The Chicago Machine Goes To Washington?

MS:
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You can also accurately interpret Obama’s choice as a pointed message that he is not interested in anything the far right has to offer.
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He’s going to work with the moderates…

Couldn’t be that Emanuel is smart, talented and absolutely driven to achieve his goals. Putting him in charge of guarding the new president time and keeping Democrats focused on Obama’s agenda makes sense and all this talk about being a jerk is not only beside the point it sounds too much like a GOP meme to be your thoughts MS.

And the tire swing just keeps on a swingin’
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Mike Sherer now that you are not under McCain’s thumb are you going to consider contrasting the story you linked with the press release that Lindsey Graham put out yesterday saying all manner of great things about Rahm Emmanuel and congratulating Obama on picking him to be his Chief of Staff?
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Yeah that was a rhetorical question. We already know where you and AMC stand

Emanuel to Republicans: I drink your milkshake!

Michael,
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Don’t forget that this is the last day to apply for a TPM internship.
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(Now that was just mean…)

“(Now that was just mean…)”
Delightfully mean…

I think Rahm is an excellent choice for Chief of Staff. He’s strong, organized, disciplined, and really knows how to get things done. Fearless, loyal. Connected. He can build coalitions. I’d rather have him as CoS than in the House leadership.
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Not surprised that the knives are out for him by the likes of rightwing pundits like Michael Scherer and Joe Scarborough, but then they have both been so laughably, grievously wrong throughout the campaign season that, in the words of George W. Bush, “Who cares what you think?”

Time to go to Fox, Michael

Yeah we should be worried about what the GOP thinks of Obama hiring Rahm because they REALLY hold him in such high regard. Please listen to what Saxby Chambliss’s supporters said after it was announced that Barack Obama is our president elect
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/07/chambliss-releases-anothe_n_142036.html

Good thing we have a track record to consider as we read and listen to the media.
Who has largely been right? Who wrong? Who honest? Who dishonest?
With a new administration and the same media it’s good to keep score.

Michael Scherer puts out his first hit piece on the Obama Administration, before the inauguration. Way to stay relevant, Michael!

Sounds good to me. All of those qualities and those mentioned by the commentors will help him to better serve President Obama. Obama will need somebody to get down in the weeds while he attends to larger matters.
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What separates Emmanuel from the likes of GOP scum like Rove is that Rove is a criminal. He violated many laws in his quest to politicize the institutions of government and turn this nation into a banana republic. There is no indication that Emmanuel has such ambitions despite Scherer’s attempt to lay the groundwork for that meme.

I happened to see a Politico piece on Emanuel yesterday. How can someone with so many friends and contacts be a jerk? A little abrasive, sure, but clearly he can also be nice.
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And remember: He’s not Jeremy Piven. Some people seem to be making that mistake. He actually seems to genuinely care about policy. He’s DLC, so his policies may be more to the right than we’d like, but nonetheless it’s not fair to suggest Emanuel is all about humiliating Republicans.

I can’t honestly say that I read this as a slam against Obama. My impression was that Scherer and others love all these different political styles.
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Remember, MS has never really made a judgement call on the politics of the McCain campaign vs. the Obama campaign. Calling McCain an old man was just as bad as riling up the xenophobes.
So to call Rahm a ruthless, opportunistic jerk isn’t an insult, in Scherer’s book, and I’m guessing it doesn’t reflect all that poorly on Obama.

You know who would be nice to have around if we are going to clutch our pearls about the “Chicago Machine”?
Studs and Royko.
Oh well.

Sounds great. Good cop, bad@ss cop.

He’s not Jeremy Piven. Some people seem to be making that mistake. He actually seems to genuinely care about policy.
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No, he’s Bradley Whitford.
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Both Ari (as in the real Ari Emanauel) and Rahm are giant pains in the @ss, which is why they’re also both exceptionally good at their jobs.

Is it possible that there is not a simple label that can be slapped on Emanuel that makes it possible to swiftly judge and dismiss him? Are we going to have to evaluate him by his behavior day-in, day-out as the Administration unfolds? Are you kidding me? I’m tired just thinking about it. I had hoped we could instantly characterize everyone before they even took office and be ready by January with entrenched judgments. Disappointing.

