It's all wrong. Josh Lyman is supposed to be Chief of Staff for a Latino President.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel

It also gets Emanuel out of the House and out of the House Election efforts where he's been pursuing the old strategies. He's a potential obstacle to Obama in the House (staking out his own turf) and puts him in the Oval Office working for him.

That Obama is some chess player.

Any way for Obama to get Hoyer out of the house, too?

I don't know why Steve is so interested in COS. I want to know who SOT is going to be - like right now - and what that person has said in the recent past about the economy.

It would be good to have some sharp elbows in the WH. The Republicans may be defeated now but they're not going away, and they're going to be if anything even more obstructionist. And the new conservative Dems will have to be kept in line too.

Remember "Mack" McClarty? The guy was genial and feckless. Cost Clinton at least a year of political capital in '93-4, and cost the rest of us the last chance we had for a serious progressive policy agenda until now.

Huh. This surprises me. I thought it would be someone close to Obama, with good working and personal relationships.

I would like to hear more about what he'd bring to the Obama WH.

From what I can gather, he's a few years away from the speakership (Pelosi 101, Stoyer 98, Lewis 97) and his executive background may serve him just as well in that position.

Joking aside, the democrats should be sure to move out older blood in a just and prudent manner. Part of what holds us back is that our leaders are from another era.

The number of post-retirement age legislators is shocking. It's a sweet gig if you can get it, but in the spirit of things, that's not really what this is about!

I was watching Morning Joe earlier and Joe Scarborough was already upset and the prospect of Emmanuel being Chief of Staff because in his words, "he is very partisan". Good grief! I can already see the Republicans beginning their attempt to push Obama to the right and I hope that he resists that. Scarborough apparently would prefer someone like Daschle who is a milquetoast. They will be desperate to neuter Obama from the getgo. He was elected on center left policies and that is what he needs to govern on, period.

There's a "John Warner" reference at 8:22pm last night that should be "Mark Warner".

-brendan

Good stuff - because the Mean Jean Schmidts of the Republican party still work in the House (sorry America, on behalf of all Ohioans), Rahm is good at working the floor.

I had also heard Daschle was a possible COS, although he is kind of a wuss, but he knows congress and I think that good knowledge of and relations with congress is going to be critical.

They need to hit the ground running fast and get things passed--Clinton definitely blew it in his first year. Economic reform and stimulus, a comprehensive energy policy, universal healthcare and healthcare reform--they need to be ready to go with all of them on day 1.

I was so sorry to hear Tucker Bounds spin this already on "Morning Joe" into a race issue.

He kept asserting that the headlines on Newspapers like the NYT are a distortion and even an insult. He insisted they imply by saying History has been made and American is now a changed place" that those who didn't vote for Obama are somehow racist (Namely him) and inferior..

Leave it to Tucker Bounds to stretch this beyond belief to be small minded and narcissistic enough to turn this around to a personal issue and put others on the defensive on the morning after what YES--is historic on so many levels.

Instead of appreciating the fact that this is History, which is not just about race but rather about all possibility, about choices, about opportunity for all (including assholes like Tucker to vote no for Obama)

The point is we now have a new way of looking BEYOND race. For all of us, Tucker included.

And he completely missed the point. Because he's that much of a petty sore loser.

It made sense to offer Biden the VP to remove his credit card corporate obstructionism from the Senate.

can we get a little hilzoy info on what he/she thinks of rahm? thx

Tucker Bounds=sour grapes. Then he used the sour grapes to make some whine. Don't be a sore loserman.

Yes, the SOT is very important, but, the COS is crucial for developing an agenda and working closely with the new Congress. We don't have the "luxury" of an inept Jimmy Carter COS getting lost driving up Pennsylvania Avenue - Turned left too soon, then went in circles - Ended up lost around Dupont Circle and never recovered.

Anybody else see Carville and Begala take to task the African-American Repug lady shill for the Washington Times, Dana Wall? She was blathering about the low approval rating of Congress and the need to move to the right and work with the right wing. Shock must have set in and she still believed it was November third.

Scarborough was whining about this election being called "historic" in regards to voter turnout and enthusiasm. He was offended because evangelicals turned out in historic proportions with lines around the block, singing hymns and such in 2000. He was "offended" that people only think it is historic when it is THEIR people. Wah, wah, wah. And so it begins, the offended and aggrieved "minority" is already finding its voice.

surely Obama's team didn't 'announce' or lead the COS info on Emmanuel without knowing he had agreed to the gig? they wouldn't want to start with a refusal.

Emmanuel is a jerk -- this may be a requirement for the job.

I have no doubt that Obama will govern as he ran the campaign -- without my rather partisan point of view.

Bounds should not be wasting his time - Should be getting out resumes to the Nathan Bedford Forrest Foundation.

Meanwhile, somewhere, Nancy Pfotenhauer is still struggling with forming words. Haven't seen her since Chris Matthews destroyed her while she was trying to defend Sarah the Lost's definition of the role of the VP. She ended the segment with her lips moving at a high rate of speed and nothing would come out.

A good Chief of Staff should be a behind-the-scenes kind of person. Can Emanuel, who has been all over the television for the last year, give up the spotlight?

Obama's team has take the transition very seriously for several months

Of course, this was something the Republicans tried (with virtually no success) to use as an attack on Obama: the fact that he was preparing a transition team well ahead of the election.

Well, now he's won.

So Republicans: would you prefer that Obama *wasnt* prepared to begin the transition process? Would you want to see the president-elect be unprepared for this moment?

When you made these silly complaints, what did you want?

god knows i've got my policy and electoral beefs with rahm (he is, after all my congresscritter), but as cos a bully could come in handy... and he's got that nailed.

Ohhhh...I see Obama is about change, yet already he is going back to the Clinton era cronies....