Rahm Emanuel’s old-school style was key to new presidency

President Obama on Friday will announce the resignation of chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a tempestuous and powerful operative whose portfolio ranged from troop levels in Afghanistan to the lineup of Democrats running in state races.

Emanuel is leaving to run for mayor of Chicago and may begin campaigning as soon as next week.

Obama hired Emanuel to push through an ambitious domestic agenda, which he did with a warlike intensity. He steered passage of two major packages: a stimulus bill that experts say prevented a sour economy from getting even worse, and a healthcare overhaul that will provide coverage for 30 million more Americans over the next decade.

But over that same 20 months, he showed himself to be one of the most pugnacious and profane chiefs of staff to hold the position; he insulted allies, sparred with colleagues, twisted arms and practiced a style of old-school politics that was at odds with his boss’ inspiring campaign promise to change the tone in Washington.

He leaves the White House in a precarious spot. Unemployment has risen to nearly 10%, damaging Obama’s approval ratings, and a deep partisan divide has boxed in the Obama agenda.

When the president announces Emanuel’s resignation, senior aide Pete Rouse will be there to accept an appointment as interim chief of staff.

Possible candidates for the permanent job include Thomas E. Donilon, a deputy national security advisor; Robert Bauer, White House counsel; Tom Daschle, a former Senate Democratic leader; and John Podesta, a former chief of staff to ex- President Bill Clinton.

Emanuel’s successor will confront a Congress in which Republicans could hold the majority, as well as and a White House team in flux, with senior advisor David Axelrod set to leave early next year to work on Obama’s reelection campaign. In naming a permanent replacement, Obama could choose an inside candidate familiar with White House culture, or an outsider who would bring a fresh perspective.

Emanuel, known throughout Washington by just his first name, didn’t always agree with the president’s priorities. A pragmatist, he fretted about overloading the political system with unrealistic ambitions. Sometimes Obama listened; sometimes he didn’t.

Obama pursued healthcare reform over Emanuel’s private objections, Emanuel has said. When economic advisors pressed for a stimulus package that would exceed $1 trillion, Emanuel warned that the price tag would create a kind of sticker shock. His argument prevailed and the stimulus was held to $787 billion.

Soon after Obama took office, some White House aides wanted him to veto a $410-billion spending bill loaded with earmarks — special projects submitted by lawmakers. A veto would show Obama was serious about changing the political culture, they said.

Emanuel advised the president to sign the bill while pursuing a longer-term policy of revamping the earmark system. That’s what Obama did.

Compromise was key to Emanuel’s strategy of “putting points on the board” — notching victories to build the president’s political capital.

The strategy made enemies on the left. One day, a group of liberal activists went to a meeting at the White House and told Emanuel they planned to run TV ads targeting conservative Democrats opposed to Obama’s healthcare plan.

Emanuel told them the idea was “[expletive] retarded.”

Advocates for the disabled objected. Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin called on him to resign. Emanuel apologized.

A former congressman himself, Emanuel gave Democratic friends in Congress wide latitude to shape legislation favored by the White House, a strategy that was criticized by others on Capitol Hill who wanted Obama to send clear signals about what he wanted.

“What we’ve seen in the stimulus package, health reform and financial services reform is [Obama] has laid out broad principles, but then as congressional action has occurred, he lost control over big parts of those packages,” said Peter Peyser, a Democratic lobbyist. “The lack of fixed points on the compass for Congress to navigate toward made their jobs tougher.”

Though Emanuel lost some internal fights, once Obama settled on a path, Emanuel pushed himself and aides to see it through.

He would begin the day with a 7:30 a.m. meeting for senior staff, who gathered in his spacious, immaculate office down the hall from the president’s. Aides learned to put up with his unceasing vulgarity.

“He has the extraordinary capacity to throw F-bombs into almost every conversation,” said one White House aide. “It’s kind of remarkable.”

Robert Reich, a Labor secretary under Clinton, said: “I’ve heard numerous complaints from senior staff about Rahm in terms of temperament.

“To some extent, a chief of staff has to play bad cop to a president’s good cop, and a disciplinarian is needed because people have to line up and do things they may otherwise not want to do,” Reich said. “But the complaints I got was that he was unnecessarily brutal, demeaning to people.”

Some aides describe a softer side. Bill Burton, a deputy press secretary who has worked with Emanuel for years, said Emanuel was routinely solicitous of aides’ families. If Emanuel called and Burton said he was eating dinner with his wife, the chief of staff would hang up with a quick, “Go eat.” He would refer to himself as “Uncle Rahmmy,” Burton said.

“People who feel he rules by fear and intimidation completely misunderstand him,” Burton said.

Emanuel also could make his team laugh. Chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra would come to staff meetings and give uniformly upbeat reports, administration aides said. One time Emanuel looked at him and said: “Whatever you’re taking, I want some.”

Emanuel had a hand in war strategy, political maneuvering, communications and economic policy. Bob Woodward wrote in his new book, “Obama’s Wars,” that Emanuel made a habit of calling up CIA Director Leon E. Panetta and asking about the lethal drone strikes aimed at Al Qaeda. “Who did we get today?” he would ask.

When the White House wanted to clear the field so that Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania could run uncontested in the Democratic primary, it was Emanuel who tried to make it happen.

He called up his old boss, Clinton, to ask that he dangle a job offer in front of Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) to get him out of the race. It didn’t work; Sestak said no and went on to beat Specter.

A fiercely partisan Democrat, Emanuel was selective in his dealings with Republicans. GOP leaders say they saw little of Emanuel.

Asked if Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had heard from Emanuel, a spokesman for the senator said, “Not in recent memory.”

Emanuel would court certain Republicans who might be persuaded to break with party leaders and vote with Democrats. He spent considerable time with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in the hope of reaching a deal to close the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Emanuel thought Graham was key to any progress on Guantanamo. Yet the prison remains open.

“He had some rough edges, but he also reached out to the Republican side many times with great success and most of the time unheralded,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). “People didn’t know what he was doing behind the scenes.”

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

Christi Parsons in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.