I think he's been involved with setting up the deal with big pharma that led to the Whitehouse blocking Byron Dorgan's bill that would have allowed Americans to buy drugs from Canada and overseas-- and which, by its failure, probably led Dorgan to decide no to run for election again.

We know he's said something along the lines that actions of progressives were "fucking retarded."

Matthew Rothschild, of The Progressive, writes, summing things up nicely,

I was reading the cover story of the New York Times Sunday Magazinethe other day--the one about Obama's team taking Capitol Hill--and I came upon the following quote from Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

"The only nonnegotiable principle here," he said, "is success. Everything else is negotiable."

That's the problem I have with Emanuel--and with Obama.

There's no principle they're willing to go to the mat for.

They didn't fight for universal single-payer health care.

They didn't fight for giving judges the authority to reduce the mortgages of people in bankruptcy.

They didn't fight against the bank bailout.

They didn't fight to keep GM from shutting down plants and laying off 21,000 people, even when they're taking ownership of GM.

They didn't fight for marriage equality or against don't ask, don't tell.

They didn't fight against indefinite detention without trial; hell, they've embraced it.

They didn't fight to dismantle Bush's entire edifice of repression, including the NSA spying and the Military Commissions Act.

And they haven't fought to bring the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to speedier close.

Emanuel's comment is the very definition of being unprincipled. From a DLC-er like him, I'm not surprised.

But many expected better from Obama.

Success is not a principle. It's an outcome.

And the outcome is going to be much less satisfactory if there's no principle being fought for.

Does this mean that Obama is unprincipled? Could be.

Richward Wolfe writes in the DAILYBEAST, that White House chiefs of staff do what they are told, "When things are going well, the president gets the credit. When they're not, the chief of staff gets the blame. Just ask the other folks who have held Rahm's job..."

Wolfe cites several past chiefs of staff;

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"In any White House, there's only one agenda and that is the president's agenda," says Ken Duberstein, Ronald Reagan's last chief of staff. "What you are paid for is to make the president's agenda first and foremost. There is always jockeying. The biggest battles you fight are not with Congress but within the walls of the White House and halls of the administration. That's true for any White House and any administration. The chief of staff is the javelin catcher, the person who takes the spears so that the president doesn't have to. It is much easier to attack the chief of staff than to attack the president."

Duberstein's successor in the first Bush White House, John Sununu, agrees. "The agenda for what you're going to do is set by the president," Sununu says. "Yes, the chief of staff can give advice, can try and get the process to the point where he delivers on the president's agenda. But it's important to understand that the president sets the tone, the agenda, and the process sometimes is even limited by the president. >

So, the next time you're cursing Rahm Emanuel under your breath... or louder, remember he's doing what Obama's told him to do and he's also shielding Obama as Obama intends.

Author's Bio:

Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and site architect of OpEdNews.com, Host of the Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show (WNJC 1360 AM), President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com

With his experience as architect and founder of a technorati top 200 blog, he is also a new media / social media consultant and trainer for corporations, non-profits, entrepreneurs and authors.

Rob is a frequent Speaker on the bottom up revolution, politics, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates, and optimizing tapping the power of new media. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.

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www.opednews.com/articles/Whatever-You-Think-of-Rahm-by-Rob-Kall-100303-113.html

March 3, 2010