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November 06, 2008, 08:55 AM ET
Smart Move, Poorly Executed
Students of presidential transitions all agree that Ronald Reagan did it right and Bill Clinton did it wrong. Two elements of doing it right are filling the major White House staff positions before choosing the cabinet and filling those major staff positions quickly.
By that reckoning, Barack Obama was smart to ask Rahm Emmanuel to be his chief of staff the day after the election. Emanuel, a fellow Chicagoan, knows Obama and knows his way around both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue: He was a leading Clinton staffer and is a member of Congress.
What wasn’t so smart was popping the question to Emanuel without knowing that his answer would be yes and, to make matters worse, allowing the proposal to leak to the news media. Obama is now in the awkward position of cooling his heels while Emanuel decides whether White House chief of staff is the job for him.
Emanuel probably will accept the offer, but it will be on his terms, not the president-elect’s. Let’s hope for Obama’s sake that this is the last time he risks being jilted in public.
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