Obama Appoints Foul-Mouthed Abusive Hyper-Partisan Freddie Mac-Staffer Bully as Chief of Staff
Friday, November 7, 2008 at 02:26AM Way to keep it real, Barack.
In his first major cabinet appointment in what he promises will user in the fruits of hope and change, Barack Obama appointed RAHM EMANUEL, a Democrat U.S. congressman from (where else?) Chicago and one of the most volatile political partisans in DC today, to be the incoming administration’s Chief of Staff.
Republicans consider Obama’s choice “ironic” in the light of Obama’s pledge for bipartisanship.
Upset with a Democratic pollster during a long-ago congressional race, Emanuel mailed him a big dead fish. Outraged over what he regarded as disloyal Democrats during Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, he stunned dinner companions by rattling off names of the offenders, each time stabbing the restaurant table with a dinner knife and shouting, “Dead.”
Ever the loyalist, he learned better how to get along, while retaining his aggressive ways. A finger-jabber who’s been known to pinch men in the arm and leave a bruise, Emanuel took up residence in a closet-sized office. That didn’t diminish his mega-sized ego and thirst for the fight.
Emanuel’s fundraising skills helped keep Clinton’s campaign afloat during some rocky times, particularly the scandal over whether he’d slept with Gennifer Flowers.
Clinton made him his political director in the new administration but internal tensions led to his comeuppance a year later at the hands of Hillary Rodham Clinton, when he was demoted to a policy adviser.
One day shortly after the demotion, he summoned a reporter to his office, shut the door and berated him. Each sentence was laced with profanity. His face was tomato-red. He wagged his finger in the reporter’s face and yelled.
After several minutes, he suddenly stopped and shot out of his seat to fling open the door. Bowing with a wide, showy sweep of his hand — an exaggerated smile plastered on his face — Emanuel said loud enough for the women in the outer office to hear, “And, dear sir, the horse you rode in on.”
Unbelievable, but a quintessential leftist.
Even better, Emanuel made a bundle of money as a Freddie Mac board member in the Clinton administration… you know, the same Freddie Mac that helped cripple the country’s economy:
Midway through Clinton’s second term, Emanuel left for Chicago to work in investment banking. The firm he joined was soon sold and Emanuel made millions, giving him the financial security to get back into politics.
Clinton appointed Emanuel to mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s board, a post that paid him at least $292,774 in director’s fees, according to a financial disclosure report Emanuel filed in 2002 when he ran for Congress. Emanuel served on the board when Freddie Mac misstated its earnings by $5 billion for 2000-2002. When the problem was uncovered in 2003, three top Freddie Mac executives were forced out.
It was the Clinton administration’s coddling of Fannie and Freddie that led to the current mortgage crisis.
Emanuel once told then British PM Tony Blair not to “f*** up” a public appearance with the President during a White House visit in the Clinton administration.
Good Lord. I guess it’s too late to question Obama’s judgment, right?
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- Response: Hope and Change, Day OneIn his first step toward bringing change to Washington, President Elect Obama has apparently chosen Clinton retread Rahm Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff. Okay, not a lot of change there. But I’m sure it’s coming.And the choice of Emanuel...
Reader Comments (17)
Guess we rename DC, "Chicago-East"
J Rob Imagine my relief when neither mudkitty nor Snerd were the first to comment! Hello, my friends!
Amy Proctor I've got a lot to say about what's happening in this area but I want to see how things shake out in total before I say anything. I see a pattern here right now but it's not complete and I could be wrong. I don't see much HOPE and CHANGE in that appointment nor the others he's made so far: all Washington insiders. Not sure how he can accomplish the change he promised when all he's doing is setting up more of the same.
Wait a minute... wasn't that what he accused McCain of doing? Yet McCain was the one who reached outside of Washington for his running mate?
Don't worry about snerd or mudkitty. If they're too unruly, ban them. It might be a public blog as some have said in that guests are allowed to post but it's still yours by ownership and there's only so much obnoxious a person can take. In other words, just because you invited the guests in doesn't mean they can crap all over the "house" and expect to be allowed to stay. If the others want to complain about it, ban them, too.
However, it might get a little dull since the "opposition" can't seem to debate without the standard talking points, ad infinitum, ridicule, and name calling.
StephC Hmm, wasn't it President Bush who called a reporter a "major league a$$hole"?? Geez, I think it was...
Amy, who would YOU like to see as his Chief of Staff??
Angry Dem I follow you, Steph. I see it, too. We'll see how it pans out over the next two months.
I don't know Mr. Angry if Bush said that. Do you have a link or article? Maybe he was talking to Helen Thomas in which case I'd agree.
Amy Proctor Amy: "Imagine my relief when neither mudkitty nor Snerd were the first to comment! Hello, my friends!"
SG: Well fi(R)st things first ... It's not "My friends" it is actually "My Frienge".
And that's why I come here ... to experience the "frienge" elements, the rump of the (R) Party that will hopefully become the (R) majority. I wanta support y'all. If it's Sarah y'all want, I am 110% behind you, "My Frienge"!
Secondly ... What y'all seem to have missed about Obama was that it was more than the huge excited crowds he had. It was that he ran a near flawless campaign. That's no accident. Obama is nothing if not pragmatic. If y'all miss that point, then we got Obama for 8 years.
See the thing is Obama can 'multi-task' ... He can be inspirational and pragmatic. He's got as great ground game AND a great passing game TWO. So whinge away with your mono-dimensional complaints ... It seemed to have worked well for 'US' already ...
Snerd
Snerd Gronk Obama didn't run a flawless campaign nor did he "multitask" to the extent you seem to think. Obama can talk as long as somebody else writes the speeches and he can take the high road as long as everybody else covers him from his past. But that's neither here nor there.
You wanted him, you live with it. I'll be hunkering down to resist your future pity parties when it comes time for you to whine and moan about how he let you down.
Time for some Tough Love.
StephC StephD+: "... Wait a minute... wasn't that what he accused McCain of doing? Yet McCain was the one who reached outside of Washington for his running mate?"
SG: SEE! More proof Obama can multi-task AND be pragmatic all at the same time
StephD+: "... Time for some Tough Love."
SG: OK ... If you insist, 'cause on the left we are able to practice TL (Tuff Luv) and TLC
Steph ... You (R) being bitte(R), Bitte(R), BITTE(R). There are 5 stages in the GRIEF process; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. It is up to you to figure out your-own-self, but I figure you (R) in the Anger stage. This is a process, so go with it ...
I know I am presenting this with 'snark' in cheek, but there is HOPE ...! After all beyond political orientation, we are all human beings.
Snerd
Snerd Gronk Not only that...you better go turn on your TVs. Obama just picked Bill Ayers to be head of Homeland Security and Dr. Jack Kavorkian to be the head of the Health and Welfare Agency. And it's just now being announced that he's holding high level talks with Bin Laden, even before the inauguration, and wait...oh wait...Rev. Wright will replace the Franklin's as America's spiritual envoy. Jane Fonda will be Ambassador to France to give Bruni a run for her franc.
Obama's first act, as President Obama, will be to personally kill a baby.
Man, you guys were right about him all a long.
mudkitty 
Its the chicago gang. Anyway he is there to keep Dems in line and the Republicans in minority status. By the way, wasn't Rhambo the one who sat on the Mark Foley e-mails until they can be used to destroy the GOP?