I don't personally know Rahm Emanuel. I know people who do know him. In their eyes, he's a piece of work. I suspect that he doesn't get too many holiday cards this time of year.
Yet, his type serves a function. President-elect Obama needed someone on his staff wise to the workings of the Washington.
In 1992, Bill Clinton ran as a centrist (I'm still waiting on that middle-class tax cut) but it wasn't long before he lost the initiative to his fellow Democrats in Congress -- Tom Foley the House Speaker and George Mitchell, the Senate majority leader. Obama doesn't want to be the tail of the dog -- even if it's wagging.
So you hire a guy like Emanuel to make sure that doesn't happen.
Unfortunately, a guy like him is like a launched nuclear missile. Once it's out of the silo, there's no stopping it.
So this is how I see his meeting with Rod Blagojevich went. He told the governor, that the President-elect endorsed the following candidates. That's all. There was no winking, nodding, or nudging. Blagojevich, as a good Democrat was going to follow orders. There was nothing to negotiate.
Unfortunately for Emanuel & Co., they underestimated Blagojevich. (Putin is probably taking notes now.) Caught on tape, hard boiled Chicago politics, doesn't look pretty.
But then again, it's not.
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