Already War Between the Obamians and the Clintonians

The post of Chief of Cabinet divides the Democrats

It is still 72 hours until Election Day but Barack Obama’s team is already underway in the first duel over the balance of power within the new, potential, democratic administration. At the center of the iron’s arm, is the appointment for Chief of Cabinet of the White House, or to be more precise, the man closest to the president. Until now the candidate was David Plouffe, a 41 year-old workaholic from Obama’s powerful electoral machine, founded on a message of discipline, respected by a top secret army of volunteers, mostly collected via the web. However, catching up on Plouffe is another name: Rahm Emanuel, 49 year-old, former ballet dancer, a representative of Chicago and a man in close confidence with Nancy Pelosi. Lack of discretion in Obama’s team, possibly attributable to Plouffe, led to a ‘leak’ relating to contact between Obama and Emanuel about this position.

The choice between Plouffe and Emanuel is important because it is intended to mark the balance between the two Democratic teams to which they belong: Obamians and Clintonians. Emanuel, in fact, comes from the “war room” of the Clinton administration, where he took care of finances and learned to be ruthless, to Chicago where he was elected and became known as ‘the pitbull’. Great determination resulted in his becoming a star of the party when in 2006, Pelosi, the chairman of the House. gave him the post of co-director of the campaign for Congress, which ended with the clear defeat of the Republicans. That victory carried the signature of Emanuel – together with that of New York Senator, Chuck Schumer – as he was the candidate chosen to challenge the Republican strongholds, to fight for the “cowboy Democrats’ or rather the moderate conservatives in most colleges. This strategy succeeded, making Emanuel one of the most powerful leaders in Congress and no doubt led to him becoming labeled a Clintonian, this despite his sharing common roots in Chicago with Obama and the consequent belief that it would be they who would be closer.

To be Chief of Cabinet would send a negative signal to team Obamians, which is emerging from a campaign aimed at building an establishment different to that of the traditional Democratic party. Someone not supporting the appointment of Plouffe is David Axelrod, the strategic guru of Obama, who is also Plouffe’s partner in a public relations company in Chicago.

In an effort to defuse the political mine, Obama’s spokesman Bill Burton, moved quickly to clarify that “Obama has not offered positions to anyone because we are still involved in the election campaign.” And Emanuel, speaking from Columbia, in Missouri has thrown water on the fire, “I think that to win the elections, the head of cabinet of the campaign must be David Plouffe.” The most irritated by the whole affair, according to the tam tam of Washington, is John Podesta, head of the transition team, who feels that this news leak making public the disputes between the Democratic political clans is serving to weaken the Clinton administration within which he had previously served.

Although of different political matrix, Plouffe and Emanuel have in common the fact of being tough. This reveals the conviction of Obama that, if he is voted into office, his new administration faces an uphill struggle and will need strong nerves in the cabin of command.

The Republicans instead interpreted the rumors about the appointment to the Chief of Cabinet as confirmation that if elected Obama will clash, rather than cooperate with the opposition. “In contrast to a bipartisan approach, Obama is preparing to lead a sectarian government,” said Alex Conant, spokesman for the Republican Party.