Presidential Transition

Documents & Texts from America.gov

06 November 2008
Illinois Congressman Is Obama's First White House Appointment

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

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Washington — Less than 48 hours after his election victory, President-elect Barack Obama made one of the most crucial personnel selections for his White House by asking Illinois Democratic Representative Rahm Emanuel to serve as White House chief of staff.

According to a Democratic Party official, Emanuel accepted the position November 6, even though it will require him to give up his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As chief of staff, Emanuel will be serving in a position that has been described as the gatekeeper to the president, and the second-most-powerful post in Washington. The role of the chief of staff changes with every administration, but it entails both the day-to-day management of White House personnel and serving as one of the president’s closest advisers. Emanuel also will spend much of his time promoting the president’s agenda with congressional leaders and members of the president’s Cabinet.

Former chief of staff John Podesta, who served under President Clinton from 1998 until the end of Clinton’s administration in 2001, described his job as “sort of an enforcer.” The chief of staff is “the guy who has to tell the president when things are bad, deliver the bad news,” he told PBS’ NewsHour program in a March 28, 2006, interview.

“He has to be a person who looks at the facts and says, ‘You know, Mr. President, it's not easy to tell you this, but here's the way it really is.’ And I think he needs to be able to have a firm hand with the entire Cabinet, including the foreign policy members of that Cabinet,” Podesta said.

Along with being a close presidential confident, the chief of staff usually is given free reign to hire and fire White House staff members and to set the agenda and schedule for the White House’s daily operations. During the weeks of the political transition, he probably also will be making recommendations on nominations to the Cabinet.

The chief of staff job is notoriously strenuous, and it is normal for a president to have more than one chief of staff during a four-year term. Professional burnout is a risk, and the chief can be blamed for internal staff disagreements and poor communications or organization. Sometimes a president appoints a new chief of staff simply to shake up and re-energize the White House.

Emanuel, 48, first was elected to the House of Representatives in 2002. He began his public career with the consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action and then worked on Paul Simon’s 1984 Senate campaign.

Emanuel has White House experience as assistant to the president for political affairs and then senior adviser to the president for policy and strategy during the Clinton administration. He also brings congressional leadership experience: He was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that helped elect a Democratic congressional majority in 2006 and subsequently was elected chairman of the Democratic House Caucus.

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