Given the Obama Campaign's admiral efficiency and operational acumen, I imagine the transition will also go smoothly. Good. It is a difficult time, one that has to be well-managed. The current President, whose transition period was marred by the whole Florida fiasco, managed to keep a disciplined eye on the importance of having a strong team in place...and he did just that.
The likely choice of Rahm Emanuael as White House Chief of Staff is an interesting one, and I have mixed thoughts about it. Emanuel is a hard charging, personally dynamic guy with a penchant for the politics of intimidation. You need a disciplined guy to run the White House, and Emanuel could be an inspired choice. He is also not close with Nancy Pelosi, something that lends hope to Conservatives fearing greater influence from the Speaker.
But Emanuel is also considered quite a harsh taskmaster. There are a lot of big egos in DC, and those big egos come attached to the big names President-elect Obama will want to have on his WH Staff and in his Cabinet. These kinds of folks (Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin, Laura Tyson, etc) won't take Emanuel's crap. If he has matured since his bad boy days with the Clintons, he'll work out fine. If he hasn't, just wait for the fun leaks to come screaming out of the White House.
I think the selection of Emanuel indicates that he doesn't plan a departure from life in the left lane. Don't you recall how bitterly partisan this guy has been? He of the famous 'Republicans can all go f*** themselves' line?
ReplyDeleteOr it could simply mean that he intends for Rahm to be the bad cop to Obama's good cop. Shrewd.
Does picking a Jewish Chief of Staff help dispell the Islamic terrorist myth?
ReplyDeleteRahm Emanuael is an islamic terrorist? I knew there was something sinister about that guy.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shrewd choice for this very reason, and bound to ruffle the feathers of not only the arab world but those of the Rev. Farrakhan as well.
Emanuel will be tasked to keep the trains running on time. He'll do that, no doubt. Just how much President-Elect Obama wants on-time trains vice rancor within the White House staff will be the real determining factor. My guess, Emanuel will get his way -- a Obama staff will be tighter than most. They have more to lose if there is discord (either real or perceived) within the staff.
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