Obama's designated a--hole
Even a poetic president needs a ruthless deal maker to help execute his agenda. Enter Rahm Emanuel -- aka "Rahmbo" -- the legendary Democratic operator.

By Mike Madden

Nov. 07, 2008 |

For one brief moment over the summer, it seemed as if Barack Obama was ready to start throwing his weight around, the way a man who would soon be president of the United States -- even if it wasn't assured at the time -- is entitled to do. On the Senate floor during a vote in June, he spotted Joe Lieberman, who had just conducted yet another conference call organized by John McCain's campaign. Doing his best LBJ impersonation, Obama dragged Lieberman over to a corner, then backed him up against the wall and lectured him on his advocacy for the Republicans.

That one story stands out because during the rest of the 2008 campaign and all its twists, it's hard to find another example of Obama acting aggressive toward anyone. His new White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, doesn't exactly have that problem.

Emanuel -- or, as he's universally known around D.C. and Chicago, Rahm, or sometimes "Rahmbo" -- comes into the new gig with a well-earned reputation as one of Washington's toughest operators. The guy's favorite word is "****" and its many variations; he's a brilliant, if ruthless, tactician who helped put House Democrats in control two years ago, then moved up in leadership and helped keep them there this week.

By putting Emanuel in charge of his administration's day-to-day operations, Obama could be getting the best of both worlds: The new White House will still be a place filled with hope, change and all the other idealistic slogans and animating principles that helped him win the election. But lurking inside the West Wing, the new president will have a hatchet man ready to destroy anyone who gets in the way (and enjoy doing it).

As a management theory, it's a variation on "good cop, bad cop," an approach that the music industry actually may have pioneered. The idea is that artists (or, in Obama's case, politicians) who may be creative geniuses sometimes need some help making sure the world outside the studio doesn't roll over them. They need, as the theory puts it in language that could have been borrowed from Emanuel, a designated *******. Prototypes for this model from the music world include people like Irving Azoff, who has managed the Eagles, Seal, Van Halen and Neil Diamond (and who famously said, "I never met an ******* in the record business I didn't like"); Peter Grant, the force behind Led Zeppelin; and Allen Klein, who managed acts like the Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke and the Beatles (and ended up in litigation with some of them). Emanuel -- whose younger brother Ari is the Hollywood superagent whom "Entourage" writers based Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold on (reportedly prompting Rahm to tell his brother he liked the TV version better) -- is surely familiar with the concept.

That's not to say Obama is the political world's equivalent of some naive folk singer who just signed his first record deal; he did, after all, come up in Chicago politics, and at any rate, you don't make it to the Oval Office if you don't know how to get people to do what you want them to do. But after eight years of the Bush administration, the country may not be quite ready yet for President Obama to be the one starting the knife fights around town.

So that's where Rahm comes in. Actually, in his case, "knife fights" may be particularly apt. One of the founding myths of the Legend of Rahm is of a night at Doe's, a divey steakhouse in Little Rock, Ark., shortly after Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. Emanuel had worked on the campaign, and would soon move into the White House as political director. Some Clintonistas were sitting around at dinner, griping about all the people who had betrayed the new president. But Emanuel wasn't satisfied just to whine about them. (After all, he races triathlons, marathons apparently being insufficiently challenging.) So he grabbed his steak knife and started plunging it into the table, yelling, "Dead! Dead!" as he rattled off the names of the new administration's enemies.

After six years in the Clinton administration, where he had a hand in both politics and policy, Emanuel worked as an investment banker for a while (another nice low-key kind of job), earning millions. But by 2004, he was back in the political game, winning a House seat from Chicago. Two years later, he was running the House campaign operation, raising far more money than Democrats had done in recent years and helping the party win 30 seats that fall.

Some of the stories about Emanuel, and the details of his life, seem almost too perfect -- except that they are so universally known, and so clearly fit his personality, that they're completely believable. He volunteered in the Israeli military during the first Gulf War in 1991 (and only afterward showed up in the Clinton campaign's war room). He's said to have mailed a rotting fish to a former colleague, and to have cursed out Howard Dean over holding back funding for the 2006 elections. He told Fortune magazine's Nina Easton that he trash-talked President Bush about his mountain biking, trying to goad him into stepping it up to a triathlon and telling Bush he could wear water wings for the swimming segment if he needed them. In the Capitol, he charges through hallways like somebody's life depends on him getting wherever he's going; just before the House approved the Wall Street bailout last month, I spotted him shoving his way through a reception on his way to a meeting and tried to go ask him how the vote was looking, but I couldn't keep up with him.

