Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Tina | Email Max There was tension between Dr. ROCHELLE WALENSKY and the Biden team from the start. During the transition last fall, Walensky expressed apprehension about moving from the Boston area to take the helm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta during the Covid-19 pandemic, a transition official told West Wing Playbook. It caused angst in the ranks. Ultimately, the CDC director did not relocate full-time to Atlanta and continues to work remotely from the Boston area, with frequent trips to CDC headquarters and Washington. But the CDC director’s isolation within the Biden administration isn’t only due to geography. Walensky, a physician, medical professor and HIV/AIDs expert, joined a Covid-19 team last year that was full of experienced Washington insiders. Dr. ANTHONY FAUCI, JEFFREY ZIENTS, Dr. VIVEK MURTHY, XAVIER BECERRA, and FRANCIS COLLINS all dwarfed her in bureaucratic prowess. Some routine features of Washington, particularly how internal conversations often leak to the press, caught Walensky off-guard, according to one administration official. Over the first half of 2021, she became increasingly frustrated by those leaks and began to tighten her inner circle. That wariness led to complaints from others in the administration that Walensky was too insular and not sharing information, as some people voiced to the New York Times last week. Public health experts also criticized her for communication stumbles on important topics like masking guidance. That blowback ultimately led Walensky to turn to veteran Democratic consultant MANDY GRUNWALD for help with communications in recent months, as CNN first reported last week (Grunwald did not respond to an email). Walensky’s up-and-down first year is, in part, a reflection of the times. She was thrust into the middle of an unpredictable global pandemic that has vexed governments across the globe. But it has also made her a divisive figure inside and outside the administration as Covid-19 continues to roil the country and JOE BIDEN’s presidency. “It is an incredibly difficult job at any time and inconceivably difficult at this time,” said TOM FRIEDEN, the CDC director for all eight years of the Obama administration, who, after serving, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after being accused of groping a woman without her permission. Frieden noted that tensions between the CDC and presidential administrations is a “long term dynamic.” As for Walensky, he expressed optimism: “I think she's off to a good start. There's obviously been some bumps in the road, but I'm really optimistic that she will be a successful director.” Dr. LEANA WEN, a public health professor at George Washington University and a influential commentator on Covid-19, told us that “there are a lot of things the CDC has gotten right, but there have been major errors that have not only eroded trust in the CDC but eroded trust in public health more broadly.” The latest controversy came last month after the CDC issued sudden changes to quarantine guidance for those with Covid-19 that did not require patients to test negative, leaving many confused. As the criticism mounted, Walensky attempted to go on the offensive. She addressed recent criticism of the CDC’s lack of transparency by restarting agency press conferences and committed to participating in more. She has upped her time on television, including appearances on cable news and softer-focus late night and early morning talk shows, a move that pleased some public health officials who felt that, fairly or not, Walensky and the CDC had suffered from a lack of open communication in recent months. “She's taking the feedback honestly and trying to address the criticisms and provide more access,” Dr. CÉLINE GOUNDER, an infectious disease expert who served on the Biden transition’s Covid-19 Advisory Board, told West Wing Playbook. But even as the administration has come to her defense, they concede her shortcomings as a messenger. During a recent appearance on CNN, Health and Human Services Secretary XAVIER BECERRA noted that Walensky ”has a degree in public health” not “in marketing.” “Who do I want running CDC? Someone who knows infectious diseases, someone who understands this stuff,” he added. “And so while we may have issues with some of the marketing that's been done, I guarantee you, Dr. Walensky is someone we need at CDC." As for her commuting set-up, even her allies think it’s important she spend more time in Atlanta as things open up. “Obviously, as more and more things are in person, being in person will be more important,” said Frieden. “What's that old line: ‘Eighty percent of life is just showing up’? There's an importance to being there walking the halls being seen talking to people getting a feel for the place.” As for questions about her remote working arrangement, her office is staying quiet. Asked if she flies commercial and pays out of pocket for her travel back-and-forth to Boston, as Labor Secretary MARTY WALSH’s team says he does when commuting back-and-forth to Boston, a CDC spokesperson asked to talk off the record. Ultimately, they did not respond to our questions. 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