Defense attorney for would-be Reagan assassin named White House counsel to Obama

Greg Craig clearly has the qualifications, but you’ve laugh a little at this, no?

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Washington lawyer Gregory B. Craig, who served as President Bill Clinton’s lead attorney during the 1998 impeachment proceedings, to be his White House counsel, according to an individual involved with the transition. . . .

Craig was a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He has defended high-profile clients, including John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, and Kennedy nephew William Kennedy Smith, who was accused of rape.

(Full disclosure: Craig is a trustee at Carnegie.)