What exactly will David Axelrod do? And Rahm Emanuel?

By GottaLaff

Ambinder fills us in:

Assistant to the president is a very coveted post with quasi-institutional prerogatives; assistants can (if the Obama administration chooses to continue the practice) pop in on the president whenever they want, and they're given review privileges over everything that goes out in the president's name.

David Axelrod did a great job with the campaign. So far, it looks like Obama is surrounding himself with some smart, tough, disciplined individuals, as he did during the campaign.

As for Rahm Emanuel:

...Obama advisers concede that Emanuel's ties to key party centrists and blue dog Democrats will be critical to smoother relationships between the executive and legislative branches. (Emanuel is more liberal than these centrists, but he's not nearly the ideologue that people seem to think he is.)

Behind the scenes, Obama himself and many key aides have been making overtures to conservative Democrats. These Democrats want budget off-sets included with every expensive piece of legislation that Obama sends to the Hill; at the very least, they want the White House to incorporate centrists in decision-making.

Obama is keenly aware of how President Clinton's relationship with Congress was fraught with tension and mistrust; how Clinton allowed Congress to temper some of the Arkansan's more pragmatic, less ideological instincts early on.

That said, Obama and Pelosi get along well. And back in 2006 Harry Reid was one of those quietly urging Obama to run.

Importantly, Barack Obama doesn't seem to be too interested in everyone else's opinion of how he's supposed to run his White House. This can only be a good thing [...] It seems that, much like with the campaign, he has some long term goals and isn't worried about engaging in small fights over things like his West Wing staffing choices.

Other nuggets:

Ron Klain and Mark Gitenstein are said to be top candidates to be Vice President-elect Biden's chief of staff. Klain served as Al Gore's chief of staff and is familiar to Americans for his role in the 2000 Florida recount. Gitenstein is a long-time Biden adviser.

Whether we agree with Emanuel's positions on everything or not (and a lot of us don't), he gets things done. [Laffy Note: And that's the real point. He's not a policy maker, as was pointed out in Comments. But reactions to his appointment seem to keep returning to his positions, so I addressed it here.] I trust Obama's judgment. Let's wait and see how this plays out, it's only been 48 hours.