Some progressives are pissed by this news. It's important to keep in mind Obama faces serious challenges in getting off the ground and relying on those that have institutional memory of the White House and know where Bush has buried bodies is very important going forward.

There's way too much focus on this pick. Yes, Chief of Staff is a critical job, but some bloggers are acting as if it's "co-president." Ask the next five people you meet to name the current White House Chief of Staff or his predecessor. If you tend to move in elevated circles, ask them to identify a significant accomplishment of either man.

Appointing Democrats to Obama's administration is a real "screw you" to Republicans. If Obama wants to heal the harsh feelings on the right from such a clear repudiaion of the Republican brand in these elections, he needs to send a message, loud and clear, that he's going to keep Republicans in charge.

Actually, I think the appointment is a good one. Not only will Obama have someone in the White House who knows the ropes and can interact well with Pelosi and Reid, we won't have him in the House making deals with Republicans and selling Democrats down the stream.

He's one tough cookie. An enforcer. Smart as a whip and with energy to spare. He's close to Pelosi so relations between the WH and Congress should start off well. He's a great choice. AND he's from Chicago. Take THAT Texas and Arkansas. The Second City is first now!

His "agressiveness" could well work in Obama's favor. Obama seems inclined to be friendly, to go with good-faith negotiation and consensus-building first. That's lovely, and if it gets the job done that's awesome. But for when it doesn't this sets up a nice "good cop/bad cop" routine. You wanna play nice? Obama will work with you. Insist on playing hardball? Fine. Meet Mr. Emmanuel.

Some progressives are pissed by this news.

Thanks, Joe, for the laugh...

As a progressive, I LIKE the choice. He's smart, he's experienced, and he's the opposite of a pushover. As far as I'm concerned, Obama just sent a message loud and clear to the Republicans and their Villager hangers-on, *I* am in charge here; the rest of you siddown and shuddup.

As to the leaks, it could just as easily have been the Obama people putting pressure on Emanuel, knowing it would be a tough decision. Make the offer, leak it as a done deal, and then he has to walk it back if he refuses.

I like this news.

I had money on Assata Shakur for Chief o' Staff. Guess I should stop reading the Free Republic for transition team speculation.

I read this somewhere (Matt Yglesias, I think), but for those that missed it, this is kinda neat:

(West Wing character) Josh Lyman is based on Rahm Emanuel. Matt Santos is based on Barack Obama. Matt Santos chose Josh Lyman as his chief of staff once elected President.

Freaky!

I agree with seriously. There's a lot of focus on this pick, and I think every pick is going to be heavily scrutinized. I suppose, on the other hand, any greater public interest in political positions can only be a good thing, but I sense this isn't something that can be sustained for too long.

I don't have any problem with the pick. Ralm's a pretty tough fighter and a shrewd tactician. I might not always agree with him, but I'd far prefer to count him among my allies than my enemies.

And while he and Dean may have had disagreements during the 2006 midterms, the end results are a credit to both of them.

The impression I got from the progressives who hated this decision was that it was purely on the symbolic level, reminiscent of how wingnuts work. It had nothing to do with whether he'd be good in the job or not, or what they think he might do. But merely that Emmanuel was someone they didn't like, so this meant that he shouldn't be given anything good. And they also used it as proof that Obama is going to sell us down the river and was lying to us the whole time; just as they've been warning us he'd do all year.

And again, this is one big reason why far-right conservatives are destroying the Republican Party. When the ideological litmus test becomes stronger than pragmatism, you're going to lose. It's that simple.

And again, maybe Emmanuel is a horrible choice. But the folks I heard complaining didn't cite one reason for why that would be, and I can think of a few reasons why it's a good choice (including several of the reasons people gave here). But this had nothing to do with real-world arguments, but merely that Emmanuel was someone they hated and are upset that Obama did anything good for him. And that's just not a smart way to go about things. For myself, Obama knows Emmanual and his own needs more than I do, and he's made a whole lot of right choices so far, so I'll go along with this one too.