Hmm. Per the Washington Post:
Incredibly intelligent, knowledgable, connected, sure to be candid with Obama and protective of him. Not an ideologue.
Even those who don’t like his calculated abruptness have gone to ballgames with him and admit he’s got a great sense of humor.
Sounds like a great choice to me.
Now, Larry Summers has some of the same get-it-done characteristics, but not the redeeming ones. I would not be so accpeting of him at Treasury.

For those who didn’t follow the links all the way through, This is an even better Emanuel article by the same author:

https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=2002/020215/EMANUEL&search=%22joravsky%22%20%22rahm%20emanuel%22

Well I think that this gets to the heart of what both parties talk about. I feel it was a smart choice for Obama to select Rahm Emanuell as his chief of staff because I am sure he is going to need a pit bull.

He made a lot of promises during his campaign that he cannot possibly deliver. He is now very beholden to the far left for giving him the support, moderates, and some of the conservative principles that got him elected.

If some are curious by what I mean by conservative principles, I mean cutting taxes for 95% of the people, tougher militarily moving to Afghanistan, cutting spending in Washington going line by line, reigning in earmark spending. I mean I would find it hard to dispute these are not what attracted many moderate voters. The top issue for moderates was healthcare but, many of these others that I presented are the swing.

It is all up in the air and it will be interesting to see if most in Congress will allow this to happen when it is opposed by Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Reid and the majority wanting to tack farther to the left. If this isn’t supported by president Obama I am wondering how that is going to go over.

He will need a serious blocker and I think that is what he selected, however being in the minority side I can see the selection of Rahmbo who said about the republicans to “go *uck themselves” doesn’t instill much faith that Obama will like Pelosi said strive for bi-partisan governance. I mean Pelosi gave basically said the same thing and then denied republican votes to even be let on the floor on offshore drilling. Is this the same kind of bi-partisan governance that we can expect from Obama?

So there is a lot of contradiction and only time will tell how he chooses to juggle these tough issues he has to deal with.

I heartily reccomend for those who didn’t see this link.

https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=2002/020215/EMANUEL&search=%22joravsky%22%20%22rahm%20emanuel%22

It’s a better Emanuel article by the same author

Am I banned…?

https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=2002/020215/EMANUEL&search=%22joravsky%22%20%22rahm%20emanuel%22

I’ve tried three times to post a link.
At the bottom of the aricle MS links to is an even better article about Emanuel’s Congressional run!

Last try:
https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=2002/020215/EMANUEL&search=%22joravsky%22%20%22rahm%20emanuel%22

I just read Chris Bowers’ take on Emanuel, and I’m now convinced that he is not a good choice. Although not for the cliche reasons – e.g. he’s not nice enough. I’ll post the link separately, in case it falls into the moderation trap. Here’s an interesting excerpt: Second, as far as just taking orders goes, I’d like to relate a story I heard about Emanuel’s s role in the Iraq supplemental fight back in early 2007. Representative Obey, who was leading the fight, was convinced that Emanuel, who as Caucus Chair was in the on the senior strategy sessions, was leaking their strategy to the press. To test this theory, Obey leaked some inaccurate information to Emanuel and Emanuel only. When that inaccurate information turned up in the media, Emanuel was kicked out of all further strategy sessions on the Iraq supplemental fight. In short, Emanuel was undermining the House leadership he was supposedly working for during the Iraq supplemental fight.
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That’s particularly interesting in light of the leaks about his hiring. I was hoping for a No Drama Obama Administration to match his campaign.

Here’s the link: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9768

Thanks for pointing this out, rose.

And people thought Biden was a bad choice, and they thought Obama wasn’t tough enough during the general election, and they thought Hilary would destroy him and on and on and on.

You’d think after two years people would understand that Obama knows exactly what he’s doing.

There will always be people with “concerns”. Often the same people.

This is a cheap shot. 3 days in and MS drawing negative assumptions about what’s going to happen in an Obama administration. Emanuel gets things done. He’ll allow Obama to focus on decision making while he’s dealing with conflict. If you want to draw comparisons, compare Emanuel to any of the corrupt, sleezes in the Bush administration. Emanual is tough AND transparent. He’s not going to make everything “top secret”. When he’s in someone’s face it will be public, which is what Washington needs.

