Chicago Sun-Times praises Obama's pick of an "enforcer" for Chief of Staff

[Manedwolf]

But what does hiring Rahmbo now say about Obama?

It says that the incoming president's message may be delivered with a velvet glove but it covers an iron hand. That the organization he has created, relentless in its message control, ruthless in rebuking those who challenge it -- just ask WGN Radio's Milt Rosenberg -- brings Rahm Emanuel to the dance because consensus goes only so far, civility has distinct limits, and time is fast running out to staunch the bleeding of this country's profound crises.

Oh, really?

If he pushes, if he thinks "civility has limits", and that he can shove America and America won't respond with a political punch in the jaw, Rahm, a guy whom even his own supporters gleefully admit is a complete ___hole, is going to have a sudden and rude realization that not every American rolls over so easily as his Chicago serfs.

I eagerly look forward to the first time he counsels Obama to use his own "Because I said so, and you'll do it, little people" style...the backlash that will result.

Hiring Emanuel shows Obama's hand
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November 8, 2008

BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist
If you hire a shark, does that make you a shark? If you send in an enforcer, are you, de facto, an enforcer, too?

President-elect Barack Obama, practitioner of consensus and preacher of civility, made a singular statement by choosing Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, the first hire of the new administration.

"Brilliant, hardworking, in some ways he may be a good yin to Obama's yang. But I was very surprised because he has a very different personality type from those around Obama," longtime Chicago political consultant Kitty Kurth said by phone Thursday.

"I had first met Rahm after the '88 presidential campaign, on Mayor Daley's '89 mayoral race. He was always brilliant but a complete hardball player. The first six or seven times I met him, he never remembered who I was. . . . I never had anything he needed, so he didn't need to know who I was."

There are a million stories about the 49-year-old, profane, pirouetting, ballet-trained Emanuel.

Whether it's ripping up contributions of political donors who lacked the good survival sense to write a bigger check, or mailing a dead fish to express his extreme displeasure or repeatedly stabbing a steak knife into a table to punctuate a list of Democratic politicians he was putting on a "dead" list, Rahm Emanuel mastered hardball long before Chris Matthews peddled it on TV.

Would Emanuel be displeased by the above description?

Nope. He revels in the legend.

But he's nobody's caricature, either.

Friends from childhood include Wendy Cohen, a senior policy adviser for the Illinois attorney general, who remembers when the Emanuel clan bought the house across the street in the affluent suburb of Wilmette in the late 1960s.

"I have a memory of when they moved in, the dog ran away and the three boys" -- Rahm, Ari and Ezekiel -- fanned out like "roadrunners . . . feudal lords . . . they were loud and warm with hearts of gold," Cohen said.

That kind of affection may not be shared by members of Congress, Republican or Democrat, who have felt Emanuel's razor-sharp elbows in their ribs.

That kind of trust may not exist in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago after they saw how Emanuel reacted to their indictment of Donald Tomczak, a boss hog of the city's Water Department. It was Tomczak, under orders from higher-ups in Mayor Daley's office, who dispatched an army of city patronage workers to guarantee Emanuel would win his first political race in 2002 for Congress. It was a close race and their help sealed the deal.

Emanuel, whose grasp of detail is second to none, condemned the corruption when the indictment was announced but improbably claimed to be clueless and even more improbably certified that Daley couldn't possibly have known, either.

As much as he understands the "old politics," Rahm Emanuel is a standard bearer of the "new." Responsible for engineering the current Democratic majority in Congress, Emanuel is so feared and respected that he amazingly was given a dispensation by his colleagues for "hiding under the desk" during the primary, endorsing neither of his friends, Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama.

"That speaks volumes about his political skills," said Illinois state Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg, who has known him for years.

But what does hiring Rahmbo now say about Obama?

It says that the incoming president's message may be delivered with a velvet glove but it covers an iron hand. That the organization he has created, relentless in its message control, ruthless in rebuking those who challenge it -- just ask WGN Radio's Milt Rosenberg -- brings Rahm Emanuel to the dance because consensus goes only so far, civility has distinct limits, and time is fast running out to staunch the bleeding of this country's profound crises.

If you hire an enforcer, are you, de facto, an enforcer, too? Yes.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/1268391,CST-EDT-carol09.article

[longeyes]

from Wikipedia:


Lucius Aelius Sejanus

20 BC – 31


Roman As depicting Tiberius, struck in 31, Augusta Bilbilis. The reverse reads Augusta Bilbilis Ti(berius) Caesare L(ucius) Aelio Seiano, marking the consulship of Sejanus in that year.

Place of birth
Volsinii, Etruria

Place of death
Rome

Allegiance
Roman Empire

Years of service
14 BC – 31

Rank
Praetorian prefect

Commands held
Praetorian Guard

Other work
Consul of the Roman Empire in 31


Lucius Aelius Seianus (20 BC – October 18, 31 AD), commonly known as Sejanus, was an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. An equestrian by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Roman imperial bodyguard, known as the Praetorian Guard, of which he was commander from 14 AD until his death in 31.


While the Praetorian Guard was formally established under emperor Augustus, Sejanus introduced a number of reforms which saw the unit evolve beyond a mere bodyguard into a powerful and influential branch of the government involved in public security, civil administration, and ultimately political intercession; changes which would have a lasting impact on the course of the Principate.


During the 20s, Sejanus gradually accumulated power by consolidating his influence over Tiberius and eliminating potential political opponents, including the emperor's son, Julius Caesar Drusus. When Tiberius withdrew to Capri in 26, Sejanus was left in control of the entire state mechanism as de facto ruler of the empire. For a time the most influential and feared citizen of Rome, Sejanus suddenly fell from power the same year his career culminated with the consulship in 31. Amidst suspicions of conspiracy against the emperor, Sejanus was arrested and executed, along with his followers.

[agricola]

 

[longeyes]

My favorite tv series of all time.  Patrick Stewart was great in that part, long before he left Rome for outer space.

Now if Obama is Tiberius, who in heck is Caligula...?