WAS HE APPOINTED TO THE PRESS SECRETARY JOB?:

Rahm Emanuel, Press Tamer: What to expect as Clinton's enforcer becomes Obama's chief of staff. (Jack Shafer, Nov. 6, 2008, Slate)

Writing in Slate in 1996, Jacob Weisberg described Emanuel as perhaps "the [Clinton] administration's most diabolically effective tactician" and credited him as being "largely responsible for moving the Clinton campaign beyond mere 'rapid response' to pre-emptive strikes—engineering, for instance, Clinton's endorsement by the Fraternal Order of Police on the day Bob Dole was set to launch a major attack on the president's crime record."

Bumiller writes that after Clinton won in 1992, his advisers, including Emanuel, met at Doe's Eat Place to discuss taking revenge on journalists (and others) who had wronged the during the campaign. Even so, Emanuel appears to be a proud member of the "F*** you—let's go to lunch" school of press management. William Safire, who called Hillary Clinton "a congenital liar" in 1996, may have earned White House enemy status, but to Emanuel, the columnist was "Uncle Bill," Kurtz writes, and Emanuel "even had Safire over for dinner." Michael Kelly of the New Republic won a lunch date with Emanuel for calling Clinton "a shocking liar," "occasional demagogue," and worse. (Note to White House reporters: For a face-to-face with Emanuel, write the most scathing thing you can about Obama.)

Emanuel games everybody and everything, so the press shouldn't take it personally—and it won't. In fact, as I write, the White House press corps is doing whippits in celebration of his appointment. The Obama campaign famously kept the press at arm's length. Emanuel, on the other hand, can't shut up. (Whose fault do you think it is that the whole world knew for days that Emanuel had been offered the chief of staff job but couldn't make up his mind?)

The Obama campaign provided the press with no internal drama, forcing reporters to intuit the real agenda. Emanuel, on the other hand, is a drama queen; seething, foaming Mamet production; a big mouth; and a calculating mensch who loves nothing more than to stoke the feed bag for press-corps noshers.

Okay, so it's a good appointment for the Right--because Mr. Emmanuel is a New Democrat--it's a good appointment for Israel--where Mr. Emmanuel volunteered during Gulf I--and it's a good appointment for the press--because he'll leak like Dick Darman. But is it a good appointment for Barack Obama and the country generally? It doesn't seem to be.

MORE:
How To Run A White House: A Bush chief of staff offers advice for Obama (Katie Paul, 11/06/08, NEWSWEEK)

NEWSWEEK caught up with President Bush's first White House chief of staff, Andy Card—who might be characterized as Emanuel's temperamental opposite—to get his insights into the trials and tribulations of the job. Card took his share of lumps, but he lasted longer than all but one other White House chief of staff.

NEWSWEEK: Does the chief of staff need to have the thickest skin in Washington?

Andy Card: Yes. You have to have a steely resolve, thick skin, a velvet glove, a listening ear—and you have to be decisive. There will be scores of people clamoring for your attention on any given day; probably about 20 to 30 in the White House, another 20 to 30 members of Congress. And in terms of the media—well, they're insatiable, so I would take my direction from the press secretary. Probably about 10 percent of the cabinet on any given day is scratching at your door. Develop some priorities and delegate, because it's a grueling job, a 24/7 job. I think [current chief of staff] Josh Bolten does a better job at it than I did.

What's the single most important aspect of the job to get right?

Earn and keep the trust of the president. Those are two different statements. Don't talk about things you shouldn't be talking about, beyond what the president tells you. Remember that you're serving the president and the First Lady, not a constituency. You're not only there to help the president do his job, but you are also responsible for protecting the institution of the presidency—and sometimes, those will appear to be in conflict.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 6, 2008 9:12 PM