Well, after the campaign the man just ran, I’m giving him my trust. He’s been about three to four steps ahead of the experts for two years now, so I’m beginning to think this Obama kid knows just what he’s doing.

rose83
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I appreciate the post but I just want to remind you and everyone else that we are still months away from Obama taking office. He had plenty of people including myself second guessing many of his decisions during this election but he did his own thing his own way and turns out he won. I would say that after watching him make decision after decision that many people questioned at first that ended up working out for him that we as the people who supported him and voted for him OWE it to him to at least give the people he appoints a fair chance. There is no way any of us can decide right now whether Rahm will do a good or a bad job. I do know that Lindsey Graham came out yesterday in favor of Rahm and said he was instrumental in working out there agreements on the debates. He has earned President Obama’s trust and Obama has earned our trust. So lets just take a deep breath and let it work itself out. President Obama will have enough opposition on the right second guessing him and cutting him down with out ever giving him a chance. In my opinion we shouldnt be helping them in that effort.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I feel a great deal of releif that now that Obama is safely elected, I’m free to criticize him from the left or the right, point out when I think he’s being boneheaded and basically treat him like the accountable public servant that he is.

Now about that FISA vote……..

So the consensus seems to be that Rahm Emanuel is a street fighter. The question seems to be whether he’s used to make Republicans or liberals bleed.
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Is “probably both; it depends on what issue Barack Obama is working on at the time” an option? I think he’ll serve the president to the best of his ability.

One word: FISA.
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Just to be clear, I’m thrilled that Obama won. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to blindly trust him, or never second-guess his decisions. Nor does it mean that people like Chris Bowers have to support everything he does; Sometimes loyalty is best expressed by criticism. Obama’s chosen a conservative Democrat, who is less than honest with his own colleagues and quite extreme on immigration (an issue I really care about), to be his chief of staff. I’m not thrilled about that.

With all the Kristol/Palin/Wallace/Romney/McCain infighting, this is the best MS can come up with?

Why exactly was he embedded in the McCain campaign again?

I wasn’t aware that the Chief of Staff set the agenda. Silly me, I always assumed their job was to carry out the will of the President…

I personally only criticize Obama on FISA because he stupidly said he would support a filibuster. As for voting for it I think it was a necessary evil. Had he voted against FISA that would have hung around his neck a lot more than the charge that he voted to defund the troops. Still, again I say that there will be plenty of time to criticize Obama and hold his feet to the fire. My only thing is can we at least wait until he does something?

My only thing is can we at least wait until he does something?
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I’m thinking that choosing a chief of staff is doing something. Similarly, I’ll praise Obama if/when he appoints competent progressives during this transition period.

Sigh. While we are still carrying on about his COS appointment, the folks on NPR are prattling about how he should have spoken to the press the next day. This shows how aloof he is – secretive will probably be next (quote). That is the way Clinton started and it wasn’t a good thing for them. Much tut tutting about how poorly the press has been treated to date.

This is so absurd. Why don’t we judge his appointments based on results. It’s one thing not to blindly trust Rose 83 and another to judge people based on the anecdotes of people you neither know or trust. Do you have first hand knowledge that would make Rahm a bad choice or have you just heard capital hill tales of how he handled the job as DCCC chair when he was supposed to be a partisan advocate and anything else would have been malpractice. No one is all one thing. Rahm has as much nuance as he has intelligence. He will be what he needs to be depending on what the President needs him to be.
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Here’s what I know, Obama has put together a fabulous campaign team and I don’t think someone with as much talent at picking out a team that can get the job done and works well together is going to lose that talent in a couple of days. Why would anyone take the word of the msm or the pundits in this regard considering how much they got wrong during the campaign and how much they misjudged, mischaracterized and frankly misunderstood the memes and the motives of this campaign.
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I’m going to keep an eye on all the players but what I won’t do is to jump on someone else’s agenda bandwagon and hobble our guy coming out of the gate.

rose83
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What does a Chief of Staff do?

