Rahm Emanuel accepts job as Obama’s chief of staff.
By on Nov 5th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Rahm Emanuel accepts job as Obama’s chief of staff.
According to MSNBC, a senior adviser to Barack Obama has confirmed that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) has accepted the chief of staff position for Obama’s new administration.
Update According to TPM Election Central, an Emanuel spokesperson is disputing the MSNBC report: "No decision has been made, the spokesperson says."
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20 January 2009 can not come fast enough.
November 5th, 2008 at 2:56 pmGood choice!
November 5th, 2008 at 2:57 pmWhy didn’t O approve this with Joe Scarborough? (BIG EYE ROLL)
November 5th, 2008 at 3:00 pmIsn’t Rahm DLC or Blue Dog?
November 5th, 2008 at 3:00 pmRahm is DLC and a bulldog, but he is not bi-partisan.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:08 pmWait… I thought Obama was an anti-Semite.
/sarc off
November 5th, 2008 at 3:11 pmThis is good news. Rahm will keep the party in line. I am very happy to see this. Obama doesn’t disappoint.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:12 pmOff and running! Obama is not going to let any grass grow under his feet. This will not be a sloppy and half-assed transition like GDumbya’s in 2000.
The thing that is different this time around is that Obama takes the job seriously and will be thorough, diligent and smart about the process of transfer of power.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:13 pmThis must be like Fantasy Football or something… we should all come up with our own “fantasy” appointees…
November 5th, 2008 at 3:13 pmRahm? Hmmmmm.
I realize Rahm’s done a ton of work on this effort, but I’m not overly excited about this choice.
As libertylover stated, he’s not bi-partisan. I realize WH CoS isn’t selected with bipartisanship as a credential, but I just don’t see the charisma & focus one needs to have in the position.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:19 pmIt will be so refreshing to see people who possess actual qualifications being appointed to positions by our President after eight years of flunkies(heckuva job Brownie) and people placed to INTENTIONALLY undermine their positions(DOJ, Homeland Security, State Dept., Dept of Energy, EPA etc.). Finally the adults are back in charge. If only Obama could start tomorrow and kick the lameduck boy-king out on his worthless @ss!
November 5th, 2008 at 3:20 pmNoMoreBush Says:
Why didn’t O approve this with Joe Scarborough? (BIG EYE ROLL)
HAHAHAHAHA
joe hasn’t been right about anything, especially about his “career.”
I trust President Obama on his cabinet choices.
President Obama and the liberals have done it again.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:24 pmPit-Bull in ballet slippers. Excellent choice.
“Rahm is the Democrats’ Newt Gingrich,” says Bruce Reed, who served with Emanuel in the Clinton White House. “He understands how much ideas matter, he always knows his message, he takes no prisoners and he only plays to win.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8091986/the_enforcer/
November 5th, 2008 at 3:24 pmmsnbc? Is that a contagious disease?
November 5th, 2008 at 3:25 pmnicole at C&L had this to say, another way to look at it, i liked:
I actually think this should be viewed as good news for progressives in the long run. I’d rather have Emanuel playing gatekeeper in the White House than in the House of Representatives. This may allow us to push the House even further left in 2010.
also:
November 5th, 2008 at 3:26 pmFor you fellow political junkies, a new site has been established, Cabinet Newsladder, to track information on Obama’s future Cabinet.
link – http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/rahm-emanuel-offered-chief-staff-posi
Congratulations to Joshua Lyman!
Seriously, the similarities between the West Wing and real life get eerie sometimes…
November 5th, 2008 at 3:26 pmdr.matt – i sent that drawing to a friend, who sent back this link and message:
http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/gallery/
You can actually watch movies using this stuff… it’s freaky.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:27 pmSo far real tough leaders.
I forget her name but it’s something like W(?)-Schultz (forgive me.) I believe she is Spanish. She’s a very strong and smart woman. I know she’s going to be in his cabinet.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:32 pmZimzone Says:
Rahm? Hmmmmm.
I realize Rahm’s done a ton of work on this effort, but I’m not overly excited about this choice.
As libertylover stated, he’s not bi-partisan. I realize WH CoS isn’t selected with bipartisanship as a credential, but I just don’t see the charisma & focus one needs to have in the position.
