Rahm: Ben Nelson The One Who Held Up Stimulus

The New Yorker:

Rahm Emanuel's office, which is no more than a three-second walk from the Oval Office, is as neat as a Marine barracks. On his desk, the files and documents, including leatherbound folders from the National Security Council, are precisely arranged, each one parallel with the desk's edge. During a visit hours before Congress passed President Barack Obama's stimulus package, on Friday, February 13th, I absently jostled one of Emanuel's heavy wooden letter trays a few degrees off kilter. He glared at me disapprovingly. Next to his computer monitor is a smaller screen that looks like a handheld G.P.S. device and tells Emanuel where the President and senior White House officials are at all times. Over all, the office suggests the workspace of someone who, in a more psychologized realm than the West Wing of the White House and with a less exacting job than that of the President's chief of staff, might be cited for "control issues."

Read the whole story: The New Yorker

Comments

[MJinCanada]

03:32 PM on 02/23/2009

When Emanuel was a teen-ager, he lost half of his right middle finger, after cutting it on a meat slicer—an accident, Obama once joked, that “rendered him practically mute.”

LOL!

I suspect the president likes to surround himself with smart but difficult people who can tear any problems down to their essential elements.

And I suspect Joe Biden's job is going to be Chief Soother of Hurt Feelings.

[Okieborn]

10:15 AM on 02/23/2009

No BS From Rahm , Tell It Like It Is , a Great "Philosophy" !!!

[IowaKid]

08:45 AM on 02/23/2009

My compliments to the artist on the cover picture. FINALLY a sataire that isn't controversaly.

[Marie62866]

08:15 AM on 02/23/2009

I love Rahm, he dosn't beat around the bush, he just says it like it is! I think more people need to be told to go F--k themselfs!

[SixMonkeysInFrench]

08:24 AM on 02/23/2009

Cheney said it to Leahy and the liberal press crucified him. I guess it's ok for a lib to say it though.

[SixMonkeysInFrench]

08:14 AM on 02/23/2009

Can't wait until he's deposed in the Blago matter.

[magibrotherhood]

10:44 AM on 02/23/2009

yeah---didn`t they used to be BFF???

[thecanadian]

06:29 AM on 02/23/2009

We Love You Rahm.

[skialethia]

02:35 AM on 02/23/2009

This man gives me an uneasy feeling. I would say he's dangerous, in a DickCheneysort of way. Actually worse: he's a combination of RoveandCheney.

[magibrotherhood]

10:43 AM on 02/23/2009

does he really hold dual-citizenship in I s ra el? If he does--THAT makes me nervous.

[MagisterLudi]

11:32 AM on 02/23/2009

Fact:"Rahm volunteered to serve in Israel's army during the first Gulf War of 1991 - rust-proofing brakes in northern military bases."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7702408.stm

Internet rumor:: Dual citizenship story.

[GeorgeP922]

01:54 AM on 02/23/2009

Worst pick of the Administration.

Single handedly this Hardcore Card carrying DLC operative has had his fingerprints on EVERY blunder so far.

From giving the finger for 3 months to all of Obama's volunteers (everyone in his staff has addressed us) to repeatedly embarrassing and humiliating Dr Howard Dean, to twisting Obama's arm to capitulation and appologies to Republican Congressmen.

I see him out of the administration in 2 years.

[Badger84]

01:28 AM on 02/23/2009

I love the guy. He is a great balance to President Obama's penchant for tact and diplomacy. You don't want to be on his bad side.

[dillydawg]

12:36 AM on 02/23/2009

He is a Potty Mouth Bad Boy but you gotta love him. There has to be a Good Cop Bad Cop in order to get things done.

[Badger84]

01:30 AM on 02/23/2009

The Dennis Leary of this administration.

[XME]

11:16 PM on 02/22/2009

Hey, sometimes OCD is a GOOD thing...I have no objection to a perfectionist in his job!

[magibrotherhood]

10:45 AM on 02/23/2009

except when they FREAK OUT when they don`t get their way.

[hubblee]

10:00 PM on 02/22/2009

The fact that Obama set his eyes on Rahm as his COS so early on says a lot about him. It shows that beyond his ideals he is also pragmatic, and that is such an important change after a deeply ideologic administration. I used to have faith that the most powerful and influential administration in the world to have the common sense to respect reality and make decisions based on the collective common goods, but after Bush, I know that is not a given and can't be taken for granted. Obama is doing the right thing surrounding himself with people who know how to navigate around the Washington.

[FebM]

09:51 PM on 02/22/2009

Go get them Rahm!

[GeorgeP922]

01:55 AM on 02/23/2009

Yea Rahm, Crush all the voulenteers and small donors you hate so much.

Wake up, Rahm has no interest in what YOU have to offer the party.

[yappnmutt]

09:27 PM on 02/22/2009

rahm is an executive secretary who happens to work for the president. what all the focus on him and nothing on much more important apparachiks.

[FessorFrink]

09:15 PM on 02/22/2009

Like him or not, he has a real tough personality. I don't like the bad relationship he has with Howard Dean at all. I do think that he is carrying out his President's orders, in his own way. We'll see how it turns out down the road if he can hold up this pace. Pretty good article, some I heard before. Lot of Chicago politics in this WH. Can be a double edge sword. So far much good has been done or initiated in a short time. Not perfect, but a real good start.

[guajiro]

11:36 PM on 02/22/2009

You're right. If it comes down to either Howard Dean or Rahm, I'm with Dean. Dean has proven to be a man with integrity, courage, and incredible patriotism. Dean had my vote years ago and he still does today.