Doug O'Brien reflects on the agriculture and rural development policy of the Obama administration, in which he served as chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan from 2009 to 2011, deputy undersecretary for rural development in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 2011 to 2013, acting undersecretary for rural development from 2013 to 2014, and senior po licy advisor for rural affairs on the White House Domestic Policy Council from 2015 to 2016. O'Brien outlines the economic challenges facing rural America, and describes the administration's efforts to increase investment in rural areas, target federal resources to areas suffering from persistent poverty, and reduce rural childhood poverty. He also provides details about the major civil rights litigation processes involving USDA (Pigford v. Glickman, Keepseagle v. Vilsack, Love v. Vilsack, and Garcia v. Vilsack), the reception of the administration's healthcare reform and climate policy in rural America, the effects of federal budget sequestration on USDA operations and morale, and the trajectory of the administration's attention to rural communities over the course of the Obama presidency. Also discussed are the differences between agency and White House work on rural issues; the importance of the federal civil service; the movement of rural voters toward the Republican Party; and the Obama 2008 campaign's outreach and engagement with rural constituencies, which O'Brien led as rural vote director for Ohio
Presidents--United States; Agriculture and state--United States; Rural development--Government policy--United States; Climate change mitigation--Government policy--United States; Health care reform--United States; O'Brien, Douglas; Obama, Barack; Domestic Policy Council (U.S.); United States. Department of Agriculture
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
47 pages
Note (Biographical)
Doug O'Brien worked as the rural vote director in Ohio for President Obama's 2008 campaign before entering the administration as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He was chief of staff to Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and senior advisor to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. In 2011, O'Brien became deputy undersecretary for rural development, then acting undersecretary in 2013. In 2015, he left the USDA to serve as senior policy advisor for rural affairs on the White House Domestic Policy Council
Note
Interviewed by Nicole R. Hemmer on September 27, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Douglas O’Brien, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023