It’s called a backbone. Rahm is a perfect choice. Let the nasty repugs try their tired trickery and see what happens.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:34 pmRahm Emmanuel…….disappointing.
Doesn’t Obama know his charaacter?
We don’t need pit bills in $5000 suits.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:35 pmUncle Ho Says:
——————————————————————————–
20 January 2009 can not come fast enough.
That’s my birthday.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pmFirst thing first….don’t judge someone who has proven himself already. His choices of people who surrounded him through this campaign has shown he does think and evalueate eacn situation and applies an appropiate response.
We got him here, have faith.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pmSaw this coming.Don’t forget Rahm was the one who got in BClinton’s face during the S-Carolina’ s primary & told BClinton to back the f..kup on the JJackson comparison.Rahm is gonna be the “ballsbuster”.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:37 pmThis is excellent news. Obama needs his nascent administration to project power to those who would be intent on resisting change. Emmanuel can be the heavy, allowing Obama to play good cop.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:38 pmIs this fast or what?
November 5th, 2008 at 3:39 pmwon’t be surprised if JKerry is offered a cab position.Kerry was one who first gave Obama cred in the primary with his(Kerry’s)endorsement of Obama campaign during SCarolina primary.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:40 pmA good choice, he kicked some serious booty in the 2006 election organizing the House, seems like a very smart, tough guy who likes to win.
Gregor at 7, is Emanuel Jewish? “Rahm” sounds like it, dunno about Emmanuel.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:41 pm<*GACK!!!*>
I’ve had enough of Rahm and the DLC folks.
Act bluie for Gawd’s sake, Barack….
Cheers,
November 5th, 2008 at 3:45 pmYes Keltoi Rahm is jewish.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:48 pmIsn’t Rahm DLC or Blue Dog?
November 5th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
DLC, who directed party resources to help Bluedogs fend off challengers…
it’s obama’s “accomodationist” tendency that worries me most about him…i am not worried that he can negotiate in good faith with the rest of the world, but that he THINKS the GOP will deal in good faith with him…
November 5th, 2008 at 3:51 pmGame of Life, that would be Debbie Wasserman-Schultz from Florida.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:51 pmI think he should stay put.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:54 pmKeltoi Says:
Gregor at 7, is Emanuel Jewish? “Rahm” sounds like it, dunno about Emmanuel.
The surname Emanuel (or Immanuel) is about as Jewish as it can get, Keltoi. I believe it’s Hebrew for “may god be with us”…
November 5th, 2008 at 4:02 pmVery disappointed in this selection. Does not bode well for finding true progressive solutions. It will be DLC policy being enacted. More corporate pigs feeding at the trough ….
November 5th, 2008 at 4:09 pmFor no reason other than make sure I wasn’t starting a rumor, I looked up Emanuel’s profile on the Wikipedia. He is Jewish.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:10 pmrepublicans hate facts Says:
No, he’s only HOMOPHOBIC, and SEXIST which is why he didn’t pick the obvious Female running mate
I am not sure I am following your logic.
Obama not picking a female running mate proves he is sexist, and yes on proposition 8 in California proves he is homophobic?
Somehow, I don’t see the connection(s).
November 5th, 2008 at 4:16 pmAnonymouse Says:
This is excellent news. Obama needs his nascent administration to project power to those who would be intent on resisting change. Emmanuel can be the heavy, allowing Obama to play good cop.
In this day of reckoning, can we acknowledge that President Obama doesn’t have a need to play repug games.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:26 pmIgnoranceIsNotBliss Says:
Game of Life, that would be Debbie Wasserman-Schultz from Florida.
Thanks.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:34 pmThere’s something strange about Rahm Emmanuel. Months ago, Andrea Mitchell interviewed him about introducing Barack Obama at AIPAC. She mentioned Rahm’s service in the Israeli military. He didn’t clarify or correct her.
Emmanuel volunteered as a civilian during the first Gulf War. He worked on vehicles at an Israeli military base.
Does he want people to think he’s IDF tough?
The other odd thing is his father was a member of a Jewish terror group, at least the British designated it as such. I know the sins of the father stay with the father, but we’re talking about a worldwide war on terror. Odd…
Pro-Israel, Chicago style politician. Not my first choice for a progressive White House Chief of Staff…
November 5th, 2008 at 4:37 pmIs RHF off his meds, or is he on too much of them?
