Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has accepted Barack Obama's offer to serve as his chief of staff. As chair of the Democratic Caucus, Emanuel is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House. Before his election to the House in 2003, he was a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton.
The chief of staff is essentially charged with implementing the president's agenda, and, appropriately, Emanuel has a reputation for getting things done. Many credit him with major Democratic pick-ups in the House in 2006, when he chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Some in D.C. call him "Rahmbo" -- which could be an insult or a term of endearment, depending on who's saying it.
Emanuel has a respectable environmental record. In his time in the House, he's earned a 90 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters, and a 94 percent in the 110th Congress. He was a cosponsor of the 2007 energy bill, which included increased efficiency standards for automobiles and appliances. He also cosponsored a failed resolution calling for 25 percent of the country's energy to come from renewable, domestic sources by 2025.
In 2006, he introduced the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Implementation Act to fund programs to protect and restore the Great Lakes, and in 2007 he sponsored a resolution calling for protection of the Great Lakes from dumping of industrial waste.
Earlier this year he sponsored legislation to spur production of natural-gas vehicles and provide tax incentives for natural-gas vehicle infrastructure, and another bill to increase tax credits for certain alternative vehicles produced in the U.S.
Of course, the chief of staff is charged with pushing the president's agenda, not one's own. But Emanuel seems to have a solid background for pursuing Obama's energy and environment plans.
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Comments
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GreenMom Posted 3:17 am
07 Nov 2008
I think Rahm Emanuel could be very useful in providing some needed spine to Dems in Congress (see my comment on Joseph Romm's thread).
But just as a point of clarification, I don't know about giving him too much credit for 2006 - I noticed you were careful to say "many credit him" (not you personally?)...
In 2006 wasn't he still pushing back against Howard Dean's 50-state strategy? Hopefully he's learned from those mistakes...
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Delay And Deny Posted 10:05 am
07 Nov 2008
This guy looks like the cloned son of Roy Cohn.
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Wolverine Posted 4:02 am
08 Nov 2008
Emanuel is generally in the right wing of the Democratic Party. This is a very discouraging choice, but it is perfectly consistent with what I've been saying about Barak Obama all along. While he seems to be a decent enough human being, which per se is a big improvement over the current administration, his politics are not generally very good.
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democracyisdissent Posted 8:06 am
08 Nov 2008
The LCV is not a good litmus test for judging a politician's green policy. LCV only judges votes moderately favoring environment friendly policies. It does not factor in votes for clean coal, nuclear energy, or natural gas into its ratings.
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Dave Ewoldt Posted 1:14 am
11 Nov 2008
Emanuel was responsible for ramming NAFTA down our throats for Clinton. In fact, when you look at who Obama has surrounded himself with, the new administration is poised to become Clinton 2.0. While this might be a kinder, gentler form of domination and imperialism, it isn't going to provide the fundamental help our suffering planet or her children desperately need.
Peace _on_ Earth requires peace _with_ Earth.
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