G.W.W.E.: Rahm “Enforce Me” Emanuel
(We’re back with another weekly installment of G.W.W.E. [Guys We Wanna Eff]. As Inauguration Week draws to a close, all we can think about is the newest effable White House employee, Rahm Emanuel.] I’ve had the pleasure to write a handful of College Candy’s Guys We Wanna Eff, and as a red-blooded twentysomething female it’s [...]

WE HEAR . . .
THAT incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has told local officials the new administration is not getting involved in New York's US Senate selection process, even though Caroline Kennedy's operatives have been telling people that...

Rahm Emanuel Is Your New Obama Hottie [Obama Hotties]
Amazing what people fetishize these days: Gray hair, dark circles under the eyes, average-at-best height, a missing middle finger? Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, beat conventionally gorgeous policy advisor Melody Barnesin our poll. There will likely be charges of voter fraud. Unthinkably, we omitted Barnes from the initial lineup, until commenter superannuated_grad_student pointed out our error. So we're granting her the title of Top Obama Hottie (Female) and Emanuel the title of Top Obama Hottie (Ma

Rahm Emanuel's '17-year conference call'
by Mark Silva Rahm Emanuel here. James Carville here. Paul Begala here. George Stephanopoulos here. Every workday. For 17 years. So goes the story in politico.com by John Harris, reporting on a round of phone calls that has been going on for so long that someone could have been born and graduated from high school in the meantime. The graduates of Bill Clinton's 1991-born campaign "war room'' go through a daily reality check starting around 6 am. "The conversations don't begin with...

Obama report clears Emanuel, other aides
Obama released a report Tuesday declaring that incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had

Blago-Rahma: Emanuel had direct contacts with Blago on Senate opening
Ten days after Rod Blagojevich’s arrest on corruption charges, Rahm Emanuel’s sudden aversion to the press and cameras continues — and the Chicago Sun-Times may have the reason for his sudden allergy.  Sources tell Natasha Korecki that Emanuel had direct contact with the disgraced governor to discuss the replacement of Barack Obama in the Senate.  That would contradict claims that the incoming president’s Chief of Staff only had contact on a staff level with Governor Bl

Obama To Call For Responsibility, Service
Incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Sunday U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will call for a new era of responsibility in government.... More

Emanuel woos GOP: White House dinner
by Josh Drobnyk Rahm Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff and former chairman of the Democratic congressional campaigns that led to the party's takeover of the House, is attempting to woo some of the GOP's moderates. Emanuel has invited U.S. Reps. Charlie Dent, Jim Gerlach and several other Republicans to the White House for dinner Tuesday night, the same day that President Obama goes to the Hill to woo Republican support for his economic stimulus plan. It's not...

Bill Clinton's Big Release, Obama's Smaller Releases [News Roundup]
Bill Clinton's donor list for his foundation and presidential library have been released. Yeah, there's all kinds of foreign government money on there, what did you expect? [Politico]Meanwhile, Barack Obama has asked Congresswoman Hilda Solis to become the Secretary of Labor, former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk to head up the U.S. Trade Representatives Office and plans to send Mary Schapiro to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. [Washington Post, Washington Post, Washington Post] Obama's also defending th

The Week Wings Took Dream [Week In Review]
It was a week of sex, of scandal, of stepping down and stepping up. A week of drinking, a week of not sleeping. And a week, most of all, of changing.Bells were ringing and angels were singing and lots and lots of people were praying, because Barack Obama became our president! And look, he's bringing so many hotties with him to the White House. The hottest of all, as it turns out, is Rahm Emanuel. Until he stabs you.Potential Washington hottie Caroline Kennedy stared down her family history and said, bravely

Madonna Demands To Be Less Domineering [Gossip Roundup]
Everyone is trying calm down before the weekend. Courtenay Semel totally made up for setting Casey Johnson's head on fire. Madonna tried to not be a demanding, terrible ball-buster constantly.Madonna sought counseling to be "less domineering" in relationships. But it had to be at a Kabbalah center, in New York, with this one elite rabbi, and absolutely no one else in the room. The rabbi "tweak[ed] her tikkun," like he was some kind of Yankee. Then Madonna had to start riding horses so she could dominate som

Obama Goes to Work [Presidents]
President Barack Obamamade a phone call in the president's official office, before leaving to spend the rest of the day doing more "traditional" time-wasting nonsense.Poor Jeff Zeleny has been "liveblogging" Barack Obama's first full day as president. This is a punishment, because thus far he has spent the entire day at a "prayer breakfast," because of George Washington.Here is new press secretary Robert Gibbs explaining the schedule:At 8:35 AM, the President arrived in the Oval Office and spent 10 minutes

Rod Blago is Disgusted by "Sham" of Impeachment
Rod Blagojevich, that Illinois governor who made some very public uh-ohs whilst trying to sell Barack Obama's seat in the senate, was furious today at the gall of those of the Illinois House and Senate who are trying to impeach him. And now the "man" is trying to hit him with a new charge alleging that he's missed some stupid deadlines to turn in forms? How dare they.

