Obama’s choice of Emanuel, Podesta shows switch in tone
CHICAGO - Barack Obama is signaling a shift in tactics and temperament as he moves from candidate to president-elect, picking sharp-elbowed Washington insiders for top posts.
His choice Thursday for White House chief of staff - Rahm Emanuel, a fiery partisan who doesn’t mind breaking glass and hurting feelings - is a significant departure from the soft-spoken, low-key aides that “No-Drama Obama” has surrounded himself with during his campaign. And transition chief John Podesta, like Emanuel, is a former top aide to President Bill Clinton and a tough partisan infighter, though less bombastic than the new chief of staff.
The selections are telling for Obama, who campaigned as a nontraditional, almost “post-partisan” newcomer. People close to him say the selections show that Obama is aware of his weaknesses as well as his strengths and knows what he needs to be successful as he shifts from campaigning to governing.
In contrast to Obama’s collegial style and that of his top campaign advisers, Emanuel is known as a foul-mouthed practitioner of brass-knuckled politics who relishes both conflict and publicity. He once mailed a dead fish to a political foe.
House Republican leader John Boehner, however, called his appointment an “ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center.”