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The Mysterious Return Of Obama”s “Body Man”
Reggie Love resurfaces on eve of Republican convention
The former personal aide to Barack Obama known as the president’s “body man,” Reggie Love, resurfaced on the eve of the Republican National Convention to support his old boss.
Hired as Obama’s “deputy political director,” the Duke University basketball and football star was the constant companion of the president for two years before resigning last November.
The White House explained Love had decided to pursue further studies at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, but the Internet, at the time, was abuzz with speculation that Love was dismissed because of the wide circulation of compromising photographs of him when he was a college student. The photos purported to show a heavily inebriated Love surrounded by fellow students assisting him in engaging in a homosexual act at a party on the rival University of North Carolina campus.
In the interview with CNN Monday, Love portrayed Obama as a cool-headed leader who doesn’t let problems ruffle him.
“I think it looks like he’s really, really calm all the time and nothing gets under his skin, but I think from an efficiency standpoint, you know, you can cry about the call or you can look to the next play,” Love told CNN. “And if you spend your time crying about the call, usually you, you miss the next play. And then … instead of having one bad play, now you have two.”
Today, the Drudge Report – which has toyed with headlines, photos and page placement over the years that give the impression Love was something more than a presidential assistant – linked to the story with the headline: “Reggie Love Speaks: Obama leads like he plays … ”
The headline was positioned above a story about former Florida Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s key speaking role at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. The link was illustrated with a photo of Obama and Crist in which they appear to be preparing to kiss.
The embarrassing photos of Love as a college student have appeared and disappeared with regularity on various websites over the past year.
Earlier this month, when Obama asked Love to join the U.S. official delegation to the closing ceremonies of the London Olympics, reunion photos of Obama and Love showed them “fist bumping” in the Oval Office – a practice Love supposedly introduced to Obama.
Who is Reggie Love?
Love, a graduate of Duke University with a B.A. in political science and public policy, started working in 2006 in a low-level staff position in then-Sen. Obama’s office after failing NFL tryouts with the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys in 2004 and 2005.
In 2007, just before Obama’s presidential primary campaign was launched, Love moved up to assume the position of “personal assistant” to the candidate, a role typically dubbed as a “body man,” responsible for up-close and personal contact with Obama on virtually a 24-7 basis. As the New York Times reported, the job required anything from carrying Obama’s coat or briefcase, to providing him “cool” Jay-Z music for his iPod, to sneaking off to the gym and playing basketball.
In April 2009, Love won the Huffington Post’s “Who’s the White House’s hottest employee?” contest.
In January 2009, ESPN dubbed Love “Chief of Stuff” in an article that featured the following personal commentary:
Love walks in Obama’s shadow for about 18 hours a day, anticipating all his needs. He wakes up Obama around dawn, works out with him in the morning, answers his cell phone during the day and hangs out with him at night. Much of the time, he carries a black duffle bag stuffed with any drugstore item Obama could possibly need, including mouthwash, Wetnaps, aspirin, Nicorette and ballpoint pens. If the presumptive nominee were to spill something on his tie moments before a nationally televised debate, Love would rescue him with Tide stain remover.
Love played on the 2001 Duke University basketball team that won the NCAA national championship. He was suspended the following year, however, for a drunk-driving incident in which he did not receive a citation because his blood alcohol measured just below the level of legal intoxication.
A further indiscretion with alcohol proved more costly.
