IIPM: Good riddance to Rahm rubbish!

The mass exodus from the White House has several reasons: arduously severe working hours, round-the-clock pressure, disruption of work-life balance, ego clashes and salaries, which in most cases, are far below the private sector – but none of these quite seem worse than Rahm Emanuel, ex-White House Chief of Staff. Whatever be the reason for the resignation (or sacking) of White House’s most visible and controversial Chief of Staff, he’s good riddance, says a miffed

Whenever Rahm Emanuel starts sounding reasonable, I realise it’s time for me to increase my medication. Since he ‘assumed’ office (and I mean the double entendre), Rahm has seemed to me a conflux of all dodgy and cheesy limericks I’ve heard since childhood (the “No, my powers can only be used for killing Vulcans” varieties). Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, once said, “You can’t motivate people to do things, you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to remove obstacles.” For Rahm Emanuel, people were the obstacles who had to be removed. And any reality that went against it, impracticable idealism. Thus, in June 2010, when news was rife that Rahm Emanuel was planning to call it a day as the White House Chief of Staff (the first aide the President sees in the morning and the last he sees in the night – supposedly the toughest job in the White House besides that of the President) as he was tired of the ‘idealism’ of Barack Obama’s inner circle, the White House was quick to term the reports as ‘ludicrous.’ However, close to three months after thus a terming, on October 1, 2010, in the East Room of the White House, the US President himself made the “least suspenseful announcement of all” and officially announced the resignation of the hard-hitting Rahm Emanuel. Staff shake-ups are nothing new; it is very common in the White House e.g. Lawrence Summers, Head of National Economic Council, Christina Romer, Chairperson Council of Economic Advisors, Peter Orszag, Head of the Office of Management and Budget and James Jones, National Security Advisor have all quit or are in the process of quitting. But as far as Rahm Emanuel, better known for his caustic tongue and political toughness, is concerned, the reasoning that is being propagated – that Rahm has quit to pursue his political dream of contesting for the Chicago mayoral position – is clearly balderdash being fronted to the media as a last twig of respect for Emanuel, quite similar to what Rick Wagoner experienced from Obama.

The 5 and a half feet Rahm, known for his profanity and his penchant for having created enough acrimonious tension inside the Democratic party and the White House, was initially hailed by supporters as a hardball politician and was expected to help the President get things done in the Congress. As a centrist of the Bill Clinton era, party activists believed his presence would help President Obama cut deals with centrists and conservatives. It is ironical that the same set of that supported Rahm rabidly has now vouched for his ouster, thanks to his very own abrasive personality and his mystical ability to inflate his enemy count. The Progressives and the Liberals have not been kind either and they have their own share of legitimate grievances – the Progressives claim that Rahm compromised too many of their principles on health-care reform and some Liberals called for his ouster citing his political instincts.

Read more........

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.