Yet, for someone as hyper and profane as Emanuel, people who've worked with him seem to love him. "The thing about Rahm that will be great for the administration is he doesn't settle with just good or just great," said Jennifer Crider, a former adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who now works for the DCCC. "He wants it to be outstanding and the best it can be. He pushes and he pushes and he pushes, and he makes the people around him better than they ever thought they could be."

Of course, that's what House Democrats say now, while they're still enjoying the last few days of Rahm being firmly ensconced on their side. Even though Obama plans to work closely with the leadership on the Hill, a time will come next year when the White House clashes with Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over something. And when it does, everyone in Congress will know exactly what they're in for.

I predict that Emanuel will help Obama achieve something that eluded Bush - competence. The ideological ugliness and dishonesty of the Bush administration was bad, but I don't think those characteristics are what made people come to loathe the Bush administration. The biggest reason, IMHO, for the public's rejection of Bush and Cheney is their incompetence.

Emanuel was a great pick. Brilliant guy. Great feel for the cards. Super high energy.

Obama is off to a good start, IMHO.

You could hardly be more wrong.

Bush was able to do exactly what he wanted with Congress, under both parties and at almost every turn, precisely because he had a highly competent C of S and of course, Machiavelli.

Obama now has a competent C of S. Who will emerge as his Machiavelli?

IMHO

B

So we've given up on healing and bringing the country together already?

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I've read John Forbes Kerry wants to be Secretary of State. Would he fit the bill?

When did we ever begin?

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Not my words.

Kinda makes choosing Rhambo is an interesting choice.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Indeed. The Koombayah crap is what every politico says. Bush said it, Clinton said it, Bush one said it. Hell everybody says it but it's just crap. Even if the individual may have mean it in the moment all the apparatchicks see it simply as a vindication of their philosophy and will seek to push said philosophy on everyone else.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

That's why I'm wondering who his Machiavelli will be. Rham is mostly targeted at Congress (I mean aside from his role of keeping the White House firmly on message and leak-proof). Since Congress is Democrat controlled, he will be targeting Democrats. This is managed conflict if done with finesse (rare, but Reagan comes to mind) or becomes a dysfunctional shouting match as with Carter.

But the real power lies with Machiavelli. Who will bend the President's ear? Bush had Rove. Clinton had Stephanopoulis (who has miraculously morphed into a "non-partisan" news analyst), Bush I had a committee (which resulted in a hazy "vision thing") and Reagan had Meese. Who did Carter have? I forgot.

Anyway, that roll has huge potential for power. Understanding that person's roll and influence will tell us an awful lot about President Obama.

B

Hell no. JFK is just barely smarter than a dumbass. Compare that witless boob to George Staphanopoulos, for example. George is a brilliant, thoughtful, careful strategic planner. I can't imagine Kerry doing anything more than stumble over his own lines. Hell, he couldn't even beat Bush.

It's true that W had his way with Congress. I was talking about incompetence in executing the laws: management of the Iraq war and Katrina
are the two examples that come immediately to mind, and there are plenty of other examples.

I'll give you prosecuting the Iraq War.

But the Katrina thing, I'm sorry. That's one that was unfairly blamed on the federal government. If you looked at national emergency doctrine that has been in place since FEMA was established you would see that the federal role is to support, not direct, search & rescue as well as recovery.

The failures were multi-stepped and started at the local level about 16 years ago when the Hurricane Pam drills (whatever they were called back then...) began. These drills were run to test the local and state responses to hurricane emergencies in NOLA. Later the feds were invited in as full participants in their proper role of advise & support. At the end of each drill, which lasts a week, the participants did a post exercise analysis. In EVERY analysis the participants informed the state and local agencies that communications was a critical weak link. Nobody ever did anything about it.

