Anita Dunn, the White House communications director who has tangled very publicly with Fox News, is leaving the White House at the end of the month. The switch had been expected; Ms. Dunn took the communications director job earlier this year on an interim basis and had expected to leave at the end of the summer, but President Obama persuaded her to stay on for a few more months. She will return to Squier Knapp Dunn, the media consulting firm where she is a partner, but will stay on as a strategic consultant to the White House.
Ms. Dunn, a longtime Democratic strategist who worked for Mr. Obama during his presidential campaign, kept a relatively low profile at the White House until recently, when she sparked a war of words with Fox News by calling it “the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.’’
Glenn Beck, the Fox commentator, struck back, broadcasting a video of Ms. Dunn delivering a speech in which she called Mao Tse-Tung, the Chinese communist leader, one of her favorite political philosophers – a comment he called “insanity.’’ She said the reference was facetious.
Dunn's deputy will replace her. Dan Pfeiffer, 33, is a longtime Democratic strategist with experience working for some of the biggest names in the Democratic Party. He served as communications director for Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign, the communications director for Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000 and was an aide to Tom Daschle, the former South Dakota senator who was majority leader. He is married to Sarah Feinberg, a top aide to Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.
Source: Washington Post
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