November 5th, 2008 at 4:38 pmAppointing Paul Krugman and Ralph Nader to his cabinet would be encouraging signs. If Ken Duberstein makes the cut, I’ll be disappointed.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:39 pmI’ll reconsider my opposition to Emanuel from post #35. I’m simply wary of taking too many people out of congress, where they’re carved a niche. Emanuel, I can imagine, is grappling with this decision because he wanted a future in the House, including a shot at Speaker.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:42 pmUpdateAccording to TPM Election Central, an Emanuel spokesperson is disputing the MSNBC report: “No decision has been made, the spokesperson says.”
just like in the campaign, probably ought not take any information as legit unless it comes right from barack…
November 5th, 2008 at 5:11 pmstateofthedivision Says:
Appointing […] [d0uche bag the spoiler] to his cabinet would be encouraging signs.
i hope this is unlikely now, after this:
Refusing to do any of the work to build up third party infrastructure nationally, [the spoiler] has a bit of sour grapes whine, and calls Obama an “Uncle Tom”.
It’s really bad when Fox News is classier than a national figure like [the spoiler]. Good on Shepard Smith.
http://crooksandliars.com/ nicole-belle/ you-stay-classy-nader
November 5th, 2008 at 5:24 pmKaty, those who call Abraham Lincoln their inspiration, would do well to follow their practices. Lincoln appointed some of his political opponents to his cabinet.
If Obama wants someone to help keep him clean, Nader would provide better advice than Emmanuel.
November 5th, 2008 at 5:32 pmwhy don’t you tell us a something about Rahm Emanuel? Shouldn’t you give readers some information about what the is man is about?
November 5th, 2008 at 5:34 pmYes, maybe TP should do an expose on how much Emanuel loves spreading democracy in the Middle East. How much he loooooves the Iraq War and how he thinks we should have bombed Iran long ago.
November 5th, 2008 at 5:36 pmAs for Rahm, Open Secrets has information on his donations:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00024813
UBS is at the top of his donor list this past election cycle. Did Phil Gramm deliver the checks from the UBS PAC? The bailout boys pepper his top contributer list. Also, AT&T was number 2 and they just got their desired Telecom immunity.
Emanuel’s only worth somewhere between $5 million and $13 million, according to his financial disclosures.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00024813&year=2007
November 5th, 2008 at 5:43 pmRahm Emanuel Contributor Total 2008 Election Cycle:
UBS AG $63,700
November 5th, 2008 at 6:07 pmAT&T Inc $49,950
Blackstone Group $47,000
JPMorgan Chase & Co $45,700
Grosvenor Capital Management $38,900
Goldman Sachs $32,950
Citigroup Inc $28,500
Lehman Brothers $27,600
National Amusements Inc $26,900
Texas Pacific Group $23,000
Merrill Lynch $20,800
Mf Global $20,400
CME Group $19,650
Carlyle Group $16,250
Morgan Stanley $16,200
Evercore Partners $16,100
Madison Dearborn Partners $16,100
Bank of America $16,000
Kirkland & Ellis $15,500
Bailey Perrin Bailey LLP $13,800
Eton Park Capital Management $13,800
Nader is a strange.
I only trust him with pintos.
November 5th, 2008 at 6:54 pmstate, rahm isn’t president.
November 5th, 2008 at 6:55 pmstateofthedivision, Alejandro, Izcrmc, zuch, civil behavior, I agree. Emanuel is too corporate-friendly and too pro-war.
Nadar on DemocracyNow today:
November 6th, 2008 at 2:42 am“….Rahm Emanuel, reactionary, right-wing Democrat, a former Clintonite, a guy who knows how to raise special interest money in the White House, is well-known for it, and a hard-line militaristic supporter of Israel’s repression of the Palestinian people….”
Let’s hope he’s a decent Jew and not a Zionist crackpot-traitor.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:05 pmI’m dead tired from helping Senator Obama become President Obama.
And I’m bummed to see the pick of Rahm Emmanuel. Rahm is DLC, he’s often anti-liberal and he’s Clintonian. Wasn’t he calling for Howard Dean’s head when Dean started his 50-state strategy?
