Thursday, November 06, 2008

Profiles of Obama's White House: Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel


As part of my commitment to do what I can as a citizen to keep the upcoming administration accountable, I am doing a little research into the appointments Obama is making to his cabinet. I will do a short profile on each appointment as they are made official, starting with Rahm Emmanuel, who accepted the position of White House Chief of Staff earlier today:

Born: November 29, 1959. Retained Israeli citizenship up until 1991.

Career

Before accepting the position of Chief of Staff, Emmanuel served as a Democratic member of the House of Representatives since 2003, representing Illinois's 5th congressional district which covers much of the north side of Chicago and parts of suburban Cook County. He was the 4th ranking Democrat in the House, behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader Steny Hoyer and Whip Jim Clyburn.

Resume

  • Began his political career with the now defunct public interest and consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action.
  • 1984: Worked for Democrat Paul Simon's election to the U.S. Senate.
  • 1988: National campaign director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
  • 1989: Senior advisor and chief fundraiser for Richard M. Daley's victorious campaign for Mayor of Chicago.
  • Served then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's Presidential campaign as finance committee director, and was instrumental in Clinton's win in 1992.
  • 1993 - 1998: Senior advisor to Clinton as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives.
  • 1999 - 2002: Accepted a high paid position at Dresdner Kleinwort investment bank in Chicago.
  • 2005: Named the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
  • 2006: Received praise for his stewardship of the DCCC during the highly successful 2006 election cycle.

    Committees

  • Ways and Means - Chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. This Committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other programs including:
    -Social Security
    -Unemployment benefits
    -Medicare
    -Enforcement of child support laws
    -Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a federal welfare program
    -Foster care and adoption programs

    Political Views

  • Indicated his support of President Bush's position on Iraq, but said he believed the president needed to better articulate his position to the American people.
  • Believes in affordable and available healthcare for all Americans.
  • Has maintained a 100% pro-choice voting record.
  • Depending on who you ask, Emmanuel is either pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, but from what I have read, he seems most vocal in support of Israel.

    Controversies

  • An article from 2006 raised speculation regarding a possible connection between Emanuel's Congressional election success and convicted former Chicago water department boss Don Tomczak.
  • USA Today reported in late January 2007 that Emanuel failed to disclose that he was an officer of a family charity, a violation of law requiring members of Congress to report non-profit leadership roles.


    It has been said of Emmanuel that he is far from partisan and that this is a sign that Obama does not intend to act in a bipartisan fashion. My only response to that is: he really is not obligated to do any such thing considering the majority his party has. Rahm also has a reputation for being a "pit bull" and some of his bio (courtesy of Wikipedia) confirms he can be tenacious. Obama has commented that he can, "Get things done", so I suppose that was the appeal; not that Emmanuel makes nice but that he is effective. Whether Obama really will reach across the aisle and include Republicans remains to be seen.

    (Source: Wikipedia)
  • 5 comments:

    TAO said...

    Rahm is Jewish and he worked very hard to get democrats elected that were moderates...he is a moderate and very pro business...

    With this choice Barack picked a guy who was responisible for running the house campaign for the democrats in 2004 so all of the house members elected in 2004 and 2008 owe their elections to the support of Rahm...which means that Barack basically cut Pelosi's legs out from under her....by taking Rahm away from her control and put him in as WH chief of staff that pretty much isolates Pelosi and ties over a hundred democrat house members to the WH....brillant move on the part of Barack...

    I was wondering how he was going to deal with Pelosi...he handled that one with his first act...

    Stroke of genius.....

    He not the flaming liberal you think he is....

    He never once mentioned the poor or welfare but only the middle class....he also is the only one who will be able to say no to the black caucus because he doesn't need their support to get the black vote....

    The guy is smart...he beat the Clinton machine well before he destroyed the conservatives...

    Now lets see what he has planned to keep Reid in place....

    Since Ted Kennedy is going to die and he is hinting at naming Caroline Kennedy a UN Ambassador...that is another brillant political stroke...

    This guy is no one term president....that you can bank on....

    Bullfrog said...

    tao: if that is indeed true and Rahm will effectively hamstring Pelosi, I am all for it. Having her calling the shots is a bit frightening.

    I don't doubt Barack is smart. He wouldn't be where he is if he wasn't, and beating Clinton at her own game certainly was an impressive feat and obviously served to win folks over.

    I can't comment on whether it is good or bad that Obama appears to be going after Kennedy's to help him out as I know little about them aside from reputation; based solely on that, it doesn't sound too good for conservatives.

    TAO said...

    I WAS thrilled with this choice because I was wondering how he was planning on dealing with Pelosi and Reid...and it looks to me like he has figured out that they were issues. THEY WERE IMPEDIMENTS!

    As far as conservatives go...if Obama can separate the true conservatives from the fascist conservatives then he has accomplished something good also. Every moderate recognizes that we need balance and we need good conservatives and good liberals....but the extremists on both sides need to be isolated...

    That is why I pick on conservatives; you are so quick to point out the extremes of liberalism (socialists) but you do not recognize the extremism on your own side....and they were a bigger threat to your movement than the Liberals ever were. Oh, one other point....the liberals thought the world was coming to an end when Reagan became President in 1980 and they also believed that they would regain control in 1984....they were sure that America would finds its way back to them.....

    I can't help but notice that 2008 is looking a lot like 1980....

    IF Palin is your choice in 2012 that will be alot like the choice of Mondale in 1984....check out that election....

    Bullfrog said...

    tao: it would help me to see your point better if I understood what you believe the "extreme" of conservatism is.

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have a hunch it has to do with social conservatism. There is a school of thought right now, even in conservative circles, that social conservatism is a "stone around the neck", and should be abandoned if the movement has any chance to survive.

    I would offer that McCain demonstrated how effective a socially and fiscally moderate can be.

    TAO said...

    I am writing up a post for my blog about my ideas of social conservatism and my issues with the concept....and why I could never support a social conservative in regards to how it is defined today.

    As far as McCain goes...he did not have a chance people were tired of Bush and he was trapped between trying to placate the base by being seen as supportive of the President and at the same time have to attrach independents who wanted nothing to do with anyone related to the current administration...it was a no win situation, he was behind in the polls before the convention because of his position on Iraq and he got a little ahead on the polls after the convention and with Palin (who initially was viewed as CHANGE) and then he started dropping once people realized that Palin was not the CHANGE they were looking for and then you had the meltdown....