Meet Obama's New Chief of Staff: Rahm Emmanuel

[elprincipe]

akuma587 said:

elprincipe said:
It's sad, although not unexpected, that a "post-partisan/bipartisan" President-elect Obama has chosen one of the most vicious partisan hacks in the House of Representatives as his chief of staff. What next, Barbara Boxer for EPA? Jim McDermott for Defense? Jim Moran for HUD? I can't wait to see what hypocrisy surfaces next, or on second thought maybe I can.

Policy-wise, Mr. Emanuel has fashioned himself as a "New Democrat" in the Clinton mold. He has long been an advocate of governing from the center, reaching across the aisle to seek consensus. As a Clinton adviser, he championed welfare reform and free trade. He's even called for a flatter, less progressive system of taxation. As a congressman, Mr. Emanuel supported the Bush administration's decision to remove Saddam Hussein, though he subsequently criticized the president's management of the war in Iraq.

So I asked Mr. Emanuel if the election of an unabashed liberal like Mr. Obama has made the New Democrat strategy obsolete. Perhaps what we witnessed on Tuesday means that liberalism is ascendant and the U.S. is no longer a center-right nation. "I think the country is incredibly pragmatic," he responded. "Pragmatic and progressive. But you still have to mix and match different approaches to reach your objectives. You have to be flexible."

Doesn't exactly look like he is your rank and file Congressman to me.

 

 

Not to be rude, but assuming all you know of Emanuel is what you read in the article, I know a lot more than you do.