Rahm Emanuel a tough man for chief of staff! Obama's first pick speaks volumes as to Obama the President! The Republicans are coming!

Rahm Emanuel a tough man for chief of staff! Obama's first pick speaks volumes as to Obama the President!



Rep. Rahm Emanuel combines political instincts, White House experience and a Chicago tough-guy attitude — traits that he's likely to need as President-elect Barack Obama's new chief of staff. His combative style as political director in the early days of the Clinton administration earned him the nickname "Rahmbo," after the flame-throwing movie character Rambo. He didn't always produce results, though. Emanuel lost that job but stayed on as a senior adviser and oversaw some of Clinton's top initiatives, including NAFTA and an assault-weapons ban. Emanuel was elected to Congress in 2002 and quickly became a major power. He wound up overseeing the party's House election efforts in 2006 and won a majority for Democrats through tireless fundraising and candidate recruitment. Emanuel is now the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives as the Democratic Caucus Chair.

His start in politics came after college, when he worked for Paul Simon's 1984 Senate campaign and Richard Daley's run for Chicago mayor in 1989. Then he went to work for a little-known Arkansas governor who wanted to be president. Emanuel's fundraising skills are credited with helping keep Bill Clinton's campaign afloat during some rocky times, particularly sexual scandals. In 1999, Emanuel left the White House to work in investment banking in Chicago, where Obama also lives. The firm Emanuel joined was soon sold and Emanuel made millions, giving him the financial security to get back into politics. When he was tapped to oversee the 2006 congressional campaign effort, Emanuel led a record fundraising effort, bringing in far more money than four years earlier. The single biggest source of money was other members of Congress, which irritated some members who faced fierce pressure to contribute. Rahm Emanuel

ABC's Sunlen Miller Reports: Barack Obama has often said he'd consider putting Republicans in his cabinet and even bandied about names like Sens. Dick Lugar and Chuck Hagel. He's a added a new name to the list of possible Republicans cabinet members - Arnold Schwarzenegger. Obama regularly says he would look to Republicans to fill out his cabinet if he was elected, but at a town hall event in Manchester, N.H., he was pushed to name names. “It’s premature for me to start announcing my cabinet. I mean, I’m pretty confident. but I’m not all that confident. We still got a long way to go,” Obama said.

But then the GOP names started to flow. Sen. Dick Lugar: “He’s a Republicans who I worked with on issues of arms control, wonderful guy. He is somebody I think embodies the tradition of a bipartisan foreign policy that is sensible, that is not ideological, that is based on the idea that we have to have some humility and restraint in terms of our ability to project power around the world,” Obama said about his Senate colleague.

Sen. Chuck Hagel: “A Vietnam vet, similar approach and somebody I respect in a similar fashion,” Obama added. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: “What (he’s) doing on climate change in California is very important and significant. There are things I don't agree with him on, but he's taken leadership on a very difficult issue and we haven't seen that kind of leadership in Washington," Obama said of the California governor. Obama's BiPartisan cabinet

* We have one hell of a President elect in Obama and the whole world knows it! I feel like he was born for this role and he impresses me more every day. If we are to make it through this dire mess Bush has purposely created for our future we have the right man at the helm. Of course I wanted Gore but at this point I hope he has a role to play but I believe we have the right man at the helm to steer this ship we call America off the rocks of the world Bush has purposely steered her.

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com