Team of Workaholics
Barack Obama’s political appointees have something in common: They’re all workaholics. According to Michelle Cottle in The New Republic, Rahm Emanuel, Janet Napolitano, Peter Rouse, and Pete Orszag all fit the bill. Valerie Jarrett, writes Cottle, “has an all-hours BlackBerry-cell phone doublefisting habit that, whatever else it achieves, makes her a thrill behind the wheel. (Trust me on this.)” This is markedly different from Bush’s team of late-risers, and is prob

Fresh Details of Obama Speech
As Barack Obama prepares to deliver the first speech of his historic presidency, details about the themes he'll touch on are beginning to trickle out. He'll emphasize public confidence in the face of economic upheaval, and a new "culture of responsibility," according to incoming chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel. Incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama had written the speech himself last weekend, and that the bulk of it was now completed. He'll talk about the fact that "we need more responsib

Elsewhere: A Mandela Welcome for Obama
On Inauguration Day, Obama's roommate from college emerges with much praise and a few pictures that the new president is probably glad didn't get out earlier. In a letter delivered before the ceremony, Nelson Mandela told Obama he is the "new voice of hope." After collapsing at a luncheon, Ted Kennedy appears to be doing OK. Here was the scene in Times Square. And off went the Bushes to Texas. THE ClintonS WERE HAPPY. It might seem a bit undignified, but House members did the wave for Rahm Emanue

Blagojevich Weighs Legal Options With R. Kelly's Lawyer
CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich met with a renowned Chicago criminal lawyer Saturday as he weighed his legal options on how to fight a scandal that has left his career in tatters and disrupted President-elect Barack Obama's White House transition.The Democratic governor had a four-hour meeting with Ed Genson in the lawyer's downtown office Saturday. Genson has defended newspaper baron Conrad Black, R&B singer R. Kelly and numerous public figures on corruption charges, earning a reputation as t

Rahm Emanuel inside the bubble
by Frank James It's no longer Rahmbo. It's Rahm 2.0, the kinder, gentler Rahm Emanuel. At least that's what the New York Times tells us. Emanuel, President Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, is no longer standing on tables to fire up the troops or talking about braining Republicans with two-by-fours as he did back when he ran the House Democrats' campaign efforts. Instead, he's adapting to his boss's more serene style and to the team of Obama loyalists from the successful...

DC's New Status Symbol
After months of careful negotiations, Obama finally gets to keep his BlackBerry, but only a few senior staffers and close friends will have access to it—making the elite group the toast of the town. "It's a pretty small group of people," spokesman Robert Gibbs said of the list. The obvious members of Club BlackBerry will likely include Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, body man Reggie Love, Hillary Clinton, and, of course, Michelle Obama (and maybe the kids as well). Various friends from Chicag

Pelosi lays down the law with Rahm
In a recent conversation with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rahm Emanuel offered some advice on a Democratic House leadership race. Pelosi’s response, according to several Democratic sources: It is “an internal House Democratic Caucus matter, and we’ll handle it.” Democratic insiders say there’s no animosity between Pelosi and Emanuel, who’s leaving his post as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus to become the next White House chief of staff. But

Huffpo Makes Room on the Ark for 23/6
23/6, the humor site launched by IAC in 2006 with an assist from the Huffington Post, is getting a reprieve. IAC recently pulled its support for the site in the course of dismantling its programming group, and prospects for continued existence looked dim. Now Huffpo, which until now has treated 23/6 as a sort of familial partner, has agreed to acquire the site and turn it into one of its verticals. (While 23/6 has been heavily promoted on Huffpo and the two occupy adjacent floors of a SoHo office building,

Inaugural Speech Nearly Complete
As Barack Obama prepares to deliver the first speech of his historic presidency, details about the themes he'll touch on are beginning to trickle out. He'll emphasize public confidence in the face of economic upheaval, and a new "culture of responsibility," according to incoming chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel. Incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama had written the speech himself last weekend, and that the bulk of it was now completed. He'll talk about the fact that "we need more responsib

Catching Up with the Clinton Crowd
Sixteen years ago, Vanity Fair marked Bill Clinton's arrival at the White House with a lush portfolio by Annie Leibovitz. The subjects formed the new president's inner circle, from campaign masterminds (James Carville) to policy wonks (Rahm Emanuel), to old Arkansas friends (Lottie Shackelford). As America prepares to inaugurate another remarkably young president, VF.com revisits the earlier portfolio to find out how time and fate have treated the class of 1993.

How to Get Face Time with the President
This month's Presidential Inauguration is going to be a veritable shit show, so the chances of you getting within spitting distance of Barack Obama and his family are nil. And unless you're a foreign dignitary or Rahm Emanuel, you probably won't be seeing the POTUS IRL anytime over the next four years, either. That is, unless…  

Obama report cites no shady talks with Blagojevich
WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama and two of his top aides met last week with federal investigators building a corruption case against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of trying to swap Obama's Senate seat for cash or a lucrative job. The interviews with Obama, along with incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and adviser Valerie Jarrett, were disclosed Tuesday in an internal report produced for Obama on contacts with Blagojevich. The report supported Obama's insistence last week that ther