Summit Notebook
Exclusive outtakes from industry leaders
No time for fun for White House officials
While senators like Lamar Alexander have time to play classical piano with the symphony or attend sporting events, some people in Washington don’t have as much time for fun or relaxation.
Take Austan Goolsbee, the new chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, who until recently worked as a member of the council and a long-time economic adviser to Obama.
Goolsbee used to compete in triathlons. Now he jokes that he is so out of shape he can hardly make it up the stairs without losing his breath.
“I stopped working out completely when I got here,” Goolsbee told the Reuters Washington Summit. Now I can’t walk up the stairs without going a-huff, a-huff, a-huff,” he said as he made the sounds of someone gasping for air.
How do White House staff know when it’s time to leave?
It’s an age old question that even applies to senior staff working in the White House: At what point do you decide it’s time to quit your job and move on?
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs predicted at the Reuters Washington Summit that some people working in the White House will soon decide they want to go back to a less hectic life. Especially those who worked on President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign which lasted two grueling years.
