NY Times says RAHM is THE MAN

At times, it seems as if Mr.(Rahm) Emanuel is White House chief of staff, political director, legislative director and communications director all rolled into one. He has fingers in almost every decision, like who gets invited to social events at the White House and how to shape economic and foreign policy.

He carries a notecard in his pocket with a list of things to accomplish and marks them off obsessively. He requires cabinet secretaries and all West Wing departments to submit written reports each week and returns them with terse notes in the margins.

As negotiations intensified on health care recently, he was a constant presence on Capitol Hill — one day alone, he was there 8.5 hours before returning to the White House to tend to other duties.Says the NY Times..............................

But Mr. Emanuel casts his net widely, from lawmakers and lobbyists to journalists and corporate executives. When he took over the chief of staff’s office — an office that, he makes a point of telling visitors, is eight square feet larger than the vice president’s — he brought a telephone list of 6,000 names that crashed White House software.