Obama advisor Jarrett tells South Bend audience to talk to people who disagree with them

SOUTH BEND — Valarie Jarrett still remembers the pushback she received from her colleagues who questioned her for meeting with Republicans during her time as advisor to Barack Obama during his presidency.

The end of Obama's second term was a different time — a race to finish with no third term ahead. Jarrett, as one of Obama's top advisors, was trying to help pass legislation that would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.

She responded to pushback and questions from colleagues about courting Republicans by saying, "they have votes we don't have."

That legislation eventually passed with support from 80 of 100 senators. This support began bipartisan brainstorming sessions about legislation.

Jarrett told that story and several others to an audience Thursday night at the Morris Performing Arts Center. Her message was simple: Talk to people who are different from you, who may disagree with you.

At the beginning of Obama's tenure, Jarrett's job was to go in and disagree with the president. She said Obama loved when people pushed back and had a different perspective.

She learned the lesson long before that. Jarrett was born in Iran — when it was one of the United States' closest allies — after her father accepted a job offer to help build a hospital there. Growing up in Iran gave her a different perspective on the United States. She learned that regardless of how challenging the United States can be at times, it is still extraordinary compared to other countries. Jarrett also learned the value of communication by playing with children from all over the world.

"We figured out how to communicate, play games, and it was such an early lesson to say people are people," she said. "If you're willing to be open-minded and curious and interested, then you will discover something special."

Jarrett's father also taught her some really important lessons about ethics.

"If you have to ask whether or not you should do something, it's probably gray," she said, "and if it's gray, don't do it."

Jarrett said she doesn't like what politics has become today, calling for politicians to "remember what motivated them to run for office in the first place" — the American people.

Jarrett has visited 62 countries and 32 states, but she still believes the best approach is starting local. She worked in city government and learned the importance of listening to the stories of her neighbors — even when they were pushing back against the Chicago Transit Authority, which she spoke on behalf of.

"You're more likely to remember those stories from your neighbors and the people in the community where you feel comfortable," Jarrett said. “And you're also going to have more confidence to make those tough calls when you know the lay of the land."

It was during that time working in the Chicago mayor's office that Jarrett first met Barack and Michelle Obama — about 33 years ago — and she became their advisor. Jarrett said as Obama's advisor during the presidency, there was a power dynamic at play.

"People look up to you and they think you actually know what you're doing, that you have the answers," Jarrett said. “Your job is to listen and to engage in that. Make sure you pressure-test your ideas against the people who are going to be impacted by them and by your advisers who are experts."

The importance of communicating with different kinds of people with different ideas has been lost in modern culture, she worried.

In particular, Jarrett expressed her concern for the younger generation because of how "they've grown up on those devices." When she was growing up, Jarrett said, she lived in a community where they "felt this social contract and responsibility." But now we have the ability to listen to only the voices we already agree with, the voices we want to hear, she said, and that atrophies the muscle of talking to someone who might make you uncomfortable.

"You have to be willing to get out of your own comfort zone and then assume that the sense of community is important, as part of what makes us human is relationships," Jarrett said.

Humans are also three-dimensional, Jarrett said. She said she considers her 2019 book, "Finding My Voice" — which she was signing for attendees before Thursday's talk — to be "very open and candid." Jarrett didn't want people looking at her now like this bright shiny object and not understand how shy she was as a kid.

"We're all our stories," Jarrett said. “The good, bad and the ugly of our story is part of what makes us who we are."

At the end of Obama's administration, as they prepared for the transition of power to former President Donald Trump, Jarrett said Obama showed a commitment to working with different people. She said Obama directed his team to do everything possible to ensure a smooth and peaceful transition.

"Start to reach out and be, and be the person that offers to have the door open," Jarrett said. “That's the way it should be and that has nothing to do with party — that is the country."

Jarrett also provided an update on the Obama Foundation, where she is CEO, and the construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago — the presidential library she says will be completed two years from now. She said it will be more than just a presidential center and that it will tell his story.

Email Tribune staff writer Rose Androwich at randrowich@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Obama advisor tells South Bend crowd: talk to people you disagree with