White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday slapped down recent press accounts of dissension between Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and President Obama’s other advisers as inside-the-beltway “parlor games,” saying that Mr. Emanuel “absolutely has the president’s confidence.”
“There’s nobody working harder at passing the president’s agenda than the chief of staff is,” Mr. Gibbs told reporters, adding, “I know Washington likes to do this stuff. They love the parlor games.”
The notoriously hot-tempered Mr. Emanuel has been the subject of several newspaper stories looking at the administration’s behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing, most recently in The Washington Post. The Post story suggested that Mr. Obama could have avoided significant controversy on health care and trying terrorists in civilian courts had he listened to Mr. Emanuel’s advice.
Mr. Emanuel, a former Clinton White House aide and congressman from Chicago, has been working with Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina to help the White House follow through on its plan to shutter the detainee prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mr. Graham has praised Mr. Emanuel’s legislative pragmatism.
Mr. Gibbs said it’s not surprising that speculation over “White House intrigue” peaks after the NFL season ends, since there’s no more debate on who will be the next starting quarterback of the Washington Redskins.
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