Introduction
Howard Daniel "Dan" Pfeiffer (born December 24, 1975) is a former Senior Advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama for Strategy and Communications.
Pfeiffer was a long-time aide to Obama, serving in various press and communications roles throughout his 2008 campaign for the Presidency, on his presidential transition team, and in the Obama White House. He co-hosts the Pod Save America podcast with Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor.
Early life and career
Pfeiffer was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the son of Vivian Lear (née Strange), a learning specialist, and Gary Malick Pfeiffer, a financial officer for DuPont.
He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University. He began his career in politics working as a spokesman for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) initiative of the Clinton Administration. In 2000 he joined the communications department of Al Gore's 2000 campaign for the Presidency.
After the 2000 presidential election, he went to work for the Democratic Governors Association, and later worked for Senators Tim Johnson, Tom Daschle, and Evan Bayh. He served briefly as communications director for Evan Bayh's presidential exploratory committee.
Obama Campaign
In 2007, Pfeiffer was recruited to join the Obama presidential campaign by Pete Rouse – who had previously hired him in the office of Senator Tom Daschle when Rouse was serving as Daschle's Chief of Staff. His first position was as Senator Obama's travelling press secretary. He was later promoted to communications director.
Obama White House
After the 2008 presidential election, Pfeiffer ran the communications office for the Obama-Biden Transition team and was then appointed Deputy White House Communications Director after the inauguration of Barack Obama. Less than a year later, after the departure of Anita Dunn, Pfeiffer was named White House Communications Director. He remained in the role for the entire first term of the Obama presidency.
At the start of President Obama's second term, Pfeiffer was promoted to Senior Advisor for Strategy and Communications, taking over most of the portfolio previously managed in the White House by David Axelrod and David Plouffe. He left the White House in March 2015.
Personal life
On July 16, 2006, Pfeiffer married Sarah Elizabeth Feinberg, a senior advisor and spokeswoman for Obama's former Chief of Staff, and current senior advisor and spokeswoman for Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel. In 2011, Pfeiffer and Feinberg separated, and later divorced.
In 2016, Pfeiffer married Howli Ledbetter, former director of message planning in the White House.
Public criticism
Pfeiffer garnered generally bad press after a November 2013 response, seen by many (including partisans opposed to the legislation), as wonkish and unsympathetic, to a California woman with advanced gall bladder cancer who published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal describing the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also called "ACA" or Obamacare) on her treatment. Edie Littlefield Sundby wrote that she would "be forced to choose between the state government health exchange - which means certain doctors won't be covered - or try to cover up to 50% of the medical expenses on her own since her insurance company, UnitedHealthcare, will not participate in California's insurance exchange".
Pfeiffer then replied via Twitter, backed up by the progressive activist group Think Progress, that the blame actually lay "at the feet of Sundby's insurance company for dropping the ball", not ACA regulations. More than 2500 comments appeared within just a few days.