General

Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States next January.  Proclaiming a message of “hope” and “change” the articulate young Senator fresh from the Illinois state legislature captivated enough voters to claim an overwhelming electoral margin of victory, albeit a far slimmer popular vote margin than might have been anticipated. 

Campaign 2008 started and finished with an incumbent President with historically low approval ratings and a great deal of war weariness among the general public.  While the President took the blows for every real as well as perceived woe, the Teflon Democrat leadership on Capitol Hill escaped blame even though their approval ratings were but half of the President’s and they had failed to deliver on their 2006 campaign promises including to end the war.  

With the selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate and tremendous new found momentum coming out of the GOP national convention, John McCain had sudden new life and appeared truly viable.  But, when the economy went into free fall in mid-September, the writing was on the wall.  In far too typical myopic fashion, voters blamed the party in power – meaning the White House, not both chambers of Congress, nor the former President, politicians, and bureaucrats who implemented the failed policy that set the stage for the economic crisis.  “Change” was the order of the day, and Obama was the self-proclaimed anointed one to deliver. 

It remains to be seen how the most liberal voting member of the United States Senate actually governs.  Campaign promises and Presidential action tend to be two different things.  But, as Mort Kondrake observed, “It’s pretty clear that, under Obama, the size of government will grow. It will regulate more. It will spend more on health care, energy, education and infrastructure. And it will tax more. The question is: How much?”

In an exceptional feature in this issue including an audio narrative, Rich Sokol, contributing editor for A Line of Sight, does a great job of detailing how government has managed to grow for decades at an alarming pace far exceeding the rate of per capita growth in wealth.  If Obama’s plan is to put government growth on steroids, what’s the big change in that? 

In the first two weeks of the new Obama-nation we’ve gotten a look at what this change is going to look like.  Running as the anti-Clinton agent of change, Obama represented a new era to a Democrat party weary from the Bill-and-Hill soap opera legacy.  But, 3 of every 4 Obama-staffers to date have Clinton administration pedigrees and Hillary is vying to be Secretary of State. 

Most telling thus far is Obama’s choice for his Chief of Staff.  It was effective campaign strategy to kick around those undesirable Wall Street types who made millions while building the economic house of cards and then walked away with wallets bulging when everything crumbled.  Greed would have no place in Obama-nation!  Except, apparently, when selecting the President-elect’s new Chief-of-Staff, Rahm Emanuel. 

Emanuel served as Bill Clinton’s political adviser.  That’s a pretty hardcore position in any White House, but with the Clinton’s, the position came with brass knuckles.  Following his White House days, Emanuel took his credentials to the private sector where he managed to secure a seat on the Board of Directors of the now failed Freddie Mac as well as a hefty $16.2 million dollar salary as an “investment banker” for two years before winning his own Congressional seat in 2002 – and a spot on the House Financial Services Committee and later Ways and Means.   Although in a “safe” seat, Emanuel received massive campaign contributions from those despicable financial industry barons that Obama chastised from the campaign trail.  He also headed the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) and is credited as the architect of the 2006 majority take over in the House that elected Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. 

Emanuel has been described as a “profane, hyperactive attack dog…a political gangster.”   British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the White House in 1998 in the midst of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.  According to Time, as Mr. Clinton and the Prime Minister prepared for a joint public appearance, Emanuel cautioned Blair, “This is important.  Don’t f*** it up.”

At a dinner party following Bill Clinton’s 1992 victory, Emanuel famously recited a litany of those who had crossed him during the campaign, stabbing a knife into the table and shouting “dead, dead, dead” after each name.  A witness remarked  that, “It was like something out of The Godfather.” The man now in charge of daily operations of the White House, was once so angered by a pollster that he mailed him a dead fish – a not too subtle message.  Heralded by Democrats for his “take no prisoners” style, Emanuel will be the bad cop, the enforcer, in the Obama White House. 

John Podesta, Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton, is in charge of Obama’s transition team.  What names do you think are included in his rolodex?  And, Joe Biden has picked former Chief of Staff to Al Gore, Ron Klain, to fill the same roll for him.

Change is indeed coming to the White House – but, it is not the idyllic new era of bi-partisan harmony, peace, and understanding in a new White House Age of Aquarius.  It’s a third administration for the Clintonistas with a particular Chicago-style political gangster flair.  Body bags, not chamomile tea, will likely be a standard inventory item for this administration, and if someone from the White House staff offers to give you a ride – take a cab.