THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2010
KLMNO
EZ SU POLITICS & THE NATION IfRahm’s out,who’s next? Obama, however,may not have
SHAKE-UP EXPECTED
Others hinting they’ll leave after midterms
BY KAREN TUMULTY The expected departure of
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to run for mayor of Chicago is likely to mark the beginning of a wider White House shake-up, officials said Wednesday, one aimed at helping the administration re- gain its footing in the aftermath of anticipated Democratic losses in the midterm elections and po- sitioning President Obama for a tough 2012 reelection fight. Such a reorganization is not
unusual at this point in a presi- dency and particularly in a White House such as Obama’s, which has been running full out for two years—grappling with two wars, a financial crisis and an ambi- tious policy agenda. Many of its key players have begun to let it be known that they are burned out and looking for an exit or a new role. The stresses have also exposed weaknesses in a WhiteHouse op- eration that many inWashington have come to regard as too insu- lar.
Especially for those who also
were involved in Obama’s two- year campaign, “this is sort of the end of year four, not necessarily the end of year two,” press secre- tary Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling Wednesday with Obama. “So I think there’s no doubt that there will be people that return to their lives and their families.” “But we’ve got a while before
that,” he added. “We’ve got about two months before this election before we get to a lot of those decisions.” Those will indeed be busy
months, not only because of the election but because of the press of business at the end of the congressional session.
the luxury of waiting before be- ginning to decidehowhewantsto reshape the White House opera- tion for the second half of his term. ChicagoMayor Richard M. Da-
ley’s announcement Tuesday that he will retire “came out of the blue,” said one official, who agreed to speak about internal deliberations only on the condi- tion of anonymity. Emanuel, given the chance to
make a bid for the job that he has long said is a dream, now must decide quickly whether to jump into the race, for which the filing deadline is Nov. 22. And that meansObamaand his team could have to begin confronting some very specific choices of their own. The chief of staff is not the only
top official whose days at the White House appear to be num- bered. Also expected to leave at some point after the elections is chief political strategist David Axelrod. He has made no secret of his
desire to return to his family in Chicago. But another imperative for Axelrodmay be the need to get the Obama reelection operation up and running, particularly if the president’s political standing is damaged after the midterms. There are also likely to be
changes in the communications operation. Officials expect that Gibbs, whose relations with the White House press corps have been contentious, will want to giveupthe briefing-roompodium in favor of a role that would put him behind the scenes as a presi- dential counselor. Meanwhile, the economic
team, which has been beset by infighting as it grapples with the nation’s biggest concern, is hardly a picture of stability. Christina Romer, who was chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, left thismonthto return to academia, and Obama has yet to pick a successor. Peter Orszag left his post as budget director this summer, and his replace- ment, Jack Lew, is awaiting Sen- ate confirmation. Sources both inside and out- side the White House said any
new chief of staff may want to reshape the economic brain trust, starting with the controversial top adviser, Lawrence H. Sum- mers. Ironically, the member of the economic operation considered most likely to remain is Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who has endured scathing criti- cism and calls for his resignation from both the right and the left. Obama has not given even his
closest aides many clues to what he may be planning, but his re- cord suggests that any realign- ment of the White House opera- tion is likely to begin with the decision on a replacement for Emanuel. Naming the then-Illinois con- gressmantothepostwasObama’s first major act after the 2008 election, and the president-elect said at the time that “the chief of staff is central to the ability of a president and administration to accomplish an agenda.” Emanuel came to the job with
the perspective and experience of having been in both the Clinton WhiteHouseandtheHouseDem- ocratic leadership, as well as po- litical credentials that included having engineered the Democrat- ic takeover of theHouse in 2006. While there is no obvious suc-
cessor who can boast such a re- sume, several officials in the ad- ministration are considered strong potential contenders. Among them are deputy na-
tional security adviser Tom Doni- lon; Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Biden; and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is a close friend of Obama’s from his Chicago days. Also being men- tioned by WhiteHouse insiders is legislative affairs director Phil Schiliro, who is said to have won the president’s confidence throughtheirmanybattles for the Obama agenda on CapitolHill. But if the election turns out to
be a disaster for Democrats, Obama may feel compelled to install new faces and fresh think- ing throughout the WhiteHouse.
tumultyk@washpost.com
Staff writer Lori Montgomery contributed to this report.
DIGEST
A3
REBECCA COOK/REUTERS
Afirefighter in Detroit walks down a street lined with smoldering houses and garages.High winds downed power lines Tuesday and fanned the dozens of fires that resulted across theMotor City.
MICHIGAN
Detroit copes with wind-lashed fires Wind-whipped flames swept
through at least three Detroit neighborhoods, destroying doz- ens of homes, including many that were vacant, and even send- ing waves of searing heat blocks away, officials said. About85fireswerereportedat
houses and garages over a four- hour period, said Dan Lijana, spokesman forMayor Dave Bing. Fire Commissioner James Mack said the city normally averages 35 fires a day. The fires were fanned by
winds of up to 50 mph. Mack said eight of the fires
were sparked by downed power wires, and he attributed two to arson. He said 62 power lines were downed overall. Bing defended the fire depart-
ment for its response, adding that it was important to point out that nobody was killed. “You can never have enough
resources — you can do all the planning in the world, but when something of this magnitude hits
any city, any area, you just have to respond,” the mayor said. “Even though there are a lot of people who are naysayers who may say, ‘You don’t have enough equip- ment, you don’t have enough peo- ple,’ I justdon’t think for a natural disaster, which is really what this was, I don’t think you can appro- priately plan for that.” —Associated Press
COLORADO
GOP group shrugs at governor’s race Republican Governors Associ-
ation Chairman Haley Barbour strongly hinted Wednesday that the group was giving up on the Colorado governor’s race and would no longer help GOP nomi- nee DanMaes. Barbour, Mississippi’s gover-
nor, told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast that the association had “put some money in Colorado,” but he said that was in the “past tense.” Maes shrugged off the re-
marks, with his spokesman say- ing that the nominee did not expect any help from the RGA
and will continue trying to get votes by traveling the state and talking to people. Maes recently lost support
from the state Republican estab- lishment after a series of blun- ders. He significantly trails Dem- ocratic candidate John Hicken- looper in fundraising. Former Republican presiden-
tial candidate Tom Tancredo is also in the race as the candidate for the American Constitution party, and he joined Hickenloop- er in outraisingMaes in August. —Associated Press
Ariz. facing new federal probe Arizona’s education chief says the federal government has launched an investigation into whether the state discriminates against teach- ers who are not native English speakers. The state Department of Education for years has long monitoried the fluency of teach- erswhoinstruct English learners. In April, the education depart- ment began instructing districts to fire teacherswhoweren’t profi- cient in English. The probe was launched by the federal depart- ments of Justice and Education. —Associated Press
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