Mr. Rahm Emanuel
[The Australian, 9th September 2010] - AN undeclared contest for the second-most powerful job in Washington began in earnest yesterday after President Obama gave his approval for his Chief of Staff to pursue his quest to become the next mayor of Chicago.
Rahm Emanuel has almost three months to declare his candidacy but Washington is already rife with speculation as to who might take over his cramped West Wing office, gruelling schedule and unparalleled influence over the image and agenda of the President.
Two veteran Democratic operatives considered front-runners to succeed him are Tom Donilon, the Deputy National Security Adviser, and Ron Klain, Chief of Staff to the Vice-President, Joe Biden.
Others in the frame include Valerie Jarrett, Mr Obama's close friend and confidante from his days in Chicago; Tom Daschle, a former senator whose ties to Congress might serve the Administration well in protracted negotiations with Republican majorities on Capitol Hill after the midterm elections; and John Podesta, the former Chief of Staff to President Clinton who runs Washington's most powerful liberal think-tank.
In an indication of the burden that the role places on even the toughest shoulders, one Democratic strategist joked yesterday that if Mr Podesta wanted the job back "he's probably too stupid to have it".
The position is a central one in every Hollywood rendition of life inside the White House. In real life the chief of staff is usually the first official the President meets each morning and the last one he sees at night, shaping policy, co-ordinating the Administration's response to emergencies and overseeing its relations with Congress.
Mr Emanuel, a former Illinois congressman, began his political career working for Richard Daley, the current Mayor of Chicago. He left the House of Representatives for the White House only after a concerted campaign by MrObama to persuade him that his tough - some say brutal - negotiating skills would be vital for the new Administration.
He has alienated as many Democrats as he has impressed, especially on the hard Left. One activist called him a "cancer on the party" yesterday for persuading Mr Obama to drop his call for a publicly run insurance scheme as part of his health reforms.
The guessing game about who might replace him received something close to an official endorsement when David Axelrod, the senior White House adviser, called the Chicago job "an unbelievably attractive opportunity" and added: "I'm sure if Rahm decides to do [it] the President will support that decision." Robert Gibbs, the President's spokesman, said that it was no surprise that Mr Emanuel was interested in the job.
The decision by Mr Daley on Tuesday not to seek a seventh term triggered the flurry of wagers on potential successors because Mr Emanuel had made it clear earlier this year that he would like to run if Mr Daley chose not to.
Mr Daley, 68, the son of a legendary Chicago mayor, is a titan of Midwestern Democratic politics. By the time he stands down next January he will have run the city for longer than his father, who was mayor for 21 years.
Mr Emanuel has until November 22, three weeks after the midterm elections, to file an application to seek the mayoralty. Experts said that he would have to start assembling a campaign team almost at once if he was serious.
The tight schedule led to suggestions yesterday that he may have to step down before the midterms, forcing Mr Obama to make a vital appointment in the midst of campaigning or opt to name an interim chief of staff until he knows more about the complexion of the next Congress.
Mr Emanuel was "valuable to the President but no one is indispensable", Mr Axelrod said. "If he does decide to go ... there are many to fill the breach."
The Times
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