The President's Palace Guard - Nixon had Haldeman, Obama has Emanuel - the Elite Puppet Masters Is Obama to protected by his Palace Guard? Has White House power been so consolidated that the president really is not in charge? What is the role of the Elite Puppet Masters?
When a new administration comes to office, especially one in which the leader, Barack Obama, has had no comparable executive experience, key staff often form a wall around the president that in time serves as a Palace Guard. In Obama's case his operation is controlled by his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, the only insider with previous experience in the White House from the Clinton years.
Because Emmanuel also has had experience as a congressman, a board member of a major housing mortgage firm, an investment banker with extensive Wall Street contacts, a major political fund raiser and a liaison with special interest groups he pretty much serves as the de facto president where policy, press, congressional relations and political affairs are consolidated under his ironclad control.
It is an extraordinary concentration of power in one individual who is not the president. One must reach back to the Nixon presidency to find a comparable concentration of power under Nixon Chief of Staff John Haldeman though Emanuel exercises much more control over Treasury and foreign affairs than Haldeman was ever able to acquire.
No one gets to Obama without getting through Emmanuel and nothing gets done by the White House without his personal approval. The Obama White House is centered around Emanuel and the many Chicago cronies surrounding him on the president's staff. The Nixon White House was controlled by the California cronies of Haldeman.
Masters of remote power such as Emanuel use the power and resources of the White House to control the agenda of the president. Politically, he calls all the shots. From fund raising to political appearances of the president Obama does what Emanuel tells him to do. The reform of Wall Street, perhaps the largest single issue that could impact on the Wall Street mess, is the responsibility of Emanuel, not the Treasury or Commerce secretaries.
Health care reform is controlled by Emanuel, not experts in health and insurance. If a deal is to be made with the large pharmaceutical companies it is made by Emanuel, not Obama. Any negotiations with Wall Street flow through Emanuel because of his long association with Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street powerbrokers.
Middle east foreign policy flows through Emanuel because of his background as a Zionist and experience as a volunteer in the Israeli army, not through traditional channels such as the Secretary of State.
No where is the control more pronounced than in the political arena where all contact with special interests including Wall Street, health care, banks and unions all come calling to Emanuel to get their favors from Obama. White House records indicated that SEIU leader Andy Stern was in the White House 22 times since Obama took office. That might explain who coordinated the SEUI involvement in trying to control health care town hall meetings or how SEIU will get their payback for sinking $60.7 million into the Obama campaign. Watch for SEIU to have a clear field to organize the health care industry.
