Hailing his talents as a policymaker, manager and thinker, and his "strong, strong sense of courage," President Clinton today promoted White House Deputy Chief of Staff John Podesta to chief of staff.
Podesta replaces Erskine Bowles, who will return to North Carolina, where he likely will seek the governorship.
In listing the White House's priorities for next year, Clinton for the second time in less than a week singled out passing a "Patients' Bill of Rights" and raising the minimum wage, along with devising a plan for securing the Social Security system's future.
Podesta has also served in the White House as staff secretary, managing the paper flow to the president. On Capitol Hill, he has worked as a counselor to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and as chief counsel to the Senate Agriculture Committee and a counsel to the Judiciary Committee.
Maria Echaveste will remain in her current spot as the other White House deputy chief of staff.
Meanwhile, in his first public lecture since leaving Clinton's employ earlier this month, former White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry Monday told a University of Pittsburgh audience that Clinton is "an enormously gifted and richly qualified leader for our nation, but someone who is exasperatingly stupid in his personal life."
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