Rahmbo, Chief of Staff

- Pitbull Rahm Israel Emanuel, born 1959 (D-IL.), President-Elect Obama’s choice for his cabinet and White House Chief of Staff in the Obama Administration. And present Democratic Member of the House of Representatives since 2003. He represents Illinois in the 5th Congressional District, which is the far north side of Chicago and some Cook County suburbs. Emanuel with David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign chief strategist, now will also be a part of the Obama Cabinet as a chief adviser. Both men and several others are part of what the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES refers to as the WINDY CITY WHITE HOUSE as a number of Chicagoans will fill Cabinet positions. Rahm’s nickname of Rahmbo (Rambo) certainly predates poor jealous conservative radio personality; Rush Limbaugh’s calling the group of Emanuel and others including President-Elect Barack Obama, “a bunch of Chicago thugs!” Referring to Emanuel specifically to an incident where Rahm Emanuel working in Little Rock, Arkansas as a Clinton fund-raiser at restaurant, stood-up and stabbed the dining table with a steak knife every time he named a Democratic traitor to their agenda and after each stabbing he yelled with verbal punctuation, “DEAD…DEAD…DEAD…!” Another incidence that bolsters the nickname is in 1988, Emanuel sends a 2-1/2 foot dead fish, “Luca Brazzi-style in the movie “The Godfather”, to a pollster with a note reading: “It’s been awful working with you.” In 1977 as a teenager working at Arby’s Emanuel cut his middle finger and never went to a doctor even though his father is a doctor, and the finger was badly infected and had to eventually be partially amputated. Then at a dinner in 2007, Rahm made this joke, “Of all the fingers to lose! Now I can’t express myself!” However it is said that the word fu_ _ is his favorite verbal expression. But also the Rahmbo mystique and nickname tells of his strong, brassy convictions, determination and loyalty. His strong pro-Israel position has stirred protests among Palestinians since his appointment by Obama as Chief of Staff. And in 2003 was an Iraq War supporter too.

Emanuel in Congress was in line to become Nancy Pelosi’s future successor as the next speaker of the House, the first Jewish/American Speaker of the House. And as the chief architect of the 2006 Congressional campaign, leads Democrats back into the majority of the U.S. House and making Nancy Pelosi the first female Speaker. Emanuel was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2006 elections, after the Democratic Party regained control of the House, he was elected as the next chairman of the Democratic Caucus. He is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader Steny Hoyer and Whip Jim Clyburn. Elected Democratic Caucus Chair faced with the daunting and publicly choosing between Bill Clinton’s wife, Hillary and his Illinois colleague Barack Obama for the Democratic nominee, Emanuel says, “I’m hiding under the desk.” He has a reputation of “take no prisoners” in his political style and is known for his fund-raising abilities, humor and expertise as too with his appointment to the previous Clinton Administration as a senior advisor. He is also a member of the “New Democrat Coalition,” and a central proponent of neo-liberal economic policies in his capacity as an advisor during the Clinton administration and co-author in the 2006 book “The Plan: Big Ideas for America.”

Before the Congress and after his work with the Clinton Administration serving as a senior advisor to Bill Clinton, in 1998 Emanuel left the White House to become an investment banker, where he worked until 2002. In 1999, he became a managing director at a firm’s Chicago office. Emanuel made $16.2 million in his two-and-a-half-year stint as a banker. Emanuel was also named to the Board of Directors for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") by then President Bill Clinton in 2000. Emanuel resigned from the board in 2001 when he ran for congress.

To wrap up the first major decision by President-Elect, Barack Obama, in this historic Presidency, with Emanuel, Obama gets an enforcer, a bad cop who loves the f-word; with a unique resume no one in America can match. A mastermind and a brilliant political strategist not unlike a modern-day Machiavelli. Mayor Daley says of Emanuel, “He’s unbelievably loyal and tough!” And “No one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel,” said President-Elect Barack Obama. That is why he is the Chief of Staff. Obama has already proven to his previous Democratic debate critics and to the world his leadership and good judgment. Emanuel, “taking no prisoners” will enforce Obama’s agenda with loyalty and the ability to build bridges, though some may say, “he’ll blow them up,” don’t understand that America has no more time left for games, only results!