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The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Neera Tanden on what it's like to work for Hillary Clinton

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.511.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2016

⏱️ 67 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Neera Tanden is CEO of the Center for American Progress — perhaps the most influential left-leaning think tank in Washington. Before that, though, she was the policy director for both Hillary Clinton's Senate office and 2008 campaign, as well as a senior advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services during the drafting of Obamacare. She’s also someone many of you requested to hear on the program.Neera Tanden has had a unique vantage point on the Democratic frontrunner. Tanden is a Hillary supporter and a strong one, but she's worked for Clinton for a long time, and so has a perspective on her former boss that most people don't get to see. And that's something I'm interested in. There is, I think it's fair to say, a wide gap between Clinton's reputation as a campaigner as a politician and her reputation as a boss and colleague. And it's that gap that I Tanden is able to shine some light on. Among the topic we cover are:- What it was like for Tanden growing up on welfare, and whether she thinks welfare reform was good for the poor- How she met Hillary Clinton, and why she initially thought of herself as "a Bill Clinton person." - Why Clinton's public reputation confuses Tanden- Whether Washington is governed more by individuals or structural forces- What she thinks of criticisms of Clinton's speeches to Goldman Sachs- Why she thinks money has a more poisonous influence in Congress than in the White House- What her favorite think tank papers on both the left and the right are- What policy books she thinks everyone should readTanden is a Hillary Clinton supporter, and a proud one. And in this podcast, she talks about what it's like to actually work for and with Clinton. This episode is brought to you by The Great The Great Courses Plus is offering listeners a chance to stream hundreds of their courses-including The Fundamentals of Photography-free when you visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/EZRA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

The following podcast contains explicit language.

0:08.0

Hello, all of you in Badguestland.

0:09.9

We're back with another episode of the Ezra Client Show and the guest this week is Nira Tandit.

0:15.2

Nira is the head of the Center for American Progress, which is probably the most powerful

0:20.7

and influential center left think tank in Washington. They were formed in the Bush era.

0:25.2

They become a central holder and funnler of talent to democratic administrations in the Obama

0:31.3

era. Nira herself is a really fascinating person. She grew up, daughter of a single mother

0:36.8

on food stamps and Massachusetts. She rose to become Hillary Clinton's director of policy

0:42.8

in her senate office. Then in her presidential campaign, she was Barack Obama and Joe Biden's

0:47.6

director of domestic policy in the 2008 campaign. She worked on Obamacare in the Obama White House.

0:52.8

We had a great discussion, but one thing that the discussion really focused on, which I was

0:56.8

really interested in speaking to Nira about, is what it is like to work for Hillary Clinton.

1:01.9

Nira, you should know, is a big supporter of Clintons. She is campaigned for. She's endorsed

1:05.9

her. She's someone who could plausibly serve in a Clinton White House at a pretty high level.

1:10.0

So you're hearing here from someone who really likes and admires Clinton. I think that's a valuable

1:15.2

and interesting perspective. There is this very large gap that I've noticed that others have written

1:20.9

between Clinton's public persona, the sort of idea of her as a stiff campaigner and this

1:27.0

calculating politician. What you hear from people who've worked with her privately, who they

1:31.6

describe Clinton as incredibly warm, briefed beyond any politician they've ever dealt with,

1:36.3

Republicans will talk about what a great experience working with her is, even as publicly she's

1:40.9

an intensely polarizing figure. So speaking with Nira, it was for me a really interesting way to

1:46.2

try to get a little bit more insight into the private version of Hillary Clinton. The Hillary

...

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