The Emanuel pick

I gotta say I like the choice of Rahm Emanuel for Chief of Staff for a few reasons. First, Emanuel comes from the House and has mostly good relations there. That crowd knows him and has worked with him before. Indeed, a good many House members have Emanuel to thank for their seats, as he was the man that engineered the Dems 2006 takeover of the House so there is a fair amount of goodwill built into that relationship. Second, the dude is a very effective, hardnosed Chicago politician that will throw some elbows and step on toes if necessary. And in the climate into which President-elect Obama will take office, he will need someone that can crack some skulls in order to get legistation passed. Last but not least, it will irritate the hell out of GOP House members that cannot stand Rahm for reasons 1 and 2.