Obama Tests Bon Jovi's Mettle on White House Solutions Council

President Barack Obama named rocker Jon Bon Jovi to the White House Council for Community Solutions, a celebrity pickup for a vaguely chartered body whose mission might be as much about campaign fundraising as neighborhood problem-solving, The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire political blog reports.

Bon Jovi, an avowed Democrat, joins a group tasked to find “the best ways to mobilize citizens, nonprofits, businesses and government to work more effectively together to solve specific community needs.”

Or, as the Journal’s Jonathan Weisman translates, “to keep friends and donors of the president close, while pulling would-be friends a bit closer.”

Council members include a former Gates Foundation chief, a former domestic policy council chair under President George W. Bush, and current executives from Starbucks and eBay.