We will not forget!

President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of Rep. Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff drew fire Thursday from Republicans, and a few Democrats, who noted that a candidate elected on a call for change had turned to a veteran partisan pugilist for his first appointment.

Mr. Emanuel, an Obama friend from Chicago’s insular political world, brings to the post a hard-charging, sometimes profane voice that contrasts sharply with Mr. Obama’s unflappable demeanor. He spent much of the Clinton administration inside the White House political office, shaping message and policy with a keen eye on its electoral impact.

His legislative attention was focused on tax and health-care issues. But he angered some Latino organizations by steering the House away from a fight over an immigration-law overhaul.

“On the Hill, he came up with the strategy of how to slam Republicans and not move on immigration,” said Arnoldo Torres, a past executive director of the League of Latin American Citizens and aide to California’s Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Republican National Committee called the choice Mr. Obama’s first “broken promise.” “This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio).

Some Democratic aides on Capitol Hill were similarly struck by the partisan nature of the appointment — and even more so by the extended rollout. The Associated Press reported last week that Mr. Emanuel was likely to get the job, which he denied. By Wednesday, congressional sources were widely confirming he had been offered the job, but Emanuel aides said he hadn’t accepted it.
—John D. McKinnon contributed to this article.

Write to Jonathan Weisman at jonathan.weisman@wsj.com

Most of the criticism against Bush, especially on this site, don’t make any sense, especially from a frum Jews’ viewpoint.

Let’s look at comment #17

“i would also like to thank president clinton…for after the terrorist attack during 93, we were not hit on our shores until 2001″

We were hit many times in between (though not on our shores) and Clinton did nothing except kill a few camels with a missile. This emboldened Bin Laden to attempt 9/11. So no thanks are due to him

“i would like to thank bush for making it possible for iran to now become a force in the middle east”

Ridiculous. As I’ve commented elsewhere, Iran was a force since 1979 and we are better positioned to suppress them now then in 2003. The reason we didn’t hear so much about them before is because Saddam was an even greater threat, which b”h he is no longer.

“i would like to thank bush for pushing israel to unilaterally withdrawing from the gaza.”

Ariel Sharon did that with no assist from anyone. if you have any evidence that Bush pushed him to do that, please show us.

“i would like to thank bush for his sound econonic policies that have kept the fundamentals of the economy strong and have now lost us over 1.2 million jobs.”

Bush got us out of the Clinton recession of 2000-2001 in record time and had a solid, growing economy for the next 6 years. Our current woes are a direct result of Democratic policies of forcing lenders to lend to people who couldn’t pay them back (and Bush and McCain warned against many times), whether you care to admit it or not.

“thank you for leaving our borders unprotected.”

Oh, and Clinton was great on that, and so will Obama be. Ha.

“thank you for making a joke of our constitution and holding yourself and others in your administration as above the law.”

Thank you for mindlessly repeating what the lefty media spews. Can you cite an example where bush held himself above the law? Clinton perjured himself and lost his law license, do you have a similar claim about Bush?

“thank you for placing in positions of power, chronies with little or no qualifications.”

You have no clue what you’re talikng about. Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, Rice, O’Neill, Ashcroft, Gates etc. were from the most experienced and qualified cabinets in history. Even the Democrats agreed to that, while despising their policies.

and to the writer, a great president once said, “the only thing we have to fear is, fear itself” in other words, gam zoo latova

I would never call the man (FDR) who refused to bomb the train tracks to Auschwitz a “great president”. That you do is very disturbing.

President Bush deserves our Hakaras Hatov and I’ll say it loud and clear: Thank you President George W. Bush for being such a honorable and principled president and for being such a good friend of Israel and the Jewish people.

David Duke has been both a Democrat (which he left on his own volition), and a Republican (which essentially booted him and made him feel unwanted.)

Yes, not every anti-semite is necessarily a Democrat. But the Democrat Party is VERY WELCOMING of anti-semites i.e. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cynthia McKinney, etc. etc. (McKinney left for political opportunity elsewhere.) Jackson and Sharpton are treated like Royalty by the Democrat Party, and are welcomed and sought after for advise and counsel. If the Republicans had done anything of the sort for anyone of that sort, that would have been endlessly skewered by the leftist rags.

Finally, I appreciate your hakoras hatov, but my comments wasn’t directed at your original comment.

Joseph, you are right. veryinteresting is still living in the early 20th century. All the rabid anti-semites today are on the left. Just ask Joe Lieberman!