Up until 9/11 federal doctrine was to have a separate and independent communication system to which states could buy-in. I don't think any state did until after 9/11 when the breakdown of communications in New York was a critical factor in the catastrophic loss of life. Even to this day there are state and local agencies across the USA that are not tied-into the emergency comm. By law it cannot be federally mandated, only encouraged.

In NOLA 4 days before the storm the local and state govs was sure they had everything under control and informed the fed they were prepared (as did MS, TX, AL). The governor activated NG in NOLA and the area and prepositioned them in NOLA & the area.

3 days before landfall NOAA informed the governor & FEMA that the storm was going to be catastrophic and that they should totally evacuate the city. The president asked the governor to declare an official state of emergency so that he could legally activate federal resources. It takes about a week to spin-up the whole emergency response system. She did not officially make the request until the night before the storm struck NOLA. This put an automatic 2 day delay into the federal response. Remember, the response is not instantaneous. The bureaucracy has to redirect it's resources. Orders have to be issued. Wives & husbands have to be informed. family arrangements made, etc. Even though procedures are in place -- the fed is not a military operation. Families first, mission second. In the military it's mission first, family second. Huge difference.

For the first few hours on the day the storm struck all 3 levels of government thought they had dodged the bullet. It passed to the East of NOLA. The weak, western side hit NOLA. The western side has less storm surge, lower winds, less rain. People began to relax. "You're doing a hell of a job, Brownie".

Then for a variety of reasons, the levees gave way. That's when the local government discovered that most of the police & fire and public service employees (including bus drivers) had abandoned NOLA in anticipation of the storm. Emergency responders had deserted.

The NG were flooded in their armories. Their comm centers were flooded. their HQ was flooded. They were rendered ineffective.

The governor had not activated the NG throughout the state, only the local area. It takes about 3 days to activate the guard. It takes a week to get the federal SUPPORT staff in place. At that time the fed had NO 1st Response plan. First response by fed was not the doctrine worked-out over the previous 40 years. Local & state were 1st responders.

The affected area -- the area in a state of disaster -- was about the size of England. This was geographically the largest single natural national disaster since the 1927 flood.

So the fed activated 1st responders in California, Arizona, Ohio, Texas, and I think Georgia & Kentucky. It takes them 3 days to get to NOLA under normal circumstances.

But it is not normal. There is no comm. The airport was shut down. There was no power or water.

Then the chief of police essentially lost his mind, IMO. He started reporting rumors as fact. Roving rape gangs, crazed druggies, random murders, shots fired at rescuers etc. Almost all later proven false but it put an already dysfunctional city into a complete freaking panic -- all on international news.

On the day after the storm the president was informed that there was a total breakdown of the police and NG -- essentially the state was AWOL, too. At that time he activated the 82nd Airborne and placed a general in charge legally empowered with martial law, if he so chose to invoke it. The first 2 days after the storm the local gov was ineffective and the state gov was in a panic. This general showed up and read them the riot act and put FEMA directly under his command, effectively cutting DC out of the loop. He didn't trust the state NG command and so, didn't use the NG. Instead, he ordered elements of the 82nd to report to NOLA with combat support for a week. He ordered special ops from USAF and USN to NOLA. I saw them going out at night.

Panic stopped.

I was there. I saw it. I worked it.

B

Convince me that Obama is going to be a worse president than this goof ball.

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-36649.html

If I am following you correctly, you are saying that state and local governments dropped the ball on Katrina. No argument there, but how does their incompetence exonerate the federal government? IIRC, even George Bush said that the federal government screwed the pooch on Katrina. And plenty of people agreed with that assessment. For example: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/13/katrina.congress/index.html

And I just cited Iraq and Katrina as two examples of Bush administration incompetence. It wouldn't take long to assemble a list of other examples: Walter Reed Hospital; being constantly caught by surprise by developments around the world (North Korea, Venezuela, Israel); Medicare Part D; the firing of the US Attorneys; and I'm sure the list would go on and on.

I don't know what the phrase, "screwed the pooch" means, but I doubt that Bush said that.

the government is a huge enterprise. I have no doubt that with just a bit of patience one could produce a vast list of failures. Vast. this is one of the strongest reasons that I believe in a smaller government. Unlike Bush and other Democrats.

But it is beyond silly to lay them all on Bush directly. Are you always personally responsible for the all official actions of all of your employees?