An Enforcer Named Emanuel

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Rahm Emanuel at the intersection of politics and policy—and a lot of incoming arrows.

Christopher Morris / VII for TIME

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And there were those--including Summers--who advised Obama not to get too heavily involved in economic policymaking before his Inauguration. Better to let George W. Bush take ownership of the worst recession since the Great Depression so that the new President would be viewed as a fresh start. Emanuel believed, however, that Obama couldn't wait. He was adamant that the President-elect lay out not only his plan but also a specific goal--up to 4 million new jobs.

While Republicans greeted the news that Emanuel would take the White House helm with some trepidation, he has since surprised many of the worried by courting them. One of his first meetings on Capitol Hill after taking the job was with the Senate GOP leadership. "He gave us all his personal cell-phone" number, said Nevada Senator John Ensign. "He said he promised to get back to us on issues within 24 hours." But Emanuel cannot count on these moments of goodwill to last for long. The position is not one for anybody who craves job security. Typically, chiefs of staff burn out or are eased out in less than two-and-a-half years. The last one to survive an entire presidency was John R. Steelman, a onetime hobo who held the post for six years under Harry Truman, at a time when the staff was much smaller and the job title was "assistant to the President of the United States."

Nor is it easy to see a big personality like Emanuel blending into the background--a quality every bit as important as top-notch organizational and political skills to being a successful chief of staff. The best of them are the ones who, by all outward appearances, have no motives or identity outside those of the President. "You are hired for your judgment. You are not hired with an independent agenda," explains Ken Duberstein, who held the job for six months under Ronald Reagan. "When you speak, the voice people hear is the President's voice, not your own." Indeed, if you ever hear anything at all about the chief of staff, that is probably not a good sign. (See also Sununu, John.)

Referee and Gatekeeper

The son of a Jerusalem-born pediatrician and a psychiatric social worker, Emanuel grew up in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette. His is a high-achieving family: one brother, Ari, is a renowned Hollywood agent who inspired a character on the television series Entourage. His other brother, Ezekiel, is an influential bioethicist who will advise the Obama Administration on health policy.

Rahm, the middle child, studied ballet before serving a stint as a volunteer at an Israeli supply base (though a myth has grown that he actually served in the Israeli army). After that, he went into political fundraising--first for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and then for a little-known Arkansas Governor named Bill Clinton, who chose him to be White House political director after Clinton was elected in 1992. It was the first of a series of jobs Emanuel would hold in the Clinton White House before leaving in 1999 for the investment firm Wasserstein, Perella & Co., where he reportedly made a hefty $18 million in just two years.

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