The meaning of Rahm

It now appears that Rahm Emanuel has accepted the job of White House Chief of Staff in an Obama administration. The Chief of Staff is, in many ways, the second most powerful person in the White House after the president. Some will say that the appointment of the hyper-partisan Emanuel demonstrates that for all the talk of unity, this is going to be an aggressively political White House. But that misses the point: Emanuel is there to scare Democrats who try to over-reach rather than Republicans. What is true is that Emanuel reflects another side of Obama’s political character that is rarely seen in public, the aggressive fighter who knows how to throw an elbow. Washington will be a lonely place for any Democrat who crosses the Obama White House.

PS My magazine piece on the meaning of Obama’s election can be read here.