ivb, yeah I’m sure it’s all about secrecy and has nothing to do with wanting to spend time with his children. Talk about paranoid…
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Dee, did you read the link? Emanuel’s record is very DLC. And I’m specifically saying that I don’t buy the MSM criticism of Emanuel, which just doesn’t make sense. Also, I think pushing Obama to appoint a progressive team is the best way to help him. Maybe I’m wrong, but if I am it’s a sincere mistake. I genuinely believe that given the terrible economic conditions, Obama needs to pursue progressive policies not only for the country, but for his own political future.
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Maybe Emanuel is secretly a progressive. But I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that. If you have any, I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

Rose-83
I’ll praise Obama if/when he appoints competent progressives during this transition period.
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I’m curious, is there like an approved progressives list? Me all I care about is competence it seems like an adherence to ideological purity is the problem we just had for the last 8 years. No matter who gets picked they serve at the pleasure of the president and so my question when you demand these progressives whose agenda do you want to see them push theirs or the presidents?

What does a Chief of Staff do?

Draws fire?

Paul D
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lol definitely one aspect of the job

@53_3 and Dee: Sorry, but MS got the GOP memo that by choosing Emanuel, Obama is saying NO to change and YES to politics as usual. That is the message for the day. Move along…

Don’t mean to attack — I get what you are saying rose I just think we can give him Obama the benefit of the doubt that he knows how to pick the right people to get his agenda moved forward. We have the proof that he knows how to do it and I would assume that we all voted for him because of his superior judgment — lets wait and see how it turns out before throw rocks at it that’s all.

Don’t mean to attack — I get what you are saying rose I just think we can give him Obama the benefit of the doubt that he knows how to pick the right people to get his agenda moved forward. We have the proof that he knows how to do it and I would @ssume that we all voted for him because of his superior judgment — lets wait and see how it turns out before throw rocks at it that’s all.

kbanginmotown Says:
Friday, November 7, 2008 at 3:06 pm
@53_3 and Dee: Sorry, but MS got the GOP memo that by choosing Emanue

I know I was being snarky I kind of thing 53_3 was too but he has to verify.

“Sorry, but MS got the GOP memo that by choosing Emanuel, Obama is saying NO to change and YES to politics as usual.”
Just as any response to Joe Lieberman questioning the President-Elect’s patriotism will be seen as “failing his first test”.
The rule is simple- Democrats must appease republicans never the reverse, nevermind what the voters want.

James, Los Angeles Says:
Friday, November 7, 2008 at 12:43 pm
“I think Rahm is an excellent choice for Chief of Staff. He’s strong, organized, disciplined, and really knows how to get things done.”

Oh, and let us not forget that he is also a former ballet dancer! WOW! Do I also sense that we now have not only the first black President, but perhaps the first gay Chief of Staff? Pity.

But, all the talk now of how “moderate” Obama will be in the up-coming years is such a farce. You can put black and white stripes on a mule, and make it look like a zebra, but it is still a MULE. Some would even say a jacka$$.

My first letter to President elect Obama, You may cease and desist playing the muti-role of trying to make it look like you are a liberal, moderate, progressive or centrist. Start acting like the far left liberal extremist that you truly are so we can get on with this in 4 years and restore what you plan on destroying.

Oh and Mr President, don’t forget your dear friends from Chicago as well that got you where you are today, Mr. Resko, Reverend Wright, and Louis Farrakhan.

Hey PNNTO you mean you don’t agree that only real Americans should count?

sgwhiteinfla, Cheney was Ford’s COS. It’s a hugely important job because they are essentially the President’s gatekeeper. They manage the WH team, help control what information reaches the oval office, and execute the President’s plans. For example, they meet with legislators, which is probably why most of them come from Congress.
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Leo McCarey (RIP) was the chief of staff on The West Wing.
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Dee, oh I’m not an ideological fanatic. Emanuel is probably a very competent DLC congressman. But I’m an unashamed progressive. I believe progressive policies are best for the country, I believe Obama has a mandate to pursue progressive policies and I can find no evidence that Emanuel is a progressive. Thus I’m unhappy about the appointment.
And I can’t give Obama the benefit of the doubt. He has a very thin record – I was an HRC supporter who is to the left of both of her and Obama – that is mixed. FISA and Iraq. So I do suspect that Emanuel was chosen to push his agenda forward, and that’s why I’m concerned Obama’s agenda will not be progressive.
But again, I’m thrilled he won, and a DLC agenda would be an enormous improvement over the past 8 years.

