Emanuel accepts key post offer

UPDATE:

Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, architect of the Democrats’ congressional gains in the past two elections, has accepted President-elect Barack Obama’s offer of White House chief of staff.

In an interview Wednesday, Emanuel suggested he was still considering the decision with his family and political aspirations in mind.

“I have a lot to weigh: the basis of public service , which I’ve given my life to, a career choice. And most importantly, what I want to do as a parent,” Mr. Emanuel told Chicago’s WLS-TV.

“And I know something about the White House. That, I assume, is one of the reasons that President-elect Obama would like me to serve. But I also know something about what it means to a family,” he added, referring to the grueling pace that White House staffers must endure.

“This is not a professional choice. This is a personal choice about what my wife and I want to do for our family, as much as what to do with my career,” Mr. Emanuel said.

A Democratic aide has confirmed Emanuel informed Speaker Nancy Pelosi of his decision and will vacate his seat in the House of Representatives.

The pick belied Obama’s promise to bring a “new kind of politics” to Washington because of Emanuel’s reputation as a fierce partisan with strong ties to the Clinton White House, where he worked as an aide and ran damage control for the Monica Lewinsky affair and campaign-finance scandals.

More recently, Emanuel served as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which this year outspent Republicans by pouring tens of millions of dollars into House races and helped Democrats pick up more than a dozen seats Tuesday. Like Obama, Emanuel is known for raking in huge amounts of campaign cash.

This is the first of President-elect Obama’s decisions as he begins the transition process.

The day after his historic election as the country’s first black president, Obama awoke to a world in which Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to deploy short-range missiles aimed at Eastern Europe and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 486 points.

The turmoil in international relations and in the stock market underscored the grave challenges ahead for Mr. Obama, who will enter the Oval Office already embroiled in two wars and a global economic meltdown.

Mr. Obama’s inauguration theme, “A New Birth of Freedom,” will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, said Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who serves as chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. The words come from the Gettysburg address, and they express Lincoln’s hope that the sacrifice of those who died to preserve the nation shall lead to “a new birth of freedom” for the United States, Ms. Feinstein explained Thursday.

“At a time when our country faces major challenges at home and abroad, it is appropriate to revisit the words of President Lincoln, who strived to bring the nation together by appealing to ‘the better angels of our nature’,” Ms. Feinstein said. “It is especially fitting to celebrate the words of Lincoln as we prepare to inaugurate the first African-American president of the United States.”

Mr. Obama kept a low profile in Chicago with no public appearances beyond a visit to the gym. In Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, vowed to use her party’s increased majorities to pass bills next year to fund embryonic-stem-cell research and more government health insurance for poor children.

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