Whatever you think of Obama's choice of Emanuel, aren't you glad to be discussing this instead of McCain's choice for COS? Or exactly what role Sarah Palin would have in the McCain administration's policy decisions?

Peeps....relax....like the LoLz said
"Chill the fuck out... I got this"

We trusted the man judgement to get elected now extend that trust going forward.

My take is that he is setting up Emanual as his "bad cop" to his "good cop". Emanual is DLC thru and thru and its key to have his loyality, connections and long political memory as Obama attempts to pass progressive legislation with a Congress consisting of Conservative and Blue Dog Dems.

I am not a big fan of Rahm, but Obama has said from DAY ONE that he would build a team consisting of people from ALL politcal stripes and that includes DEMS who are not lock step progressives

Good.

"Whatever you think of Obama's choice of Emanuel, aren't you glad to be discussing this instead of McCain's choice for COS? Or exactly what role Sarah Palin would have in the McCain administration's policy decisions?"
- SecularAnimist

Oh hell yes. Every time someone says their worried about the direction Obama will take the country, or agonize in advance about some decision he has yet to make, I just think to myself....I lived through 8 years of complete and total disgust for the Executive Branch. I probably won't agree with all the decision Obama makes, but I will at least feel good about the fact that we once again have an intelligent, level-headed, and truly charismatic president.

Yeah ... I'm not so worried about Emanuel as Chief of Staff. From what I've read he's a good legbreaker. Obama isn't - he tends to want to be conciliatory and find compromise on things. Sometimes that's the right approach. Other times, you need someone who can cap the other guy at the knees. Having someone on your team who can do that heavy lifting is always a good thing.

Rahm's a dirtbag and an asshole. He's perfect for the job.

I like his philosophy of personal commitment and desired/required public service, at least 3 months between ages of 18 and 25. Hope it wears off on Obama.

Its a good fit. He's a ptbull who doesn't need lipstick. That position requires someone tough.

Whatever you think of Obama's choice of Emanuel, aren't you glad to be discussing this instead of McCain's choice for COS?

Oh, honey, yes.

I also like that people may finally learn to spell "Emanuel." It's one M.

After the bombs and missiles strike Iran, think how glad Mr. Emanuel will be.

lib4 at 1:43 PM

You got it. CoS is not a policy position. He is the President's key coordinator. Emanuel has the knowledge of both the Executive and of the Hill to do that job superbly. He isn't going to set policy, particularly with Obama as his boss.

Someone on NPR this morning pointed out that Clinton appointed Cabinet members first and only started appointing White House staffers just before the inauguration. The result was a very slow start for the Clinton White House. Obama does not have that luxury of time. Obama needs his WH staff up and functioning yesterday, and Rhom can and will do that.

One thing that Obama has clearly done in running for President is get the opinions from all sides on every important issue without cutting off debate too early. Gellman in his excellent book on Cheney ("Angler") points out that this is very much the opposite of Bush. Bush does not like conflict among his adviser and he does not push for rapid timely resolution of important time-critical issues. The way Obama's almost flawless operation has operated during the campaign shows that he is in control and knows how to run a staff operation (something not common in lawyers.)

Obama also appears to be set up to hit the ground running. Emanuel will be key to getting that done.

One more thing to consider: If he's in the White House, he can't take Obama's place in the Senate.

I've been in arguments with a few other liberals over this, its nice to read the sanity in here.

In case anyone still has misgivings over the choice, this was from the Ap/Yahoo report today:

House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio called Emanuel "an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center."

That's music to my ears. Suck it GOP.

I rather like the notion of Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff, because it gets Rahm Emanuel out of Congress -- he won't be able to do as much damage running Obama's office as he's done as a Congressmember, and maybe we can get a real Democrat to represent Emanuel's district in the House.

Taking Rahm out of Congress, like Biden, may be a good move, if that is Obama's purpose. I will have to hope so.

Does that mean Obama is laying the groundwork for another 'first': President elect Emanuel in 2016 (hispanic)

Rahm Emanuel is Jewish, not Hispanic, Bruno.