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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