PUBLIC SERVICE
The Road to the White House
For some alumni, connections
to Obama go back years; others came
aboard during the campaign
As President Barack Obama staffed his new administration, several Carolina
alumni were taking key posts. For other alumni, the reward was having participated
in a successful campaign. These are a few of their stories.
MELODY BARNES ’ 86, director of the Domestic Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties,
Policy Council. Barnes was involved in the Voting Rights
“From the time I was a little girl, social Improvement Act of 1992. She served as chief
issues were talked about counsel to U.S.
in our home,” Barnes Sen. Edward
recalls. “My dad used to Kennedy on the
talk to me about the Senate Judiciary
labor movement. I was an Committee
avid reader of biographies (1995-2003) and
and autobiographies.” was executive vice
This concern for president for poli-social issues grew during cy at the Center
her years at UNC, for American
including service through Progress.
her sorority, Alpha Kappa Barnes was first
Alpha, and Campus Y, as introduced to
Melody Barnes ’ 86 says she has been “in love with” public
well as studying the civil policy since high school. Barack Obama
rights movement. like most others,
That love of history evolved into a desire to through the media. “I couldn’t go to the con-
shape public policy. As assistant counsel to the vention in 2004 because I was having surgery,”
House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Barnes says. “I was still in a fog from the anes-
thesia when I saw Obama speak, but I
thought, this is an incredible speech, and it
really resonates with me.”
When Obama came to Washington as a
senator, Cassandra Butts ’ 87, who sat in the
office next to Barnes at the Center for
American Progress, introduced him in person.
In January 2007, then-Sen. Obama invited
Barnes to lunch, and they began a series of
discussions that led to Barnes’ campaign role as
a spokesperson on domestic issues. Last
November, Obama appointed her director of
the Domestic Policy Council.
“It is very, very exciting,” Barnes says from
her office in the West Wing. “For everyone
here there is a strong sense of purpose, a
strong sense of mission, and a belief that the
person we work for believes in the tenacity of
the American people. You do feel like you are
working for a higher cause and doing it with
really smart people.”
CASSANDRA BUTTS ’ 87, deputy White House
counsel with a focus on domestic policy and
ethics.
Butts was waiting to fill out forms at the
financial aid office at Harvard Law School
when she got into a conversation with a fellow student. As an undergraduate at UNC,
Butts had worked hard for the South Africa
divestment movement. Her fellow Harvard law
classmate, Barack Obama, shared her passion. “I
felt immediately,” Butts recalls, “that we held a
shared world view, that we thought about the
issues similarly.”
And the White House? “Talking to my
friend Barack Obama, did I believe I would be
in the position I am?” Butts asks. “I certainly
believed that of all the people I knew, he had
the potential to be president. He was uniquely
talented even then. You could see he was
someone who would
make a difference.”
As Obama’s ambitions
became more political,
Butts became a part of his
“kitchen cabinet.” When
he ran for the U.S. Senate,
Butts, who was working
for U.S. Rep. Richard
Gephardt of Missouri,
helped him make connections. In 2007, she became
a player in the presidential
campaign and sometimes
appeared as a surrogate
COURTESY CASSANDRA BUTTS ’ 87
when Obama could not Cassandra Butts ’ 87 met Obama at Harvard
Law School.
get to an event. “I’m a
utility infield player,” Butts says. “I basically go
where I am needed.”
Butts brings more than
friendship to her White
House job. Before the campaign, she was senior vice
president for domestic policy at the Center for
American Progress. In
Gephart’s office she provided counsel and strategic
advice on legislation related
to the attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, and drafted the
September 11th Victim
Compensation Fund of
2001. Her first job for
President Obama: looking at
judicial nominations and
working with nominees throughout the confirmation process.