I echo Dee in saying I am not trying to attack. Rather I am trying to be the voice of reason. A chief of staff has one job, to further the interests of the president. Now that one job takes many avenues at times. Sometimes its about counseling the president on whether his agenda is doable. Sometimes its about going to drum up support for that agenda. Sometimes its about taking the fire that is aimed at the president. Sometimes its about going to hear what the opposition has to say and get the pulse of different issues. But a Chief of Staff NEVER sets the agenda. He is to be seen as an extension of the President and he does not get to have his own opinion in public. Rahm Emmanuel has been a staffer in the Whitehouse before, a major fundraiser, has been successful on Wall Street, was appointed a position for a few years with Freddie and Fannie and he has been a Congressman as well as a DSCC chair. The guy has the will and the sk!ll to get the job done and for all of those who are criticizing him they would all take him in a NY minute if they could get him to switch sides. It doesnt matter anymore what Rahm’s personal leanings are. He is now a footsoldier for Obama and he will be doing what Obama wants him to. AND they have a close personal relationship and that always helps. AND because he is the son of an Israeli immigrant it helps to dispel any lingering “he is an anti semite” sentiments. Rahm Emmanuel may turn out to be the best COS in known history OR he might be the worst. But by the sheer fact that the GOP are pi$$ed about Obama naming Rahm his COS, you know the same people who were calling Obama a socialist and anti American a few days ago, then I really believe it must have been a GREAT appointment for Obama. So again if Rahm Emmanuel goes out tomorrow and slaps somebody or tells the GOP to go phuck off then yeah we can all come back here and really tear Obama a new one for hiring such an undisciplined character. But why not wait to see just how good or bad Rahm is at his job? It is kind of funny to me that in the article you posted they guy was obviously trashing Rahm but also thought Rahm was in line to be Speaker of the House. Now how does that line up together? Just something to think about because everybody on the left is not for the left

Ha Dee- I’m just watching the predicable script play out.

judgementsz:
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“So there is a lot of contradiction and only time will tell how he chooses to juggle these tough issues he has to deal with.”
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Well like I said, he’s going to appeal to moderates , and you, sir, are no moderate!

judgementsz:
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“So there is a lot of contradiction and only time will tell how he chooses to juggle these tough issues he has to deal with.”
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Well like I said, he’s going to appeal to moderates , and you, sir, are no moderate!

Rose HRC was also DLC so its not like the progressives would have had a better agent in Hillary and frankly as an Obama original I know better than to litigate that fight again because we are all united now.
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I’m just saying that once you learn a lot about Obama you will be more comfortable with his style. No one is going to prevent him from getting to hear all sides of an issue. That’s what he does and once he hears from everybody then he makes a decision and the team carries it out no deviation. — That’s how he managed to run the most disciplined, leak proof, devoid of drama campaign in history.
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McCain used to claim he knew how to lead — Obama actually has done it.

kbanger, Dee:
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Only half snark. He may not really be, but it certainly says that he’s not going to pay any of the FOX-faux crowd (soon to be Palin followers?) any mind at all.
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From what I hear, Rahm has little patience and little use for kneejerk ideologists.

sorry ab double. Only pushed button once

Carney has a post up on Rahm that is a lot more complimentary

P.S. Everything SG said and I would add one more. When it comes to Rahm being a bad ass I think that’s going to focused more on democrats who want to show out. Don’t forget Obama is a student of history and when Democrats had the majority in 1993 they nearly destroyed Clinton’s presidency. Rahm will keep them in line — most of them won’t want to cross him.

P.S. Everything SG said and I would add one more. When it comes to Rahm being a bad @ss I think that’s going to focused more on democrats who want to show out. Don’t forget Obama is a student of history and when Democrats had the majority in 1993 they nearly destroyed Clinton’s presidency. Rahm will keep them in line — most of them won’t want to cross him.

I think that Obama isn’t going to purue an entirely left of center agenda, all.
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The more I think about it, he’s going to use Clinton and FDR as templates for his course.
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I think this is probably the best position to take, Rahm Emmanual is going to pick and choose who he works with on the other side. It’s a good idea to remember that the D’s do have 56 votes, meaning he only needs 4 to 6 of the most moderate Republicans on any one bill.
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I don’t think he’ll be all azzhole or all angel. Obama intends to pick in choose what he thinks is best from either ideology – but he’s pretty well ruled out the extreme views on either.
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I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I do like the fact that he made clear that the wealthy will see their taxes raised.

Dee:
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He’ll definatly keep any budding Liebermanns in check, that is for sure…

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-11-07-lieberman-mcconnell_N.htm?csp=34

There, feast your eyes on that article. “Lieberman in talks with McConnell”. We welcome you Joe to the conservative fold.

rustyreturns
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I think I speak for everyone when I say you can have the backstabbing son of a b!tch

“But a Chief of Staff NEVER sets the agenda. He is to be seen as an extension of the President and he does not get to have his own opinion in public.”
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sg, well said. And that’s precisely why I – and Chris Bowers – are concerned about the Emanuel choice. We’re seeing the appointment as a reflection of Obama’s approach to the Presidency. It’s about Obama, not Rahm.
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Dee, yeah I think HRC may have chosen Emanuel as her chief of staff. In which case I would have criticized the appointment! And I’m happy he’s tough. I just wish he were tough in working for progressive policies.

Mmmm, I’m not sure you want a lot of Progressives in the administration. I’d rather have folks just right of center who can bring pragmatism to just-left-of- center progressive initiatives. Clinton, as good as he was, lost almost two years with dewy-eyed theorists trying to reform the world, before it became clear it was too theoretical and going to fail. Reality hit big-time with Gingrich and team being voted in to take over Congress in 1994.

rose83
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I think if you are looking for Obama to shift his policies from what he was saying in the campaign to something left of them I would say that yeah you will probably be dissappointed. I don’t think he can afford to go progressive until after he is elected for his second term. If he tries to do it now we will be looking at divided government again in 2010. If Obama can get most of his agenda through in the first term that will be a he!!uva accomplishment. So I guess everybody is going to have something to complain about eventually. But I again just wish we could all wait to see the results before we start formulating our opposition.

sgwhite, I just want him to be as progressive as he suggested he would be in the campaign. I agree that going way to the left would be a mistake. Health care reform, investment in green technology, a more moderate foreign policy – that’s what I’m looking for. I’m worried that the Rahm Emanuel choice is an indication that Obama will push the kind of agenda David Brooks is looking for, albeit with a proudly Democratic rhetoric.
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And not being sufficiently progressive also has risks. The American economy cannot be truly competitive on an international scale without health care reform; the current system is way too expensive. And, frankly, a cheaper foreign policy is needed for the economy. Without those things, the economy will suffer and so will the Democrats in 2010. A “cautious” centrist agenda may paradoxically be politically risky. So while I understand your argument that we should be patient and see what kind of policies Obama pushes for before we start complaining, I also think we need argue for the kind of moderately progressive agenda that will actually help the country and the Democratic party in 2010.

rose83
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Well according to his press conference today Obama is still sticking to his stated agenda a day after Rahm accepted the COS job. So it doesn’t look like Rahm is having much effect so far

sg:
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Have you noticed that it is fully two days after the extinction that these roaches finally show up looking for crumbs?
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I mean texte, judgmentz, and now rusty? Texte was, uh, well, in suspended animation, I think, still talking frooty talking points, and now, rusty with his personal Soutrhen Stategy Stealth cloak.
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Their abscence was either because they were too depressed, too fearful, or too stoopid.
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I pick the last one…

,,,can’t spell ‘Southern’ worth a damm!

It isn’t suprising that Obama picked his Chicago buddy, Rahm Emanuell to be his Chief of Staff, He Owed Him!

I would have to be nieve to think that he didn’t have anything to do with the all time record donations to the Obama campaign by Freddie Mac employees. Hey, I almost forgot that Obama pushed really, really hard for the bailout of his supporters.

Why isn’t the media talking about the fact that during the start of the downfall at Freddie Mac, Rahm Emanuell was a Director on the board, one of whom got the memos stating that if the subprime lending continued, Freddie would collapse. Yet he did nothing about it.

Great Choice Obama!!