Beyond Emanuel: The White House's Next Chapter

When President Obama put together his initial White House staff, choosing the colorful, profane and driven Rahm Emanuel was the most conspicuous sign that he wanted a legislative machine — a team of hard-nosed political players with the skills to get a big, ambitious agenda passed on Capitol Hill.

Emanuel had been an aide to Bill Clinton and a member of Congress from Illinois before becoming Obama's chief of staff. Now, he's stepping down to explore a bid for mayor of Chicago — which he's always said would be his dream job — leaving the president to choose a replacement.

Controversy And Success

Emanuel — or Rahm, as he is universally known — described his approach to the job back in March 2009: "You've got to know when to press down on the accelerator when people basically don't want to move or don't want to make a decision. You've got to know when to pull back and let that process kind of develop."

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One Nobel Year Later: It's a Hard World After All

David Paul Kuhn, RCPIt's been nearly one year since Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel peace prize. The prize was to commemorate his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy." But Obama has little to show for that effort today.The Democratic co-chairman of the 9-11 commission put the matter plainly to NPR this week. "The Obama foreign policy is still very much a work in progress," Lee Hamilton said. "Iran is still building a nuclear weapon. The North Koreans still have the nuclear weapon. And you kind of go down the list and you see that not an awful lot of...

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Emanuel Leaving White House; Chicago Mayor Run No Cakewalk

Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff who surprised many back in April when he said it was "no secret" he would like to be mayor of Chicago, will announce Friday (tomorrow) he is stepping down and will return to the Windy City — and is likely to pursue the mayoralty that Richard Daley is leaving after 21 years.

The news has been confirmed by NPR's David SchaperPresident Obama is expected to make remarks about Emanuel at 11:05 a.m. Friday.

Emanuel has been a larger-than-life presence in the administration, with nearly every major decision made at the White House needing a sign-off from him, everything from Afghanistan to health care.  He is expected to be replaced as chief of staff by Pete Rouse, who is Emanuel's deputy and who served as Obama's CoS during his brief time in the Senate.  Many reports say Rouse may be only a temporary replacement, but that may not necessarily be the case.

 

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Obama's Energy Regulations on Household Appliances Sparks Cost Debate

President Obama's push for higher energy efficiency standards for everyday household appliances has led to more than 20 regulations that one critic says will break the piggy bank and represents government overreach.

The Energy Department says its new efficiency standards for the 26 household products, including microwave ovens, incandescent reflector lamps, washing machines and dryers, will save consumers between $250 billion and $300 billion on their energy bills through 2030.

But Ben Lieberman, an environmental expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says based on history, the regulations "will raise the purchase price of appliances ? in some cases more than is ever likely to be earned back in the form of energy savings."

"Worse, several may adversely impact product performance and reliability," he wrote in a blog this week. "There are potentially problematic regulations on the way for virtually every room in the house."

An Energy official told FoxNews.com that the savings estimated by the department reflect the total lifetime cost of a product, not just the initial price increase

"The criticism that it doesn't save money isn't accurate," the official said.

"By law, the Department of Energy issues new energy efficiency standards only at levels where the benefits to the consumer exceed the cost. These standards save American consumers money every month on their energy bills," Energy spokeswoman Jen Stutsman told FoxNews.com in an e-mail.

Lieberman told FoxNews.com that the real issue is consumer choice.

"If these products can sell themselves, then they ought to sell themselves," he said. "We wouldn't need laws forcing us to make these particular choices."

"I think the fact that it has to be mandated is a red flag that it doesn't live up to the hype," he added.

Obama signed a presidential memorandum last year, shortly after taking office, ordering the Energy Department to impose the efficiency rules.

"This will save consumers money, this will spur innovation, and this will conserve tremendous amounts of energy," he said at the time during an appearance at the Energy Department. "We'll save through these simple steps over the next 30 years the amount of energy produced over a two-year period by all the coal-fired power plants in America."

This year, the department finalized higher energy efficiency standards for a group of heating appliances ? residential water heaters, pool heaters, gas fireplaces -- that it said would avoid emissions equivalent to taking 46 million cars off the road for one year.

But Lieberman cautions the sticker shock is awaiting many consumers. He cites an Energy Department estimate that price increases for water heaters will range from $67 to $974 depending on size and type.

He also said the last regulation for washing machines both raised the cost of many models by hundreds of dollars while compromising cleaning ability.

"Yet another round could make things worse," he said.

Lieberman also noted that the Energy Department acknowledged during its last round of central air-conditioner standards in January 2001 that many homeowners would never recoup the additional up-front cost of compliant models.

"The new standards could be an even lousier deal," he wrote.

But the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a study that found the average payback of the 26 standards is 3.1 years and ranged from less than one year to around 10 for some very long-lived products. It also stated that the product lifetime savings are on average four times larger than the upfront incremental costs for efficiency improvements.

"Clearly new national appliance standards have the power to cost-effectively save the nation a considerable amount of energy while saving money for the consumers and businesses that buy and use more efficient products," the report reads. "Ultimately, standards can contribute towards bringing U.S. energy supply and demand into better balance, thereby improving the long-term reliability of our electric grid and helping to moderate long-term energy prices."

Lieberman noted that ACEEE's research is funded by the Energy Department in an effort to justify a bigger regulatory role for the department.

"I'm not against the standards," he said. "I just don't think it's the role of government to force that choice on everyone."

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