EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) – President Barack Obama’s top-ranking adviser on his vacation to Martha’s Vineyard is a former Illinois political operative who drove him around the state during his Senate campaign a decade ago and then was his personal secretary outside the Oval Office.
Now the president’s deputy chief of staff, Anita Decker Beckenridge is responsible for a high-pressure operation that’s a far cry from the early journeys she and Obama shared.
Breckenridge has known Obama since 2003, when the former aide to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed on to his U.S. Senate campaign to introduce the state senator from Chicago to downstate voters. They crisscrossed the state in her sedan, getting to know each other while passing rows of corn, arguing over the radio station and keeping their eyes peeled for a Subway lunch.
“We would stop in all these small towns and we would have all these little gatherings,” Breckenridge recalled.
The times have changed.