and Samantha Power.

He worked closely with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and was friendly with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, though their relationship cooled when he endorsed Obama for president.

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