Power may become Obama aide

The AP last night: WASHINGTON (AP) — Samantha Power, the Harvard University professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who earned notoriety for calling Hillary Rodham Clinton a ”monster” while working to elect Barack Obama president, will take a senior foreign policy job at the White House, The Associated Press has learned. Officials familiar with the decision ...

The AP last night:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Samantha Power, the Harvard University professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who earned notoriety for calling Hillary Rodham Clinton a ”monster” while working to elect Barack Obama president, will take a senior foreign policy job at the White House, The Associated Press has learned.

Officials familiar with the decision say Obama has tapped Power to be senior director for multilateral affairs at the National Security Council, a job that will require close contact and potential travel with Clinton, who is now secretary of state. NSC staffers often accompany the secretary of state on foreign trips.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Power’s position, as well as that of other senior NSC positions, have not yet been announced. One official said the announcements would be made in the near future.

But the two key grafs are here:

[While Power was on the transition team], an official close to the transition said Power’s ”gesture to bury the hatchet” with Clinton had been well-received. Power and Clinton have met at least once since Clinton’s confirmation last week when they both appeared at a State Department ceremony at which Obama announced the appointment of special envoys to South Asia and the Middle East.

Reporters at the event saw Power and Clinton chat briefly at the end, although the conversation was inaudible.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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