On Tuesday, Ms. Rice met by Zoom with Randi Weingarten, the longtime president of the American Federation of Academics, to debate find out how to use the general public training system to fight the unfold of disinformation.
She needed to speak to Ms. Rice about what she referred to as a “lack of discernment between truth and propaganda,” and mentioned Ms. Rice challenged her “about ‘how can we really do that from the White Home.’”
Ms. Weingarten got here away impressed. “I’ve met lots of the home coverage advisers within the White Home,” she mentioned. “Rather a lot earlier than have been actually good folks, however they made positive the trains ran on time. She’s a giant thinker. Her job is past that.”
Ms. Rice’s household is rooted in home coverage points, even when her personal profession has skewed to issues overseas. Her mom, Lois Dickson Rice, a high-powered company government, helped persuade Congress to offer federal subsidies, generally known as Pell grants, to needy school college students. Her father, Emmett J. Rice, was a governor of the Federal Reserve.
“You want somebody who understands find out how to transfer issues ahead,” mentioned Cecilia Muñoz, who served as director of the Home Coverage Council below Mr. Obama. “It’s like being an orchestra conductor. You don’t need to play the entire devices. You do need to get essentially the most out of every a part of the orchestra.”
Mr. Klain added, “Her signature challenge is many points.”
Valerie Jarrett, a longtime adviser to Mr. Obama, mentioned Ms. Rice was chosen partially as a result of she was a recognized entity to Mr. Biden, who needed to enter workplace with a staff of advisers who had already labored collectively.
Throughout the Obama administration, “they’d an in depth relationship, they shared a toilet, and have been on the identical corridor collectively,” she mentioned.