When W. Mark Felt, the onetime number two at the FBI, unmasked himself as Deep Throat in May 2005, a few close observers weren’t surprised. They had suspected that Felt was Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s fabled Watergate source: In 1974, just two months after All the President’s Men disclosed Deep Throat’s existence, Washingtonian editor Jack Limpert fingered Felt as the likeliest Deep Throat.

What remains a Watergate mystery is how the Nixon White House learned in October 1972 that Felt was the Washington Post’s source. Decades later, it’s apparent that the White House had a secret source of its own inside the Post, a person who might be dubbed Richard Nixon’s Deep Throat.

Nixon realized early on that someone in the FBI was leaking to the Post. In a conversation captured on the President’s voice-activated tape recorder on October 19, 1972, four months after the break-in, White House chief of staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman told Nixon that the culprit had been identified. “It’s pretty high up,” Haldeman said. “Mark Felt.” After a flash of anger, Nixon asked Haldeman how he’d found out.

Some Washingtonians know where to find sweeping views of their city. Head up Anacostia ridge—Frederick Douglass’s house has very impressive sightlines. Few residents and fewer tourists ever visit the area. And yet every time Barack Obama looks up from his desk, he can catch a glimpse of that panoramic vista in a 19th-century painting that adorns his new office.

The Oval Office has always been more than a presidential work space. It’s a stage set, too, a backdrop for talks with foreign dignitaries and for TV broadcasts. The office’s artwork and furniture are the mise en scène of history, tailored to each occupant’s taste and image.

Obama, said to have paid close attention to the decoration of his Senate office, moved into the White House with a light touch. He made a conservative decision to keep many of George W. Bush’s furnishings, including a mid-five-figures rug commissioned by Laura Bush.

A bruising of tender transatlantic sensibilities during Obama’s first weeks in office proved the wisdom of a go-slow approach: When the White House gave back to the British government a bust of Winston Churchill that Bush had put in the Oval Office, the action heightened Britain’s status anxiety.

See earlier: Who Are the Wealthiest Members of the Obama Administration? 

With the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services secretary, it appears President Obama’s Cabinet is complete. How does the team stack up in terms of wealth? Here’s what financial-disclosure forms show; net worth is given in broad categories on disclosure forms.

1. Hillary Rodham Clinton, secretary of State: assets of at least $7,244,000, though they could be as much as $35,660,000.

Not only is Clinton the best-known Cabinet chief; she’s also the wealthiest. Although her campaign for the Democratic nomination might have cost her, she needn’t clip coupons. She won’t be homeless, either: Cabinet officials don’t have to declare homes that they own and use privately, but property records show that she and her husband own two houses, in DC and New York, each valued at more than $1 million.

2. Eric Holder, attorney general: assets of $4,557,000 to $18,430,000.

Holder is one of many Cabinet members who left lucrative private-sector jobs to work for the government. He made $3.3 million last year as a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling as well as a severance payment of $1 million to $5 million. His take-home pay as attorney general? Only $196,700.

As President Obama sets out the most ambitious agenda since FDR’s, he’s quickly learning that the people he needs to watch out for on Capitol Hill are fellow Democrats. From Speaker Nancy Pelosi to powerful and opinionated committee chairs, the President is finding that the keys to his success are often indistinguishable from the proverbial flies in the ointment.

Here are some of the Democrats to watch out for:

Nancy Pelosi. No one will have a greater say about Obama’s ultimate success than the House speaker, who has quickly proven—particularly in conversations with White House chief of staff and former congressman Rahm Emanuel—that she’s not interested in help from the White House in running her domain. On the Hill, you’re on her turf.

Patrick Leahy. His ongoing quest for a “truth-and-reconciliation commission” and his early call to dump Joe Lieberman from his position in the Democratic caucus show that the Vermont senator—now the body’s fourth in seniority and a rising star among the party’s grassroots-activist core—isn’t going to be quiet.

Parents, start your engines: Tickets for the White House Easter Egg Roll are now available. And for the first time ever, you don't need to leave your desk to get them—the free tickets are being given away online here.

This year's egg roll will take place on Monday, April 13 starting at 8 AM. The theme is 'Let's Go Play,' a directive to encourage kids to lead healthy, active lives. The program is designed for kids under age 11 and their families. Activities will include sports, cooking classes, live musical acts, storytelling, and, obviously, the Easter egg roll.

When we clicked the link to get tickets this morning at 9:10 AM, the system said it was experiencing a high-volume of visitors and to "please try again later." Subsequent attempts to load the page timed-out altogether.

According to the White House's egg roll info page, tickets, which are timed for entry to the event, "will be available at various times throughout the day. If you are unable to order tickets at this time, please check back later."

Good luck! 

