JON JETER—According to the New Republic and several other sources, it was Jarrett who extinguished Obama’s occasional populist impulse, like a firefighter hosing down a small fire. When Obama proclaimed in late 2009 that “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers” — Jarrett coaxed his political team, led by former Washington advisor David Axelrod, to tone down the inflammatory rhetoric. Said Axelrod in an email to the New Republic: “Valerie viewed Wall Street and the business community as a constituency and was generally uncomfortable with expressions of chastisement toward Wall Street.”