Rahm and Pride

That President-elect Obama made his first important appointment a hard-nosed former Clintonista insider from Chicago famed for his salty language and sharp partisan elbows has voices left and right highly-pitched in protest.

"Foul," cry progressive bloggers who convinced themselves that Obama would undertake a vast progressive agenda and see Rahm Emanuel's centrist Democratic past as an impediment to the big leftward swing and his insider status as an abandonment of the big "change" meme. "Hypocrite," screeched right-wingers attempting to throw Obama's healing message of bipartisanship back in his face by referring to Emanuel's taste for political warfare.

Both complaints miss the point.

For one, Obama does not come to the Presidency borne upon a platform of greater liberalism; he's a fairly conventional center-left politician in terms of policy. He rises on a rare combination of temperament and talent and judgment, not ideology. Many liberals admired the former and somehow intuited the latter, based upon nothing but their own hopes and dreams. Obama is a progressive, but he lives around the center. His choice of Rahmbo as chief of staff is clearly aimed not at Emanuel's own centrist political ideals, but at his ability to get things done.

And that means getting things done on Capitol Hill - and not by changing the minds of Republicans, but by keeping Democrats in line. Rahm Emanuel's job is not to turn red state reps blue, but to whip the Democrats into a tightly-disciplined tool of Obama's center-left policy. To put it bluntly, his job is put some spine in Reid and Pelosi on President Obama's behalf - and to punish Democrats who wander from the Obama reservation. Let's be honest: this Democratic congress has not distinguished itself and seems to lack any sort of rudder in the economic storm.

Finally, Emanuel's personal ideas about policy don't necessarily matter: his job is to execute Obama's agenda, period. His insider knowledge is incredibly helpful; he knows how to run the Hill. That he gave up a run at the Speaker's chair to do so reveals just how important he believes the start of the Obama Administration really is.

Presidents get a few months to own a big agenda and push through the large domestic initiatives. Obama has ticketed (publicly) a short list of those priorities: health care reform, green economy development, tax reform, and economic stimulus. If he gets all four, that's change right there. Big change.

If Rahm Emanuel has to break a few congressional heads to get it done on behalf of President Obama, well - that's the Chicago way.

And I'm all for it.

Comments

[haelig]

I completely agree: As a skeptic of the Obama campaign, this is the first heartening sign I've seen that he might just get something done. If Obama's supporters had paused in their rapturous praises to actually look at his record, they would have immediately seen that he's a centrist through and through--just as much, if not more, than the Clintons and certainly in line with Rahm Emanuel.

Hiring a pitbull like Emanuel doesn't necessary mean that he's abandoning the progressive cause--on the contrary, I think it means that he won't be bulldozed by Republicans nor cowardly Blue Dog Democrats when trying to pass Democratic legislation. Truly, it's a relief to see that he's actually observed the failures of Democrats over the last 8 years and understands that "bipartisanship" with this gang means that we have to be prepared dig in and fight back.

[Dennis Perrin]

Oh, to be in a Gaza camp today. Imagine their excitement with this appointment!

[Neil M]

It's funny; whenever Obama uses soaring rhetoric, he's criticized for a lack of specificity. When he makes policy speeches, some complain they weren't inspired. In the primary, he was accused of not being tough enough. When he won the primary, he became a dirty-fighting Chicago politician. Clearly, he's going to get slammed no matter what he does, so in my view it's better to get slammed for trying to be effective than for trying to please everyone (which is hardly possible). If Rahm Emmanuel, the ballet-dancing, dead-fish-sending little Napolean, is what it takes to get an Obama agenda implemented, I say faster pussycat, kill kill!

[Susie]

"Hiring a pitbull like Emanuel doesn't necessary mean that he's abandoning the progressive cause--on the contrary, I think it means that he won't be bulldozed by Republicans nor cowardly Blue Dog Democrats when trying to pass Democratic legislation. "

The congresspeople he'll be bulldozing are at least as likely to be liberals as Blue Dogs. (I doubt he'll have to bother himself much with the Republicans.) As even his most fervent supporters don't seem to be terribly clear on what Obama will do, I guess we'll all just have to wait in suspense.

Let's hope it all works out, for the country's sake.

[Susie]

I would also add that it isn't the job of Congress to follow with docility every command of the Dear Leader, even if for the next four years the DL happens to be someone we support. It may the job of Congressional Democrats, if they are doing it properly, to wander off Obama's reservation from time to time. Obama will not be a rubber stamp for Reid and Pelosi, and I would assume and hope that the reverse is also true.

[lly]

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[Neil M]

"As even his most fervent supporters don't seem to be terribly clear on what Obama will do, I guess we'll all just have to wait in suspense."

I'm pretty clear, Susie, and if you want to be clear as well, you can visit Obama's Web site and find out. Or you can listen to the debates. Or you can read the papers. Or use Google News. But if all of that is just too daunting, then I guess you will have to "wait in suspense."

[Susie]

"Oh, to be in a Gaza camp today. Imagine their excitement with this appointment!"

The best they can hope for, I suspect, is that the peace process for want of a better term will start up again (yes,I know, but something is better than nothing, with a president who's not a lame duck, and perhaps their condition will be ameliorated somewhat).

[ronny]

Rahm won't be able to stop the Islamofascists from destroying the State of Israel.

Pro-death Obambo will appease the terrorists every step of the way. As a secret muslim, his allegiance is NOT to AMERICA! Remember, his false religion allows him to LIE about his true beliefs!

Electing Palin in 2012 may be our only hope.

[Neil M]

Hey Ronny, I think you meant to post on Redstate.com.

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