WASHINGTON--President-Elect Barack Obama pivoted quickly to begin filling out his new administration, selecting hard-charging U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Dem., Ill.) as White House chief of staff just a day after his victory.All the while, aides stepped up the pace of transition work that had been cloaked in pre-election secrecy.
Several Democrats confirmed that Congressman Emanuel had been offered the job.
While it was not clear he had accepted, a rejection would amount to an unlikely public snub of the new president-elect within hours of an Electoral College landslide.
The congressman did, in fact, formally accept the appointment a few days after the leak.
With hundreds of jobs to fill and only 10 weeks until Inauguration Day, President-Elect Obama and his transition team confronted a formidable task.
On the morning after making history, the man elected the first Black president had breakfast with his wife and two daughters at their Chicago home, went to a nearby gym and visited his downtown offices.
Aides said at the time he planned no public appearances until later in the week, when he has promised to hold a news conference.
The president-elect’s first meeting with the news media was held on Friday.
As president-elect, he began receiving highly classified briefings from top intelligence officials last Thursday.
In offering the post of White House chief of staff to Congressman Emanuel, President-Elect Obama turned to a fellow Chicago politician with a far different style from his own, a man known for his bluntness, as well as his single-minded determination.
The congressman was a political and policy aide in President Bill Clinton’s White House.
Leaving that, he turned to investment banking, and then won a Chicago-area congressional seat six years ago.
In Congress, he moved quickly into the leadership.
As chairman of the Democratic campaign committee in 2006, he played an instrumental role in restoring his party to power after 12 years in the minority.
Congressman Emanuel maintained neutrality during the long primary battle between U.S. Sen. Obama and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (Dem., N.Y.), not a surprising move, given his long-standing ties to the former first lady and his Illinois connections with Sen. Obama.
Announcement of the transition team came in a written statement from the Obama camp.
The group is headed by John Podesta, who served as chief of staff under former President Clinton; Pete Rouse, who has been Mr. Obama’s chief of staff in the Senate, and Valerie Jarrett, a friend of the president-elect and campaign advisor.
Several Democrats described a sprawling operation well under way.
Officials had kept deliberations under wraps to avoid the appearance of overconfidence in the weeks leading to last week’s election.
They said the group was stocked with longtime associates of President-Elect Obama, as well as veterans of Clinton White House.
Quite apart from transition issues, the president-elect’s status as an incumbent member of Congress presents issues unseen since 1960, when John F. Kennedy moved from the Senate to the White House.
The Senate is scheduled to hold a post-election session in two weeks, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Dem., Calif.) held a news conference on Nov. 5 to reinforce her call for quick action on a bill to stimulate the economy.
That places Mr. Obama in uncharted territory: a president-elect, presumably, first among equals among congressional Democrats.
Yet, his and their ability to enact legislation depends almost entirely until Inauguration Day on President George W. Bush’s willingness to sign it.
Mr. Obama’s running mate, U.S. Sen. Joseph L. Biden Jr. (Dem., Del.), now the vice president-elect, was elected to a new six-year term from Delaware on election day, and he must resign before he can be sworn in as vice president. Democrats are certain to hold his seat, following Jack Markell’s election as governor.
President-Elect Obama also must resign his Senate seat before he can be sworn in as the 44th president.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, a Democrat, will pick a replacement.
