,TNN (old news - for the record) WASHINGTON: A female policy wonk who challenges the Indian-American prototype of a wealthy upper class background has been asked to head 2008 Presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton's think tank.
Neera Tanden grew up with a divorced mother who was on welfare for two years and received food stamps before she worked her way through school and graduated from Yale law school. Early this week, her already impressive policy career was topped by her appointment as Hillary Clinton's campaign policy director.
Tanden has worked with the Clintons on and off for nearly a decade and for the Democratic Party much before that. After graduating from Yale in 1996, she worked on the Clinton- Gore presidential campaign in California.
She then joined the White House press department and went on to become an aide in the domestic policy office. In the wake of the Columbine massacre, she worked closely with Mrs. Clinton on school safety issues, gaining recognition as a policy expert.
Tanden attributes her preference for policy to her difficult background. Her mother, an immigrant from India, was divorced after an arranged marriage when Neera was five ("It tells you something about arranged marriages," Tanden said in a New York Times profile some months back). She then went on welfare for a couple of years, before getting a job as travel agent and putting Neera and her brother through school.
"I know it sounds totally corny, but she really instilled in me a great deal of, y'know, sort of a desire to serve. The Democratic Party, the policies that the Clintons and Hillary believe in, I feel like a living example of someone who benefited," Tanden said.
Tanden too has two kids now after her marriage to artist Ben Edwards, who she met while working on the Dukakis campaign. The Clintons are known to be fond of the couple; the former First Lady herself mentioned Tanden's work to this correspondent in a 2004 interview when she was the New York Senators's legislative director. Another Indian-American staffer she mentioned, Anil Kakani, has since left to join Corning.
Recently, the former president and the senator dropped by at one of his Edwards' shows at New York's Greenberg Van Doren Gallery. Tanden says fondest memory of her decade with the Clintons is when Hillary threw a wedding shower for her in the White House.
"My mother was there," she told NYT. "She, as an immigrant, with me first- generation and working there, she was ecstatic to come to the White House."
Tanden is one of several Indian-Americans who now work as high-ranking political aides and public policy wonks with key US lawmakers and politicians, including one in Barack Obama's campaign. Kris Kolluri, an aide to former House Minority leader Dick Gephardt, went on to become chief of staff and now holds a cabinet appointment in New Jersey and even briefly served as the stand-in governor last month.
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
Neera Tanden grew up with a divorced mother who was on welfare for two years and received food stamps before she worked her way through school and graduated from Yale law school. Early this week, her already impressive policy career was topped by her appointment as Hillary Clinton's campaign policy director.
Tanden has worked with the Clintons on and off for nearly a decade and for the Democratic Party much before that. After graduating from Yale in 1996, she worked on the Clinton- Gore presidential campaign in California.
She then joined the White House press department and went on to become an aide in the domestic policy office. In the wake of the Columbine massacre, she worked closely with Mrs. Clinton on school safety issues, gaining recognition as a policy expert.
Tanden attributes her preference for policy to her difficult background. Her mother, an immigrant from India, was divorced after an arranged marriage when Neera was five ("It tells you something about arranged marriages," Tanden said in a New York Times profile some months back). She then went on welfare for a couple of years, before getting a job as travel agent and putting Neera and her brother through school.
"I know it sounds totally corny, but she really instilled in me a great deal of, y'know, sort of a desire to serve. The Democratic Party, the policies that the Clintons and Hillary believe in, I feel like a living example of someone who benefited," Tanden said.
Tanden too has two kids now after her marriage to artist Ben Edwards, who she met while working on the Dukakis campaign. The Clintons are known to be fond of the couple; the former First Lady herself mentioned Tanden's work to this correspondent in a 2004 interview when she was the New York Senators's legislative director. Another Indian-American staffer she mentioned, Anil Kakani, has since left to join Corning.
Recently, the former president and the senator dropped by at one of his Edwards' shows at New York's Greenberg Van Doren Gallery. Tanden says fondest memory of her decade with the Clintons is when Hillary threw a wedding shower for her in the White House.
"My mother was there," she told NYT. "She, as an immigrant, with me first- generation and working there, she was ecstatic to come to the White House."
Tanden is one of several Indian-Americans who now work as high-ranking political aides and public policy wonks with key US lawmakers and politicians, including one in Barack Obama's campaign. Kris Kolluri, an aide to former House Minority leader Dick Gephardt, went on to become chief of staff and now holds a cabinet appointment in New Jersey and even briefly served as the stand-in governor last month.
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
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