Can someone explain to me why Rahm Emanual's politics matter.

[Stinky The Clown]

He is possibly the chief of staff (CoS) to Barrack Obama. That means he has a boss - Barack Obama. As CoS, he will be doing whatever it is his boss wants him to do. If he is delegated some authority to act autonomously, and if, in so doing, he does something that fails to meet the approval of his boss, he gets .... what? One strike? Maybe two? Obama has a pretty clear record of doing what needs doing and doing it cleanly and swiftly.

If he goes rogue, he lasts even less time.

Emanuel, if he is hired, gets hired for one thing - the ability to get shit done with ruthless efficiency. His ideology is little more than a side bar.

Now ...... how does Emanuel's politics enter the equation?

[Dr Fate]

1. I'm going to give Obama the benefit of the doubt on this one too. n/t

n/t

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. It's more than that.

There is an advisory aspect to the job and the CoS can have real influence in shaping policy.

On edit: Obama is gonna have to have someone who can show real influence with the Blue Dogs and whip them into line when they get to smelling their own piss. They present potentially real problems. Emanuel can do that. He can also handle Hoyer, who is out for Hoyer.

[amdezurik]

3. blessing should be counted

at least he ain't no Darth Cheney!

[Stinky The Clown]

4. That assumes that Obama's like George Bush

Obama's nothing if not a critical thinker. I think you overestimate the potential to influence.

Look at the campaign he just ran. With *very* minor exceptions, no errors at all. That happened for one of two reasons: either everyone was of a like mind or the boss heard divergent views, sorted things out, and made good choices.

I go with the latter.

[Mojorabbit]

16. I think it would depend on

how much influence he would have on who gets access to Obama. That could make for problems.

[Why Syzygy]

30. I think you're right.

Obama said in his speech that he will listen more to those who disagree with him. It is way too soon for me to start thinking that he tricked us. His main message, we aren't red/blue, left/right, also leaves out the term "middle". No middle without left and right. We are now about moving forward instead of the backward drift we have been on for a couple of decades. Forward.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. WRT your "on edit" I agree agree completely.

I think *that* is *exactly* why he's being hired.

[Vanje]

10. Exactly! nt

[Pastiche423]

41. Wha???????????????

Rahm Emanuel is worse than the blue dogs. No way would he could do that. It's not in his f'd up nature.

Btw, glad to see you posting again. Hope you are feeling much better now.

[The Magistrate]

6. The Real Point Of This, Sir

Is that some people simply prefer attacking Democrats to any other political activity, and they seek licensed and customary targets. Rep. Emanuel, because he is pretty much a centerist and pragmatist, because he is associated with the Clintons, because he does not suffer fools gladly, is a Democrat a certain stripe of 'lefter than thou' sortslikes to take for such a target, in order to demonstrate their superior purity and moral worth.

The fact is Rep. Emanuel will make an excellent chief of staff for President Obama, and will be of especial value in ensuring, shall we say, 'co-operation' between President Obama's White House and the Legislature. He knows, as they say, where the bodies are buried....

[Stinky The Clown]

7. ....

:thumbsup:

Yup

[Mojorabbit]

19. I have a special antipathy towards him

for what he has done in Florida supporting right leaning candidates instead of some wonderful progressive candidates we have tried to field.

[The Magistrate]

23. That Is Your Prerogative, Ma'am

But there was in some of those instances at least serious professional question whether those 'wonderful progressive candidates' could have carried the districts in question in a general election campaign. The point of a professional operation is the head-count when the Speaker is selected....

[Mojorabbit]

24. No he was wrong and his judgement poor

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/2921

[The Magistrate]

26. Nothing In That Proves Mr. Lutrin Would Have Won In '06, Ma'am

[Mojorabbit]

27. I guess we will never know

Instead we had a republican recruited who lost us a seat because he could not keep his pants zipped.
I am not impressed.

[The Magistrate]

29. No, Ma'am, We Will Not

[madfloridian]

36. You are saying it is okay to handpick Republicans and shove Dems out?

I don't think it is. David is posting here at DU now occasionally, and he is I believe going to run again. I will make sure people know if he is ousted again by the DCCC.

No, there is no assurance of anyone running, but at the very least we should have Democrats not being kicked out of races.

If you are interested I have written much more on the subject.

[The Magistrate]

42. Once The Decision Has Been Made To Nationalize A Campaign, Ma'am

It becomes the business of the national leadership exert influence on the selection of candidates, rather than leave this wholly in the hands of local machinery. There is nothing wrong, in my view, with persuading or enticing a person to change parties. Certainly not every decision made by the best available professional judgement will necessarily prove out, and in this particular instance we are discussing, the decision did not prove out in the long haul. That is unfortunate, but there is no way of knowing if the alternative you would have preferred would have worked out better.

[madfloridian]

44. Mahoney had multiple affairs, Sir. We lost a seat here.

I have written about David Lutrin, and the kind of man he is. No one took that into consideration. Just as in the case of Jennings...they wanted a millionaire, any old millionaire would do.

