White House tribal adviser coming soon

by Mark Silva

The Obama White House plans to add a policy adviser on native American tribal concerns within the next few weeks, First Lady Michelle Obama said today.

The president "will soon appoint a policy adviser to his senior White House staff to work with tribes and across the government on these issues such as sovereignty, health care and education, all central to the well being of native American families and the prosperity of tribes,'' the first lady said in a visit to the Interior Department today.

The first lady, embarked on a tour of all the federal agencies, was greeted with a traditional tribal "Honor Song" and wrapped in a bright lavender shawl.

This and a handful of other songs were played by a seven-member Black Bear Singers drum band -- with one Indian Affairs employee, one from the Museum of the American Indian and area residents from outside the government.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former senator from Colorado, introduced the first lady as someone whom he had met during freshman senator orientation in 2004. He said that he had seen then that both she and the future president, then a newly elected senator from Illinois, had "the calm, coolness, confidence and resolve that will bring about the change America needs."

"We truly are the department of America,'' Salazar said of his agency. "We truly, with the help of Barack Obama and his great team, will help change the world."

The department will help make the nation energy independent and will help "empower" native American communities, Salazar said to a drum-beat punctuation from the Black Bears.

Nedra Darling, director of public affairs for Interior and a spokeswoman for the office of the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, draped the shawl over the first lady's shoulders. Darling is a member of the prairie band of the Pottawatomie tribe from a reservation north of Topeka.

Washington is "a hard place to live and work," Darling said of the first lady. The song and shawl "will provide her strength and courage and duration through her tenure and beyond."

(First Lady Michelle Obama wears a shawl made made by the Interior Department's American Indian museum curator, Marianne Hannsom, of the Kiowa tribe in Oklahoma. (Photo by Lawrence Jackson / AP)

"I wanted to come by to simply say thank you,'' said Obama, who has delivered a similar message at the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Education in making the rounds of all agencies. "It's a simple message but it's one that we think is important to deliver.

"The issues that you are working on as you know affect us all,'' she said, calling Interior "at the center of this administration's highest priority -- securing America's energy future."

Native Americans have "a wonderful partner in the White House right now,'' she said.

An aide said the appointment is "part of the staffing process" and the administration likely will make the appointment "in the next few weeks."