'Rahmbo' Sets Aside Partisan Image in Pursuit of Votes

As big ticket failures abound, Emanuel's practicality could have helped

(NEWSER) - From health care reform to unemployment to Guantanamo Bay, many Washington insiders think President Obama would be much better off today had he listened to his brash-but-practical chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Top staffers like David Axelrod have a “strong view of the historic character Obama is supposed to be,” a supporter tells the Washington Post . But Emanuel “knows the geography better,” and is willing to do “the small, marginal things a White House could do to mitigate the problems on the Hill.” More»

Jarrett poised to take over for chief of staff who can't make nice

(NEWSER) - Rahm Emanuel’s frustration with the legislative process may lead him out of the White House, but it's not clear whether the president's volatile chief of staff will jump or be pushed. Emanuel, a former congressman, has a famously explosive temper that isn't going over well in the West Wing. Insiders tell the New York Post 's Page Six that top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett is likely to succeed him. More»

(NEWSER) - Rahm Emanuel’s transformation from Congressman to White House chief of staff is almost complete, the Chicago Tribune reports. Emanuel sent a letter to Gov. Rod Blagojevich today stating his intention to resign his seat on Friday. Blagojevich has no power to appoint Emanuel’s successor; rather, he has 5 days to set a date for a special election, which must occur within 115 days of the creation of the vacancy. More»

Bill Daley says Congress won't let Obama be a chief executive

(NEWSER) - Roger Simon of Politico has an entertaining interview with White House chief of staff Bill Daley. Some highlights:

• How it's going: “It’s been a brutal three years. It’s been a very, very difficult three years, an incredible three years. And we are doing all this under the overhang of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. F--k! It wasn’t like all this was happening in good times."
• On 'we can't wait': "Both Democrats and Republicans have really made it very difficult for the president to be anything like a chief executive. This has led to a kind of frustration," and to the president's push for the executive branch to do as much as it can without Congress.

Profiles: He's a 'bare-knuckles' whip-cracker—and a disappointment to liberals

(NEWSER) - William Daley has terms like "longtime Democratic operative," "former Clinton secretary of commerce" and "Chicago political scion" thrown about him, but the New York Times takes a closer look at President Obama's new right-hand guy. He's “a bare-knuckles administrator ... someone who not only makes the trains run on time, he makes them run ahead of time,” says a veteran of the foundering Gore campaign Daley was called in to resuscitate. “He quickly brought order to the house. He held people accountable.” More»