Here is my most recent post about the Mahoney scandal. I do put blame on Rahm and Karen Thurman for not caring enough about our party to support a Democrat.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/2892

[Joe Fields]

38. What facts do you base your assumptions on, sir?

It isn't like you to use such a broad brush, especially with so little paint.

[The Magistrate]

40. Long Observation, Sir, Having Been Active On the Site For Seven Years

[Joe Fields]

43. Seven years? That's about how long I've been active on this site.

And I don't quite see this issue your way. Go figure.

[madfloridian]

8. It just means that the first appt was someone...

Who has been negative toward progressives and has urged going right on the war and on immigration to win.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/2132

"Two weeks ago he (Rahm) sent a DCCC-connected candidate training a video of himself haranguing congressional candidates to “move right” on immigration or risk defeat at the hands of Republicans. This is similar to the terrible advice he shoved down candidates’ throats last year, although then he was demanding they move to the right on Iraq, dooming the candidacies of Lois Murphy, Francine Busby, Ken Lucas, Tammy Duckworth, Diane Farrell and several others who went along with his demands. Yesterday Markos asked a blaring question at DailyKos: Is Rahm racist, or merely scared?. While walking the picket line at the WGA strike at Fox today Jane and I came up with the idea of inviting Emanuel over to FDL to ask him why he thinks adopting Tom Tancredo’s immigration ideas is a good idea and why he’s unleashed Heath Shuler to do just that.

And from Daily Kos.

It's got to be one or the other, because Rahm Emanuel is behind efforts to build Democratic support for the Shuler/Tancredo "enforcement-only" bill currently winding its way through the House.

Think about it -- our House leadership is strong-arming Democrats into backing a bill which is the central agenda of the biggest racist xenophobe Tom Tancredo."

This was while Dean and Obama were advising against using immigrants as scapegoats.

Obama:

"In a speech to the crowd, Obama sharpened his rhetoric against some of the most vocal voices against immigrant workers and migrant worker programs.

“A certain segment has basically been feeding a kind of xenophobia. There’s a reason why hate crimes against Hispanic people doubled last year,” Obama said. “If you have people like Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh ginning things up, it’s not surprising that would happen."

Dean:

"At a rally, Dean garnered the loudest applause when he said Republicans would make immigration a pivotal issue during upcoming elections, as they did gay marriage and affirmative action in previous elections.

"Do you know who the scapegoats are going to be? Immigrants," he said. "In Colorado, the chairman of the Republican Party endorsed Tom Tancredo (search) for re-election. That is morally reprehensible. The governor of California, a supposed moderate Republican, invited the Minutemen to visit California. We do not need vigilante justice."

Rahm was willing to scapegoat immigrants to win.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Not arguing any of that .... not at all ........which was point in posting this ......

.... if he gets hired, it is simply for his ability to get things done by whatever means necessary to serve the interests of his boss.

His ideology, good, bad, or indifferent, is essentially meaningless. If anyone is afraid of Emanual being there, then that person is essentially saying he has no faith in Obama's ability to run a tight ship and set the course he alone chooses.

[madfloridian]

12. Wow, sir...

we certainly here at DU change our standards to change the way the wind is blowing.

His pick is a jab at progressives. The fact that he despises and cursed Dean tells me who is in and who is out.

And that's a shame.

He was willing to use immigrants as a wedge issue to win. That says a lot about his character.

Look up an article called "Kiss the Ring" from Gentleman's Quarterly. Read it all. Tell me you think it would be wise to lead the WH like that.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. He isn't "leading the white house" .... he is serving his boss.

It seems to me that a new president should be able to choose whomever he feel;s can best serve his needs.

Ruthless efficiency is the watchword.

Ideology is a side bar.

[madfloridian]

18. Yes, Obama can choose whom he wants.

But that one sends a message.

[Vanje]

14. Well then, Its a damn good thing

that Barack Obama is the boss, and Rahm Emanuel is the subservient.

[HamdenRice]

11. CoS is the gatekeeper position

I wouldn't care if he were in any other position, but CoS is a frighteningly powerful position for narrowing and defining what options, information, intelligence, and contacts a president gets.

The CoS should be unbiased, almost invisible in policy terms, and not have strong opinions.

Here's what I wrote in another thread:

I realize some people are saying Emanuel is not progressive enough. In fact, I don't want to have to care about the political views of the CoS, other than that they mostly don't come into the picture. I'm not making that argument. I am saying that on the central cluster of issues Obama will face -- the "war on terror," military spending, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, the middle east -- Emanuel has a fixed, rigid set of ideas that makes me think he will not provide a free flow of information or a full set of options to the president.

I also don't think the CoS needs to have so much experience/contacts with Congress. That's the job of the White House political director, who counts heads, coordinates with the Speaker and Senate Majority Leader on the management and drafting and traffic control of legislation, and eventually tells the president who in Congress needs to be called, arm twisted, "bribed" with pork, or subjected to "the Johnson Treatment."

