Sources: Rahm Emanuel accepts Obama Chief of Staff job offer

[Lemon law]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Think of it this way...

If Emanuel was a Republican and headed the McCain campaign we would have seen Rev. Wright ads.

The problem the GOP has with him is that he is mean and nasty and practices the politics of personal destruction, learned it from the Clintons. Beating your opponent is not enough, you have to destroy them.

i think many of you under estimate the power of the CoS as well. The CoS is the gate keep who controls access to the President. If he wants you to see him you see him, if doesn't want you to see him you are in trouble.

Obama can do what he wants, but this appointment sends the signal that he is not out to be the 'post partisan' President that some many thought he would be.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The froth and spittle dripping from Non Prof John's post positively reeks. As the very tactics endorsed by PJ when practiced by Newt Gingrich and GWB now become sins.

But Rob Emanuel has a long track record under Bill Clinton, pray tell PJ, which republican opponents did he unfairly destroy using twist the knife tactics?
What documents at various agencies did he edit? Please document, before you put
the test of your premise on anything but your own paranoia.

But granted, the CoS is always a Presidential gatekeeper, as you proceed to piss in only the GOP soup bowl. Troll under your bridge, Obama picked Rob Emauel, and the GOP might be pleasantly surprised to work with someone more pragmatic than partisan. The American people suspended the GOP license to lead, now the GOP must follow or get out of the way, If the GOP instead tries grid lock, its the job of the entire democratic party to make the GOP pay the price, the CoS is only a small part of GOP worry, piss off the American people for the third election in a row, and there will be no GOP left to save after 11/2010.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: winnar111

What piss poor decision making? The Democrats signed off on everything in Bush's first term except his tax cuts.

OK, I agree, the dems did go along with it in the first term. After 9/11 The Bush white house created an air of "you are with us or against us" and anyone that went against him was deemed "unamerican". The dems were totally spineless and went along for fear of political reprisal (getting voted out of office).

But OMG!!! That doesnt excuse Bush's piss poor decision making. If you cant see George Bush and the piss poor decision making then you are a "dead from the neck up, partisaned douchebag, complete and utter moron, waste of skin, lost cause asshat".

You can quote me on that. /grrrr

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Seriously, GOP STFU. Nobody gives a fuck about you anymore.

 

[SirStev0]

Originally posted by: OrByte
"This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center,"

we might as well get used to this...

Is your Avatar a chicken little or a vulture?

 

[mshan]

"An untraditional politician who at times uses traditional political tactics, Mr. Obama, 46, was portrayed in dozens of interviews with political leaders and longtime associates in Chicago as the ultimate pragmatist, a deliberate thinker who fashions carefully nuanced positions that manage to win him support from people with divergent views."

Pragmatic Centrist: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05...olitics/11chicago.html

An European Perspective: http://londonbanker.blogspot.c...-quite-believe-in.html

All in all, though, it's kind of funny to hear people complain about "Bambi" having some really sharp teeth...

 

[BMW540I6speed]

The fact that the pick riles John Boehner, then I think that means Obama is onto something.

Emmanuel is a tough cookie, a political junkyard dog. Emanuel may not be the optimistic liberal that progressives want him to be, but that's not the job description. He's there to impose discipline, to run the West Wing. The fact that Obama chose a smart, tough-minded, disciplined man with whom he does not totally agree is, to me, an encouraging sign that the President-Elect is strong, professional and secure enough not to micro-manage. Emanuel sits on the right edge of the DLC. I think it's a great choice.

 

[morkinva]

Great, another Feith/Perle type Aipac guy. Terrorist father having, mossad mole in the white house.

 

[uclaLabrat]

Originally posted by: morkinva
Great, another Feith/Perle type Aipac guy. Terrorist father having, mossad mole in the white house.

haha....another resounding endorsement of the public education system

 

[mshan]

"*** Rahm?s absence from -- and message to -- Capitol Hill: With Rahm Emanuel becoming White House chief of staff, it?s worth pointing out how this takes away a HUGE player in the House Democratic caucus. Not only was Rahm in leadership; he was the unofficial political adviser to many of the newly elected members of the Congress from both the last cycle and this one. Many of them will be missing his counsel. In addition, the Emanuel hire removes the most likely person who was going to be playing the role of "Obama's go-to guy in Congress." Then again, with Rahm on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, he'll likely be able to identify whom the Administration will need in the House. Perhaps the most underreported aspect about the Rahm pick is how it?s a subtle message to Pelosi and Reid that Obama isn?t going to rolled over in dealing with Congress." Link

Wilbur Ross basically saying same thing (he is there to bash Congressional Democratic heads as much as Republican ones): http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=921912174&play=1

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: BMW540I6speed
The fact that the pick riles John Boehner, then I think that means Obama is onto something.

Honestly, that should be the litmus test of all Obama's picks.

If it pisses off the GOP and all the right-wing hacks on this forum, it's another ace pick.

 

[jonks]

From John Heilleman's article published 10/26/08 in NY Mag:

Emanuel doesn?t hesitate when I put the question to him. And his answer is one to which attention should be paid for reasons beyond the obvious. Emanuel is more than one of the shrewdest, savviest, toughest Democratic pols of his generation. He is a close friend and confidant of his party?s nominee and certain to be a pivotal player in putting meat on the bones of Obama?s campaign mantra of change, change, change. Obama?s chief strategist, David Axelrod, plays an identical role for Emanuel, whose congressional campaigns he has engineered and whose maneuvers in the House he has often guided from afar. Rarely does a day pass by in which the two men do not speak. The three-way mind-meld is nearly total.


?My view is that we gotta be the party of reform,? Emanuel begins when I reach him on his cell phone. ?There are four reforms. There?s financial-regulatory reform, tax reform, health-care reform, and energy. Regulatory will kinda come down the chute fast. Tax reform will take a little longer, because it?s not until 2010 that Bush?s tax cuts expire. Energy, you can do some things immediately. And with health care, you?ve got the children?s health insurance as the first piece of a series of things you gotta do.?

Sounds like Heilleman saw something like this coming down the pipe.

 

[jpeyton]

Ari Emanuel, Rahm's brother, was the inspiration for the character Ari Gold in HBO's Entourage.

So shrewdness and savvy run strong in the family.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Ari Emanuel, Rahm's brother, was the inspiration for the character Ari Gold in HBO's Entourage.

So shrewdness and savvy run strong in the family.

LOL - "lets hug it out bitch"

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: retrospooty

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Ari Emanuel, Rahm's brother, was the inspiration for the character Ari Gold in HBO's Entourage.

So shrewdness and savvy run strong in the family.

LOL - "lets hug it out bitch"

Rahm served in IDF. Ari may hug it out, Rahm's more likely to shoot it out.

 

[Lemon law]

We somewhat miss the point, Rahm is also a pragmatic consensus builder, ready, able, and willing to reach out to and accommodate Republicans. But if many in the GOP decide to embrace a strategy of gridlock
like they did in the last congress, Rahm is going to be their worst nightmare, and that is why Rahm was an ace pick for Obama. And if Rahm takes them to the woodshed and gives them a public whipping, its going to be a public one, no sneaky Rovian backdoor undermining, Rahm is going to be there explaining to the American public why it was necessary.