Certainly, Jarrett fills an important role for Obama: She has deep and personal ties to the president, as well as undivided loyalties, and can talk honestly to him on a first-name basis. But current and former White House officials I spoke with raised questions about Jarrett’s effectiveness and judgment…

Administration officials talk of resentment they feel toward Jarrett for acting as if she is the only one who has the president’s best interests at heart. Jarrett flaunts her friendship with the president and first lady; she has vacationed with them on Martha’s Vineyard and in Hawaii. “When I’m out of the office and I’m just being his friend, I call him Barack,” she told the ladies of ABC’s “The View” this month, “but when I’m in the office I call him Mr. President.” She has also, colleagues complain, accompanied “Barack” on multiple foreign trips, an unusual role for a White House official with Jarrett’s domestic portfolio.