Today in the Washington Post, Horowitz devoted more than a few words–via Democrats named and unnamed–on why Rahm, of the clan Emanuel, should be heeded more by President Obama.

Ezra Klein, also of WaPo and an “avowed defender of Rahm Emanuel’s performance as chief of staff”, finds this troubling

I’d be calling for his head if he were calling these shots. This critique only makes sense if you think about the presidency in terms of poll numbers rather than problems. Health-care reform, for instance, is inches from passage. If not for Scott Brown’s unexpected victory in Massachusetts, it would have passed weeks ago. We’d be on our way to implementing a bill that would cover 30 million Americans

…

the defense of Rahm favored by some Washington Democrats is evidence of everything that is wrong with Washington: It prizes politics rather than policy, and seems interested in the problems Americans are facing only insofar as those problems show up in the president’s poll numbers. In this telling, the measure of Obama’s success is not how much good he does for the country but how much good he does for congressional reelection campaigns.

Tip o’ the hat to Mr. Klein. Rahm Emanuel is a man who shouldn’t be ignored and I’d be lying if I didn’t think Obama could stand to take a harder line on issues which the opposition has shown no signs of yielding on.

But accepting the Emanuel Program wholesale? Rahm Emanuel is a hatchet man; he’s very good at his job because the singular focus of his duties play to his strengths. As a person who was once on the elected side of things, he’s well aware of this fact.

Being a good bag man doesn’t mean you’re a good boss.

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