Meet Obama Policy Director Karen Kornbluh

CNN: "Karen is a big ideas person, but more than that, she's able to bring a lot of really smart people together and convince them to leave their egos at the door," remarked The Washington Note blogger Steve Clemons. "She was a key reason why Obama's message resonated."

Kornbluh, 45, was the chief architect of the 2008 Democratic platform and the former deputy chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin during the Clinton administration.

She has written extensively about women and families. Her most famous essays "The Mommy Tax," "The Joy of Flex" and "Families Valued" contend that modern American families are overworked, underpaid and deserve more respect from the federal government.

She has been quoted by many high-profile politicians, from Sen. Joseph Lieberman to former Sen. John Edwards.
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CNN: You've been an influential behind-the-scenes player in D.C. for years. What drove you to get into public life?

Kornbluh: I was born in New York, and I went to public schools there. Our mother worked, and I was one of the very few kids that I knew who had a working mother. I resented it at the time, but in retrospect, I recognize the pressure she was under.

One of the things that drives me is thinking about families that are just trying to do the right thing and how we can make their lives easier. My father used to work in local politics, and I'd go to a lot of meetings with him. I just caught the bug.

CNN: How did you first meet Barack Obama and become his policy director in his Senate office?

Kornbluh: I met him through mutual friends -- people I knew in Washington knew him from law school. I was struck by so much with him -- first his intelligence -- but he also had an understanding of what was really happening with families. I left [that initial meeting] thinking, "This is a guy who is going to shake things up in Washington." He had an ability to focus on people's real lives and not just thinking in terms of what Washington thinks.

I remember when people were trying to talk to him about international trade policy in a very abstract way, and he kept bringing it back to jobs. He was so focused on, "OK, but how are we going to create good jobs in this country?"

CNN: Can you give me some insight into how he makes decisions. I've read that you and another adviser would arrange casual conversation groups -- economic experts, communications specialists -- and just have dinner while Obama sat back and listened.

Kornbluh: In his first year in the Senate, I did bring in experts to engage with him on issues he cared about. People would leave the meetings, saying, "You know we used to have dinners like this; we used to have meetings like this in Washington, where we would really exchange views, but we don't get to do it [anymore]."