First Moves

President-elect Obama has made his frist couple of moves. First he picked Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief Of Staff. Emanuel has a reputation as hard nosed, partisan, and for being an asshole. Many people are expressing concerns and doubts about this pick. They think he breaks Obama's promise of being post partisan. I call shenanigans on these critics. Emanuel may be all those things but he is exactly the kind of man (or woman) one wants to run the show. Obama needs someone with Rahm's skill set to enact his agenda.

For me the bigger concern is naming David Axelrod as a senior White House adviser. I'm not a real presidential historian but I suspect every president has had a political adviser on their White House staff. Most famously of late is Karl Rove and that is where the concern comes in. As president, Obama is a politician and he needs advice from that front. The concern is how much influence (think veto power) the political advisers will have. For now I'm reserving judgment on Axelrod's appointment but it does make me raise an eyebrow.