"Rahmbo" -- a good choice

Seems that some Republicans are dissing Obama's choice of Rep. Rahm Emanuel as a sign that the new team will be hyperpartisan, putting a quick end to all that new politics talk.

Maybe so, but Rahmbo's tough, take no shit approach to politics and government -- combined with his wide knowledge of both, demonstrated skill, and strong ties to Congress -- also means that Obama understands that getting anything done from the left, right or center will be no mean feat.

Harry Truman made a keen observation about how our system of endowing one person with vast executive authority and surrounding him (or her) with huge self-sustaining bureaucracies really works when he said the President could tell subordinates to do this and that and a few days or weeks later learn they hadn't done either or even done the opposite.

Jimmy Carter never got this and the nation paid a high price for the bumbling around that happened on his watch. Much the same can be said about George W. Bush.

I'm hoping that Obama will choose to govern mostly as a centrist. Doing so will be all the harder with a large left-leaning Democratic claque in Congress. Some one will have to wield the whip. Who better than the former ballet dancer from Chicago.