A Little Uneasy

I insist on being fair to the new President. I want to judge his presidency only on policies he advocates or implements, not on his party. His first choice as President-elect, however, has me a little worried.

The new White House chief of staff - Rahm Emanuel.


Most of you have probably never heard of this guy before. I hadn't either, so I decided to do some research. I soon found out - Rahm Emanuel is insane. I'm surprised it's not clinically diagnosed yet.

Some examples of why (and I swear I am not making any of these up):
- He once mailed a dead fish to a co-worker he didn't like. For most people, this is not a normal reaction to a dislike for co-workers.
- He advocates mandatory 3-month military service for all Americans age 18 to 25.
- He has a 100% pro-choice voting record.
- After Clinton won the 1996 election, Emanuel was attending a celebratory dinner in the President's honor. He was upset with the enemies of the President, so he stood up, grabbed a steak knife, and began listing off names. After each name, he stabbed the knife into the table and shouted, "Dead!" This is the guy that is going to be advising our President.
- According to politico.com, his tenure as "boss" of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was filled with "all those f-bombs" and "threats to pulverize GOP incumbents." That's crossing the aisle.
- He regularly has tea with Osama bin Laden.
- That last one I may have made up.

To be fair, nobody is all bad, and neither is he. He has done good things. Some things to look forward to with the new President's advisor:
- Mandatory military service. I do look good in camouflage...
- He has played a good role in promoting peace in the Middle East.
- He is great at raising money
- I always wanted a dead fish mailed to me from the White House.
- He is a political strategy genius - when he was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, they gained 30 seats in the house. Even Illinois Republican Rep. Ray Lahood commented "He legitimately can be called the golden boy of the Democratic Party today. He recruited the right candidates, found the money and funded them, and provided issues for them. Rahm did what no one else could do in seven cycles."
- I bet if there were a dead fish in my mailbox, those punk kids would stop putting dog poop in there.

So things are getting interesting. A lot of people are complaining about Emanuel's appointment as chief of staff. They claim that Obama promised to be bipartisan and work with both sides, and then appointed someone insanely liberal to his cabinet. Once again, I reserve judgment until we see what he does. Some input from others:

Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner said, ""This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center."

Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant, "Barack Obama's first decision as president-elect undermines his promise to 'heal the divides'."

Lindsay Graham, republican Senator from South Carolina, "This is a wise choice by President-elect Obama. He's tough but fair -- honest, direct and candid."

Ken Duberstein, White House chief of staff under Reagan, said, "[Emanuel's] challenge will be, with the president, reaching out and building coalitions on the Hill, saying no to some of the president-elect’s most important constituencies... As partisan as Rahm may have been on the Hill, he’s all about governing.”

So it's only fair to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I'm still keeping an eye on him. And on my mailbox.