Chief of Staff

The first process story making headlines in the infant Obama administration is the selection of Obama's chief of staff. Insiders and outsiders have reported for several days now (even in the weeks before election day) that Rahm Emmanuel, Congressman from Illinois and self-made millionaire (not to mention brother to Ari Emmanuel, inspiration for Entourage's Ari Gold), had the offer if he chose to accept it. Suddenly, everyone who can type has an opinion on the proper choice for a position that most Americans likely don't know even exists -- much less what the person in it does. Fortunately, we have Aaron Sorkin to shed some light on the matter.

In light of the West Wing's massive popularity in its first few seasons, I think it's safe to say that Leo McGarry, fictional Chief of Staff to fictional U.S. President Jed Bartlett, is history's best-known Chief of Staff. And also the source of all of my knowledge about what a Chief of Staff does.

Aaron Sorkin taught us how you pick a Chief of Staff. Just before his final State of the Union address, President Bartlett met in the Mural Room with the official designee for the evening -- the guy they pick to hang back from the address in the event that the place blows up and everyone between him and the President in the line of succession are instantly killed. The guy asks for some advice and Jed asks if he has a best friend and if that best friend is smarter than him. The guy does and he is. "That's your Chief of Staff." Sorkin liberally ripped off his own prior effort, The American President, for many of The West Wing's jokes and plot points. This wasn't much different; and in a funny twist of events, Martin Sheen, whose run as President Bartlett made him an iconic pop culture symbol of the American presidency, played A.J. McInerney, Chief of Staff and best friend to Michael Douglas' President Andy Shephard.

Aaron Sorkin taught us that the Chief of Staff is in many respects way more important than the Vice President. He does the stuff that his title suggests -- makes hiring and firing decisions for the President's policy, communications, and legal staff, coordinates the White House agenda, etc. More importantly, though, if what we know of Leo is true, he's a body block to the President. In the very last episode of the series, Lily Tomlin's Debbie Fiderer, the President's secretary, explains to her replacement her role in limiting access to the President. "The first thing you'll need to do is establish who'll have walk-in privileges. Usually it's just the First Lady and the Chief of Staff. At some point, the President is going to ask you to take away his wife's walk-in privileges. Don't do it, no matter how much he begs." And if the series is accurate (and with advisors like Dee Dee Myers, Peggy Noonan, and David Gergen, I think it's a safe bet) the President and Vice President barely interact at all. So, Aaron Sorkin teaches us, the Chief of Staff is the major player.

Aaron Sorkin taught us the difference between a Chief of Staff and a Cabinet appointment. Leo had skeletons in his closet that make Bill Ayres look like Roger Clinton. We know that he was Secretary of Labor in a previous presidential administration -- and we also know that he was running the Labor Department high on pills and drunk most of the time. His wife leaves him early on in the series because he basically admits that he'd rather be married to Jed. This dude would never, ever get confirmed to any job that required for hiring the advice and consent of the Senate. Obama is already drawing criticism for the Emanuel choice, and conservatives are already suggesting that this is evidence that Obama's stated commitment to bi-partisanship is hogwash. But Aaron Sorkin's take on the Chief of Staff teaches us that the process by which a president selects his Chief of Staff has nothing to do with the way he would go about selecting his cabinet or his thoughts on bipartisanship. Sorkin's Chiefs of Staff existed to challenge the President, to call him on his bullshit, and to make sure that no one wasted his time.

And based on what Aaron Sorkin taught me about the White House, there is no one better to have as your White House Chief of Staff than Rahm Emanuel -- an opinionated, tough, take-no-prisoners Washington insider. Emanuel is reputed to have engineered the passage of NAFTA, no small task at a time when most Congressional Democrats didn't want to touch it with a ten-foot poll. He is liked and respected by his Congressional colleagues. And, most importantly, he doesn't seem to suffer fools and isn't interested in appeasing anyone -- not Obama, not Pelosi, and not Reid. Those concerned that Obama will roll over at the first sign of push-back from Democratic leaders in Congress should welcome this choice.

Perhaps he is a partisan attack dog. Perhaps he is a win-at-all-costs belligerent. Based on what I know about his new role thanks to Aaron Sorkin, I can't figure out why that's bad. I don't need or want that in an Attorney General or a Secretary of State. But I sure as hell want my President's closest advisor and first line of defense to be a bit of a bruiser and not afraid of a fight. I think that's exactly what Obama found in Emanuel.

Everything I Learned About Politics, I Learned from Aaron Sorkin

We have a new president, one that I can say I did some small part to help elect. And now, immediately, the speculation is starting to fly about his transition, his staff, and his goals. I only have one source of information about the internal workings of the White House -- Aaron Sorkin. Specifically, the seven seasons of The West Wing (including the two crappy and one awesome season with John Wells at the helm) and The American President.

So here, I'll baldly and irresponsibly speculate about the inner workings of the Obama administration using crap I've watched on TV. Let the games begin.