Obama Camp Likes Emanuel for Chief of Staff

President-elect expected to move 'quickly, but not hastily' to fill top jobs

(NEWSER) - The president-elect has offered the job of White House chief of staff to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Jake Tapper reports this morning. Emanuel, who Tapper calls a "sharp-tongued, sharp-elbowed, keenly intelligent veteran of the Clinton White House," hasn't given his answer, Tapper's source says. Meanwhile, campaign insiders tell the Washington Post that Cabinet announcements are expected to start trickling out as soon as next week. More»

Democrats hoping for 'new New Deal,' but financial crisis will be drag on any efforts

(NEWSER) - Up big in the polls with Election Day fast approaching, “a lot of people around Barack are reading books about FDR’s first 100 days,” one Obama insider tells New York. Aides have gone beyond simply planning his White House transition; they’ve drafted a book-length administration blueprint, complete with day-one, day-100, and year-one goals, and agency-by-agency agendas—with avoiding Bill Clinton-type drama a key goal. More»

Obama's 2008 effort gives party an edge in 2010 Senate races

(NEWSER) - Senate Democrats have a silver lining heading into the 2010 election: their party’s made huge gains in voter registration. The last time this crop of senators was on the ballot was 2004, when George W. Bush’s field operation, then the most sophisticated ever, was registering hordes of Republicans. But Barack Obama’s 2008 effort “made the 2004 Republican model look antiquated,” writes Tom Schaller on FiveThirtyEight.com . More»

Face of Iraq surge disappears in Afghanistan debate

(NEWSER) - By the end of George W. Bush's second term David Petraeus was the country's most famous military man, carpeting the media with interviews and pressing the flesh on Capitol Hill. The general who personified the Iraq troop surge is still around, and spoke up in strategy sessions with Barack Obama this week, but Petraeus has taken a back seat to Stanley McChrystal and rarely makes public statements. Petraeus' advisers, speaking anonymously to the New York Times, are now calling him "Dave the Dull." More»

(NEWSER) - Rahm Emanuel is emerging as the most powerful chief of staff in decades, affecting policy as often as he terrorizes White House staff with expletive-ridden tirades, the New York Times reports. But that means it's Emanuel's job, and reputation, that's at risk if President Obama fails to reform health care and untangle two wars. "He’s about to be tested," says a friend. "He’s spinning a lot of plates over there and he breaks a lot of china." More»