Were you able to get tickets? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Society Photos  

It’s no surprise that the big money in government is in defense. But monied people seem to go there, too. In the April edition of the magazine, available today, we examine the wealthiest Cabinet secretaries in the Obama administration. According to the financial-disclosure forms of Obama administration figures, though, there are more than a few millionaires in the rest of the team too. In fact, beyond the department heads, four out of ten of the wealthiest Obama appointees are at the Pentagon. One note: The forms required by the government don't include any liabilities that an appointee may have—so these estimates of wealth may be inflated once mortgages and
other unknown charges are included. Based on the disclosures, here’s how the list shakes out:

1. Gary Gensler, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission: assets of at least $15,533,000, though they could total as much as $61,745,000.
Gensler, a Baltimore native, is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs “School of Making Money,” becoming partner when he was 30 and eventually the company’s cohead of finance.

2. Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations: assets of $14,031,000 to $41,265,000.
Thanks to family money, Rice hasn’t had to rely on her $123,460-a-year job at the Brookings Institution—plus an $86,568 director’s fee at BNA, a publisher of information for government and business—to pay the bills. She has between $4 million and $20 million squirreled away in Canadian banks.

Michelle Obama

Title: First Lady

Connections: Former U of Chicago Medical Center vice president for community and external affairs. Former lawyer in Mayor Daley’s city hall, hired by Valerie Jarrett. Mother of former U of Chicago Lab School students. Former member of U of Chicago Lab School board.

Valerie Jarrett

Titles: Senior adviser and assistant to the President for intergovernmental relations and public liaison; First Friend.

Connections: POTUS, FLOTUS confidante. While at Mayor Daley’s city hall, hired Michelle. Cochair of Obama’s presidential transition team. Former board chair of U of Chicago Medical Center, where Michelle worked. Parents live down the street from the Obama Chicago home. Attended U of Chicago Lab School.

David Axelrod

Title: White House senior adviser

Connections: Top strategist for Obama presidential, senate campaigns. Political clients include Rahm Emanuel, Mayor Daley. A public-affairs firm Axelrod founded, ASK Strategies, had a consulting contract with the U of Chicago Medical Center. U of Chicago graduate.

Rahm Emanuel

Title: White House chief of staff

Connections: Washington and Chicago politics; worked with Obama when Emanuel ran the House political operation. David Axelrod is a friend and political adviser.

Desiree Rogers

Title: White House social secretary

Connections: Former Chicago business executive is close friend of POTUS, FLOTUS, and Jarrett. Former wife of John Rogers Jr.

John Rogers Jr.

Title: Friend. Cochair, presidential inauguration committee. Cochair, presidential campaign Illinois finance committee

Connections: Raised down the street from the Obama Chicago home. Grew up with Jarrett. Attended U of Chicago Lab school. Basketball buddy of Michelle’s brother, Craig, at Princeton. Member, U of Chicago board, U of Chicago Lab School board.

Christina Tchen

Title: White House director of public liaison. Connections: Jarrett friend. Served on U of Chicago Medical Center board.

Arne Duncan

Title: Secretary of Education

Connections: Raised in Hyde Park. U of Chicago Lab School graduate. Basketball buddy. Former Chicago Public Schools chief.

James Crown

Title: Cochair, presidential campaign Illinois finance committee

Connections: Friend; chair of the U of Chicago Board of Trustees.

Susan Sher

Title: White House associate counsel

Connections: U of Chicago Medical Center vice president for legal and governmental affairs and general counsel. While a corporate counsel in Mayor Daley’s city hall, she passed Michelle’s résumé to Jarrett, who hired her. Former member, U of Chicago Lab School board.

Elena Kagan

Title: Solicitor general

Connections: Friend of the Obamas’ since her days at the U of Chicago law school, where she was on the faculty.

Eric Whitaker

Title: First Friend

Connections: Met Obama at Harvard Law. Campaign-trail, vacation pal. U of Chicago Medical Center executive. Former director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Penny Pritzker

Title: Cochair, presidential inauguration committee; economic transition-team adviser

Connections: Billionaire business mogul was Obama presidential campaign national finance chair. Member, U of Chicago Lab School Board.

Marty Nesbitt

Title: First Friend

Connections: Obama’s presidential campaign treasurer. Campaign-trail, vacation pal. U of Chicago business-school grad and president of the Parking Spot; Pritzker is company board chair. Member, U of Chicago Lab School board. Married to Anita Blanchard, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the U of Chicago Medical Center, who delivered both Obama children.

Cass Sunstein

Title: Administrator, Office of Management and Budget office of information and regulatory affairs

Connections: Informal Obama campaign adviser. Before moving to Harvard last year, taught at the U of Chicago Law School, where Obama was on the faculty. Last summer married Obama adviser Samantha Power.

William Daley

Title: Adviser; cochair, presidential inaugural committee; cochair, transition-team advisory board

Connections: The former Commerce secretary and brother of Chicago mayor Richard Daley was a campaign and transition adviser. Close to Axelrod, Emanuel.

This article first appeared in the February 2009 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here. 

More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Society Photos