CNN reports on a private meeting organized by White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, where 13 of his predecessors offered future Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel some bipartisan advice.
Vice President Dick Cheney had some blunt -- and humorous -- advice for incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel at a private breakfast earlier this month, CNN has learned.
"The best thing you can do is keep your VP under control," Cheney told Emanuel, according to three sources familiar with the White House meeting that had previously not been disclosed publicly.
One of the sources, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the private meeting, said the room broke up in laughter because of Cheney's reputation for being a hard-charging vice president.
Politico gives the full list of attendees: Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (Ford), Jack Watson (Carter), Howard Baker and Kenneth Duberstein (Reagan) John Sununu and Samuel Skinner (Bush 41), Mack McLarty, Leon Panetta, Erskine Bowles and John Podesta (Clinton) and Andy Card and Bolten (Bush).
Emanuel got tips on how to preserve his family life; was urged to keep in mind that the most important word in his title is "staff"; pushed to hire only the best and then give them Sundays off when possible; and reminded to be candid with the president (something, one former top aide said, would not be a problem with the outspoken and sometimes-profane Emanuel)
He might have been a former top aide himself in the Clinton administration, but Emanuel took "copious notes" the whole time, one participant recalled.
"There was a lot of camaraderie," recalled Emanuel. "This is a shared experience of just about a dozen people, and it was touching that Josh pulled it together and that so many could attend and wish me luck."