Rahm Emanuel Approached By Obama To Be Chief Of Staff

Associated Press is reporting tonight that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) has been approached by the Obama campaign to serve as his White House chief of staff.

Rahm Emanuel represents a district centered around Chicago Northwest Side. He had small shoes to fill when he succeeded Rod Blagojevich--who moved on the governor--and federal investigations.

Emanuel served in the Clinton administration, and Rahm was known as "that Clinton guy" in 2002. It looked like he would lose to popular state legislator Nancy Kaczak when some goof, albeit a prominent one, said that Emaunuel once served in the Israeli Defense Force and held dual American-Israeli citizenship. Neither were true.

That obnoxious gaffe wounded Kaczak, but it probably would not have been a fatal blow. Enter Mayor Richard M. Daley, who dispatched his head of the Chicago water department to send a bunch of patronage workers to the Northwest Side to put "that Clinton guy" over the top. Chicago Tribune columnist refers to the congressman as Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak).

Rahm Emanuel raised money for Daley, a lot of it, for Daley in his first run for mayor in 1989, and Emanuel in turn came to Daley's defense as dozens of city workers faced bribery charges as a result of the US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's Hired Truck investigations.

It's the Chicago Way.

Part of Fitzgerald's catch was Don Tomczak. He's in prison now, and won't be part of an Obama administration. Unless Tomczak's prison makes drapes.

Reported by Marathon Pundit.

Rahm Emanuel Biography from his house.gov webpage.

Rahm Emanuel, 48, is a leader in Congress committed to addressing the challenges facing families across the nation. Since taking the oath of office in 2003, he has been a strong, effective voice for Chicago in Congress.

At the beginning of his second term, Emanuel received an assignment to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees taxes, trade, Social Security, and Medicare issues. Additionally, Emanuel was appointed by then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to serve as Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Under his leadership, the DCCC expanded the Democratic Party’s reach in every region of the country. Democrats gained 30 seats in the House and ushered in a new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

In January of 2007, the new majority elected Emanuel to serve as Democratic Caucus Chair, the 4th highest ranking Member of the House Democratic Leadership.

As Chair, Emanuel led the Democratic Caucus in fulfilling its campaign promise to pass legislation reflecting the values and priorities of the American people. In the first 100 legislative hours, Democrats passed sweeping ethics reform, strengthened our national security, increased minimum wage, expanded stem cell research, lowered the cost of prescription drugs, cut interest rates on student loans, and ended the subsidies for the oil industry.

Emanuel began his career with the consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action. He worked on Paul Simon’s 1984 election to the U.S. Senate and in 1989 served as a senior advisor and chief fundraiser for Richard M. Daley. Emanuel served as a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton. After leaving the White House, Emanuel returned to Chicago to serve as a managing director at a leading global investment bank.

Rahm Emanuel graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981, and received a Master’s Degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. He is a resident of Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood where he and his wife are raising three children.

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