Women at Home On Bush's Team

Insight on the News, April 30, 2001 by Catherine Edwards

A new generation of women is poised to make its way by shaping public policy in Washington. These women now hold one-third of the top jobs in the Bush administration.

We are so happy to be here!" says Kristen Silverberg, special assistant for policy in the Office of the White House Chief of Staff, as she pulls a chair up to the long table in the Roosevelt Room of the Executive Mansion.

And "we" not only refers to the West Wing staff, but to the 49 female political appointees who President George W. Bush already has tapped for top administration jobs. In the Bush administration, it's not only at the high-visibility Cabinet level at which the president has let women shine. Some of the brightest and best already are working for the new administration and, by the end of March, one-third of these appointees were women.

As the first 100 days of the Bush term came to a close, Insight sat down with some of these women and found them to be calm, cool and very bright conservatives. "People don't take these jobs because of the money and lifestyle," laughs Sarah Youssef, 26, who works in the White House as associate director for domestic policy. "Rather, we are committed and hope to make a difference." Youssef notes that she and her other White House colleagues buy their own business cards.

An early Bush supporter, Youssef signed on with the campaign in the spring of 1999 after reading a Bush speech about education online. Previously, she had worked as a policy analyst on welfare and education issues at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative think tank.

Youssef's petite stature is not at all in proportion to her ambition and dedication to help the president reform America's sagging schools. Her eyes brighten as she talks about education reform over early-morning coffee at a Starbucks' on Pennsylvania Avenue. "I agreed with Bush's philosophy that you have to focus on every child, or else they will be left behind," she says. "And what impressed me was his desire for urban reform and the tough love where required."

As the youngest member of Bush's domestic-policy staff, Youssef says that although she knows the issues well, she sometimes does not feel as politically equipped as other appointees. But Robert Rector, a senior research fellow who was her supervisor at the Heritage Foundation, strongly disagrees. "She was a great loss for Heritage and a big gain for Bush," he says. "She was very sincere about these issues and worked full time on innercity school reform and welfare issues." Bush's campaign-policy director, Josh BoRon, agreed and hired her after reading a book on school choice she coauthored for Heritage.

In fact, the whole of Youssef's life seems to define what the president means by compassionate conservatism. Her father is a pastor in Atlanta, where she first volunteered at an inner-city school and became interested in urban reform and the issues on which she now works in the Bush White House. As for her conservatism, she all but cut her teeth on CNN's Crossfire and grew up as a fan of Reagan/Bush speechwriter Peggy Noonan -- whom Youssef still describes as "cool."

The Bush team clearly rewards intelligence and hard work. At age 30, Kristen Silverberg serves as extra eyes and ears to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and says she feels privileged to have such a position. The grueling campaign and Florida recount were tough but worth it, she says.

"I felt so strongly about this race and the candidate," she tells Insight. "I thought this could be a real opportunity to inspire the American people." Sitting beside a portrait of George Washington in the Roosevelt Room, where presidents have signed hundreds of bills over many generations, it's difficult not to feel inspired.

Youssef says, "Kristen is great. She is so feisty, but you'd never know it from her placid demeanor." Silverberg has a serene presence and no doubt a calming effect in an environment where everything matters so much.

Just beyond the opposite door, the afternoon sun shines through the bay window of the Oval Office. "Have you seen all this since Bush became president?" Silverberg asks. Smiling, she walks over to the doorway of the Oval Office and points to the large photos of first lady Laura Bush and the Bush twin daughters on the table behind the president's desk and to a peach- and cream-colored rug. "He redecorated everything and brought back the rug from the era of President Reagan," she says.

A Harvard graduate, Silverberg went on to law school and then clerked for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court before joining the Bush campaign, where both she and Youssef worked tirelessly. Silverberg tells Insight she remembers stumbling home at 4 a.m. on the day after the election, dazed and stunned at the turn of events. As soon as I got home the campaign called and said they wanted me on the first plane out of Austin [Texas] at 7 a.m., so I packed as best I could and went down [to Florida] to help monitor the recount."

Both women agree that the Florida recount was tough. When Bush finally won, both say they were too tired to feel very emotional. "We knew we still had work to do," says Silverberg.