Obama picks Zionist "star" for chief of staff.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but the same crooks are alive and well in obama's staff now. Is this the "change" we have been waiting for?

(CNN) -- U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel will bring a "tough-minded" and "pragmatic" approach to the White House when he becomes President-Elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, according to people who know the Chicago, Illinois, native.

A Democratic aide told CNN that Emanuel, a former member of the Clinton administration, had accepted the position Thursday.

After leaving the Clinton White House, Emanuel was an investment banker on Wall Street and later was elected to the House of Representatives from a heavily Democratic Chicago district. He quickly rose to become the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House.

It is Emanuel's combination of experiences -- plus his strong personal relationship with Obama -- that would make him a strong chief of staff, said CNN political analyst Paul Begala, a fellow Clinton veteran.

"He has spent more time in the White House than President-elect Obama has. That matters a lot. It is a special place with its own rhythms," Begala said.
"But, maybe, most importantly, he's got the relationship. He has known Barack and Michelle Obama for a number of years."
Before reports emerged that he had accepted the position, Emanuel told WLS-TV in Chicago that he had to consider the possible impact on his family.

"I have a lot to weigh: the basis of public service, which I given my life to, a career choice. And most importantly, what I want to do as a parent," Emanuel said in an interview that aired Wednesday.

Emanuel added: "This is not a professional choice. This is a personal choice about what my wife and I want to do for our family, as much as what to do with my career."

Emanuel's at-times blunt approach would ensure the White House ran smoothly for the new president, said Mack McLarty, President Clinton's former chief of staff.

"Rahm is high energy. He's direct. He's a tough-minded pragmatist. So I think the years have been good to him in that regard," McLarty said. "I think the high-energy directness will serve him well.

"Rahm, like a lot of us, made mistakes, but he quickly corrected them."

However, the lawmaker's direct style has ruffled a number of feathers in Washington, and Emanuel is known as one of the toughest partisan fighters on Capitol Hill.

After reports that Emanuel had agreed to be Obama's chief of staff on Thursday, the top Republican in the House, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, questioned the president-elect's pick.

"This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center," Boehner said.

But David Gergen, a CNN senior political analyst who has worked in five administrations, said that the contrasting styles between Obama and Emanuel could help the new president get things done in Washington.

"They are obviously setting up a good cop/bad cop routine in the White House. ... Barack Obama can be the good guy," Gergen said.

Rahm Emanuel (Hebrew: רם עמנואל) was born in Chicago, Illinois. His father, the Jerusalem-born Benjamin M. Emanuel, is a pediatrician and was a member of the Irgun, a militant Zionist group considered a terrorist group by the British and the New York Times during the British Mandate of Palestine, before the founding of Israel.