The White House: Politics vs Policy

When the inevitable moment comes and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is booted up to senior adviser status, Obama should bring on Howard Dean. Dean has extensive administrative experience, having been both a six-term state governor and the successful manager of a national party. Plus, he's been right about everything and Emanuel's been wrong. Emanuel has reinforced the president's innate conservatism so forcefully that the incumbent Democratic administration is barely distinguishable from its Republican predecessor. Dean pushed for the 50 state strategy at the time Emanuel was touting the "realism" of concentrating on swing districts, in the process knocking progressives out of primaries to make room for Blue Dogs who "could win" (how's that working out, Rahm?). More recently, Emanuel's "realism" has led him to counsel limiting health care insurance reform while Dean has been the primary champion of the public option. Barack Obama needs to shed Rahm Emanuel, whose habit of putting politics over policy is undermining his presidency. And he should recruit someone like Howard Dean to reignite the passion and idealism that got him elected.