The White House has announced that President Bush intends to appoint Clay Aiken -- or Clayton Aiken, as he is listed in the press release -- to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Aiken is a Raleigh native who rose to fame as a runner-up in the "American Idol" competition. Before his singing career took off, Aiken worked as a counselor at a YMCA.

The committee advises the president and the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues relating to programs and services for people with intellectual disabilities, according to the committee's web site. The committee was first established, as the President's Panel on Mental Retardation, in 1961 by President Kennedy.