Obama is often credited for his administration’s policies, but as so often in politics, the ones credited typically are the ones least deserving. Such is the case with Rahm Emmanuel, Obama’s chief of staff.  

Emmanuel certainly knows how to produce results. Known for his tenacity, ruthlessness, and sheer ambition, Emmanuel has been lauded for obtaining both executive and congressional support for the stimulus package, the health care bill, and other key foreign and domestic issues. While one can admire Emmanuel’s supreme ability to politic, his stronghold over the Obama administration and his impatience in policy making decisions is particularly disconcerting. Although Emmanuel serves as the gatekeeper for the Obama administration, pushing for and representing Obama’s policies, ultimately, legitimate questions remain as to whose ideas are truly represented— Emmanuel’s or Obama’s?

Due to Emmanuel’s superhuman productivity, in making hundreds of phones calls and doubling that in emails daily, the public doesn’t feel the necessity to question who is truly in charge. The public is too easily fooled into equating efficiency and ‘getting things done’ with successful government. However, achievement for achievement’s sake, done in a succinct and timely fashion, is not necessarily conducive to long-term national prosperity. He provides band-aid solutions to important issues instead of performing sufficient and sometimes lengthy surgery on paramount matters. Rather than balancing patience and action, allowing vital decision-making processes such as the health care debate necessary time to stir and ferment amongst politicians and policy makers alike, Emmanuel uses Machiavellian tactics to force his agenda onto an unprepared and ill-informed public. Asked about Emmanuel, Democrat Representative Gerald Connolly from Virginia stated that Emmanuel’s method in dealing with fellow Washingtonians often has overtures of, “I could eat you alive but I didn’t. Don’t you feel better now?” Emmanuel’s arrogant surety shields him from making correct decisions while crippling other policy makers’ suggestions for potentially effective national solutions. Hence, while the Obama administration is frequently associated with burgeoning idealism and collaboration, the White House is more comparable to a whitened sepulcher, emanating superficial virtue, but in reality housing decrepit ideology and moldering Machiavellian ideals. Rahm Emmanuel is a staple of this institution.

Sara is a junior studying political science.