Another response to President Obama's choice of Chief of Staff

I'll certainly give President Obama the chance to show that he's really the one "running the ship." No president is free of obligations to and constraints imposed by the powerful, because all presidents need the powerful behind them to get elected...

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Dear friends,

Below, is another response. This is in reference to my good friend, Corky Siemaszko of the New York Daily News, by another dear friend, Neil Zagorin, who commented earlier about the issue of President Obama's choices. Moreover, I both welcome and encourage others to contribute to any dialogue that appears on this blog.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus

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Hi Djata,

It was great to see the reply by Corky Siemaszko. I just want to run by a clarification of my original reply, so that it reads like heartfelt opinion about ideas and policies, and not like negative> words about personalities.

I'll certainly give President Obama the chance to show that he's reallythe one "running the ship." No president is free of obligations to and constraints imposed by the powerful, because all presidents need the powerful behind them to get elected.

I hope that President Obama will be more responsive to the rest of us than President Bush, Jr. has been. Making Mr. Emanuel chief of staff would be good if it works out as Mr.Siemaszko suggests. It was also a good choice if Mr. Emanuel was due something because of his position in the Democratic Party, and the alternative was to give him a Cabinet post. Do we need another Secretary of the Treasury, or Labor,who's committed to the idea that the economy should be "freed up"for entrepreneurship by removing the structures that allow average people tohave a stake in economic growth?

I hope that Mr. Emanuel's appointment as chief of staff was not a signal to the folks who got us into this economic mess (while lining their pockets) that they will always have access and a warm reception. I hope that Corky Siemaszko is right.

I want to be clear. I have nothing personal against Rahm Emanuel, and just want to be sure that what I wrote makes it sound that way. As far as I know,he's intelligent, personally honest,> hard-working, and very competent. He might be a great congressional representative. And if he plays political hard-ball, I can't see how the conservatives have anyreason to gripe after the way their boys in DC have played the game inrecent years.

My concern is that, after almost a decade of a crude "the rich get richer" program, he's a smart, hard-working and competent exponent of a sophisticated "the rich get richer" program rather than a "we haveto balance all our needs" program. I'm alarmed that an exponent of this position will be in such a crucial position in the chain of command, andthat the boss would want him there.

Eake care,

Neil