The CoS is concerned primarily with scheduling (a shockingly difficult task when you're talking about allocating face time with the POTUS), paper flow, lines of authority and decision-making, and above all, managing/winnowing millions pages of information and legislation a day down to something the president, a single man, can read, and check off his decisions on, each day.

Someone, like Emanuel, whose ideas are fixed in stone and pretty much on the extreme ends of the policy debate on an important cluster of issues is not the guy to be trusted to winnow down millions of pages of information, intelligence and opinion on Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine/Pakistan/W-on-T to a couple of five page memos and decision trees.

I am extremely worried about what won't get into President Obama's policy option papers if Emanuel is CoS.

Other than that, I think a lot of people could do a good job at this. I'm not saying Emanuel isn't progressive enough; I'm saying he's probably the single worst choice for the job.

It seems like the campaign staff handled exactly this job extremely well. A few people have mentioned Howard Dean, who would be a superb choice, but I'm not sure he's interested, but given what he did with the party, it's clear he has the skill set required.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. What do you think would happen if President Obama were to find out someone with whom .......

..... he wanted to speak were denied access by his gatekeeper? Or if some critical fact were to somehow fall out of his "flow of information" folder?

In a Bush administration, the answer to those questions is almost certainly VERY different than they would be in an Obama administration.

Don't you think?

[HamdenRice]

17. How would he find out?

I know it sounds crazy, but it's an occupational hazard of the presidency. Each president becomes the "prisoner" of the CoS.

[noamnety]

20. The type of people he selects for his cabinet

is a reflection of Obama's ideology.

It's ignorant to think otherwise.

If a union leader selected an assistant with a history of anti-labor activism, it would be cause for concern, no?

[stray cat]

21. It is something new for some people to complain about now that Obama won

[Canuckistanian]

22. Hmmm. Good point.

If you want to keep rogue elements at bay, bring them into your inner circle.

Machiavelli would be proud.

Not to say that Obama is Machiavelli, but Machiavelli had his good points and he wrote the book on acquiring and KEEPING power.

[misanthrope]

25. No joke...

...Obama just finished one of the most impressive campaigns in the history of American politics and people don't trust his judgement? I'd say his acumen likely surpasses that of most on DU.

[mmonk]

28. I think he's better suited for Chief of Staff and away from Congress.

Is there a job for Pelosi in the cabinet as well?

[Cerridwen]

31. "The Gatekeeper and the co-President"

The duties of the White House Chief of Staff vary greatly from one administration to another. However, he/she is responsible for overseeing the actions of the White House staff, managing the President's schedule, and deciding who is allowed to meet with the President. Because of these duties, the Chief of Staff has at various times been dubbed "The Gatekeeper" and "The co-President". (emphasis added) link

If you have ever tried to contact the CEO/business owner by trying to get through his/her executive assistant and failed miserably, you'll understand why some are a little less than excited about this appointment.

I am, as yet, undecided.

[madfloridian]

32. Very good points. It does worry me.

Here is one of the reasons it concerns me so much.

We lost a House seat in FL probably as a direct result of his choices.

[Cerridwen]

33. You are the one I think of every time someone questions Emmanuel's

politics.

Though I've not replied to a lot of your threads, I have read them and remembered him playing ugly politics in your state with Democratic candidates.

Thank you for all you've posted. My apologies for not replying. I'm not always up for a DU tustle and debate.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

34. I'm not up to it either today...tired out from all of it.

Yes, he did affect several races here. It messed things up so no one really has a chance right now.

The ones he handled do not speak on things as they should. Which reminds me I forgot to check out a couple of the races. I don't think we did very well here.

The South Florida races that Debbie Wasserman Schultz did not get involved with early on...all three of them lost.

She was in charge of the Red to Blue and just ignored the races because the Diaz Balarts were involved and Ros Lehtinen...and they were her GOP buddies. Don't know how much affect it had, but it did matter. Just a handful at the DCCC and the DSCC have too much power to handpick.

We can be proud though in FL, we turned blue for Obama.

[Cerridwen]

39. Florida went blue for president! That was way cool!

The rest - the rest you get to deal with when you've had some rest. You did a great job keeping the rest of us informed during this election cycle.

Thank you! In the future, I'll try to reply more even if it's nothing more than a :kick:

:yourock:

[Stellabella]

35. I trust President-elect Obama's judgment.

That's the first time I typed that - yippee!

[Joe Fields]

37. well, for starters,

the Chief of Staff determines to a very large degree what information stream the president sees and just who the president sees. That, in itself is a pretty potent power.

Now, knowing that, it isn't hard to see how Emmanuel's politics can heavily influence an Obama administration. Besides, Obama isn't stupid. He knows what Emmanuel's politics are and he must agree with them, which worries me, and should worry others, as well.

[RB TexLa]

45. Don't you know he should have been purged from the party last night

:rofl: