New White House Chief of Staff: Rahm(bo) Emanuel

“They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way!”—David Mamet, The Untouchables

We're all going to hear a lot of back-and-forth about Rahm Emanuel in the coming days... and he's a colorful old-school/new-skool Chicago-style politico, so there's a lot of material there to work with. Here are some of the most colorful bits:

-- Rahmbo once sent a rotting fish to a pollster who had angered him (better than a bloody horse's head in one's bed, I suppose).
--His brother Ari is a Hollywood agent who is said to be the model for the agent "Ari Gold" of that HBO show known as Entourage.
--He was once a ballet dancer--his mother forced him into it, apparently--and a really good one(!??) He was also an Investment Banker once who was in-and-out of Wall Street in two years, after making some serious dough.
--He lost his right middle finger to a meat slicer as a teenager (so we can all guess which finger he uses to flick the bird).
--At one of Clinton's inaugural celebratory dinners, Rahmbo got so angry at Clinton's enemies that he stood up, grabbed a steak knife, and began naming betrayers' names, shouting "Dead! . . . Dead! . . . Dead!", with one plunge of the knife into the table per every name. "When he was done, the table looked like a lunar landscape," one campaign veteran recalls. "It was like something out of The Godfather. But that's Rahm for you." [1]

The writers of SNL are so jumping up and down right now... I just know it. And hardcore Republicans are, at this very moment, sharpening their knives... Maybe some left-wing rogue-ish Democrats too, by some accounts.

But you know what, I say "Good choice, Obama." You are smart to appoint a Chief of Staff who can out-Gingrich any Newt Gingrich that's thrown at you, from either party. Someone who can get things done. Finally. That's the Chicago way...

And I remember well what I learned about Bobby Kennedy during his brother's administration: Bobby was the Hatchet Man, the Bad Cop, the fiercest and most loyal of Attack Dogs, and the one person who had JFK's back, always. Bobby got things done. Bobby took no prisoners. And it was Bobby, who may have been the one to really convince Kruschev to back down in the Cuban Missile Crisis--he told Kruschev that the military hawks were itching to invade Cuba and ready to go "rogue" at any minute... and it seems Kruschev probably believed him. It wasn't about "partisanship" for Bobby, either. It was about loyalty, to his President, and his President's vision for the nation (not his own).

Hehe... Welcome (back) to the White House, Rahmbo. I am really looking forward to SNL's take on you... And I'm glad to learn that the Obama Administration will not be entirely without a comic Achilles Heel...

Read the Rolling Stones piece on "Rahmbo the Enforcer" if you want to learn more about this colorful man: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8091986/the_enforcer/