Bummer.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:17 pmI think this is a disasterous mistake. To chose such a person and give him the keys to the oval office is a slap in the face to all the people who worked so tirelessly to help elect Obama. The first appointment – a Rove, Tom Delay type character, what a pity! It is like a cold shower’.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:49 pmThe NYT said it’s official. Rahm Emanuel accepted the Chief of Staff job for President Elect Obama.
November 6th, 2008 at 3:14 pmYou guys need to chill out…. This was a very smart move…
This is from a Jewish blog”
Peace-processors take heart: Rahm, precisely because he’s a lover of Israel, will not have much patience with Israeli excuse-making, so when the next Prime Minister tells President Obama that as much as he’d love to, he can’t dismantle the Neve Manyak settlement outpost, or whichever outpost needs dismantling, because of a) domestic politics; b) security concerns, or c) the Bible, Rahm will call out such nonsense, and it will be very hard for right-wing Israelis to come back and accuse him of being a self-hating Jew. This is not to say that he’s unaware of Palestinian dysfunction, or Iranian extremism, but that he has a good grasp of some of Israel’s foibles as well. All in all, it’s a very heartening choice.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:40 pmhttp://www.newsweek.com/id/130605/page/1
Rahm Emanuel has been described as a street fighter with a killer instinct—as explosive, profane, wired and ruthless—sometimes as a compliment, sometimes not…
Emanuel has relished raising his hacked-off middle figure at his foes. In conversation with almost anyone about anything, Emanuel uses the F word like a sergeant in a World War II motor pool.
As a Democratic Party official, he once sent a pollster who was late delivering polling results a dead fish in a box. Old Clinton hands still laugh about the night after Bill Clinton won the 1992 presidential election. In his book, “The Thumpin’: How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution,” Chicago Tribune deputy Washington bureau chief Naftali Bendavid writes that, as about a score of them sat around a picnic table mushily declaring their love for one another, Emanuel picked up a knife and called out the names of different politicians who had “f–––ed us.” After each name, Emanuel would cry out, “Dead man!”—and stab the knife into the table.
November 6th, 2008 at 11:09 pmhttp://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=11&year=2008&base_name=rahm_emanuel
Emanuel is a brawler. He’s legendarily tough and effective and ruthless. Hes the type of guy who makes enemies, then makes lists of his enemies, then makes lists of his enemies’ friends, then makes lists of how they’ll pay. If you thought the Obama administration would be all about bringing people together and would simply make sad faces when stubborn congressmen refused to come to the table, this is a clear sign otherwise. If good feelings don’t suffice, bareknuckle politics will happily be employed.
November 6th, 2008 at 11:11 pmRahm’s father was Irgun, in other words an Israeli terrorist. Irgun was responsible for the bombing of the King David Hotel. 91 people were killed, many more injured. He was advisor to President Clinton, organized OSLO, left government to join one of the investment bank (primary dealer)Dresdner Kleinwort (DKW). He came back to Congress in 2002 and quickly made a name for himself as the money man. He did join the IDF during the first Gulf War. Its been reported that he was a mechanic. Hmmmmm. That makes sense. After the neoconservatives, I guess Barack needed some continuity of government.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:06 amRahm was a civilian volunteer for the Isreali military. That’s not an IDF soldier. Yes, he worked on Army vehicle. Funny, he doesn’t correct people like Andrea Mitchell as to his true role.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:44 amOdd that an independent website, HuffPo, has a whole page dedicated to Rahm Emanuel. There are at least 12 articles devoted to Rep. Emanuel.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/rahm-emanuel
TP, a progressive website, has one sentence:
According to MSNBC, a senior adviser to Barack Obama has confirmed that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) has accepted the chief of staff position for Obama’s new administration.
Rahm’s known for controlling the message. Apparently, he doesn’t control HuffPo.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:38 pmNYT Dealbook ran a piece on Emanuel’s investment banker background.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/rahm-emanuel-former-investment-banker/
Funny, Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote more than one sentence on Rahm.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:05 amLew Rockwell weighed in:
Rahm Rahm Rahm Rahm Rahm Iran
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/023863.html
November 8th, 2008 at 11:16 am