Follow BeltwayBlips on Twitter
Is Rahm Emanuel Right for Obama's White House of Change?
David Corn —
... , it's hard to depict Representative Rahm Emanuel, who has been picked by President-elect Barack Obama to be his White House chief of staff, as an agent of change. After all, Emanuel has been a Washington player for years and, perhaps more important, a leading New Democrat, who, when he served in the Clinton White House, advocated small, modest policy measures over sweeping change. Ezra Klein is also ambivalent about the Rahmization of the Obama White House. ...
11/6: Sticking By Sarah
Blogometer —
November 06, 2008 11/6: Sticking By Sarah Bloggers on the left and right continue to debate the ideological implications of Barack Obama 's victory. Liberal bloggers believe that Obama's win -- along with the increased Dem majorities in the House and Senate -- gives Dems a clear mandate ...
Rahm: Good or Bad?
Real Clear Politics - TIME.com —
Senator Lindsey Graham - of all people - praises the choice of Rahm Emanuel for Chief of Staff. Conservative Pete Wehner does not. Liberal Ezra Klein has mixed feelings. Another liberal, David Corn , says the choice could send the wrong signal. Yuval Levin at National Review calls the choice "extremely disconcerting." Personally, I respect Rahm's political skills even if his style might be off putting to some. And make no mistake about it: he is a vicious partisan, though not necessarily an ideologue. But the position he's accepted isn't about style or even necessarily about partisanship. It requires being effective, efficient, and keeping ...
What the Rahm Emanuel selection means
The Next Right —
Obama's selection of Rahm Emanuel to be Chief of Staff sends a very important signal about what we can expect from an Obama administration. Powerline's Paul Mirengoff is absolutely correct that the "combination of ability to knock heads and aknowledge of Congress [is] an excellent combination", and Ezra Klein gets close to the real meaning of this selection here...
Emanuel is a brawler. He's legendarily tough and effective and ruthless. Hes the type of guy who makes enemies, then makes lists of his enemies, then makes lists of his enemies' friends, then makes lists of how they'll pay. If you thought the Obama administration ...
Obama names Rahm Emanuel his chief of staff. So what does it mean?
The Reaction —
By Michael J.W. Stickings Clintonite and Congressman Rahm Emanuel has accepted Obama's offer to be his chief of staff. Like David Corn and Ezra Klein, I'm ambivalent about it. On the one hand, Emanuel hasn't exactly been an ally of the liberal-progressive elements in the Democratic Party. On the other hand, he's a tough, hard-nosed insider and aggressive partisan with White House experience. So what does his appointment mean? What does it signal with respect to the Obama presidency? -- Is Obama signalling that he prefers centrist Clintonism to progressivism, that ...
Rahm Emanuel is So Very Different From Tom Delay... Not!
DownWithTyranny! —
... few years back I joined an online political discussion group. One of my first comments was that Rahm Emanuel was exactly the same as Tom Delay. OMG! I could have been at Daily Kos for the explosion of vitriol that ensued. And of course they're not exactly the same. Delay is a fat little slob and Emanuel is a wiry worm. And Delay was the black hat in the Evil Party. Emanuel is the black hat in the less evil party. Otherwise... exactly the same. I don't have mixed feelings on Emanuel. Many, even among progressives give him ...
