Interesting Facts About Rahm Emanuel

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Barack Obama has been elected as the first black president of America, now its time to appoint the members of the administration, first on the list being Rahm Emanuel.

Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel who has been named Barack Obama"s chief of staff has myriad profiles, but here are ten interesting facts that will tell you everything you need to know about him.

1. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and is a classically trained dancer.

2. The dead fish story is true although neither Emanuel nor pollster Alan Secrest likes to talk about it publicly and it happened 20 years ago. (Old news folks; people change.)

3. He is on a first-name basis with every political reporter in Washington.

4. No one in Washington (with the possible exception of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham) better understands the give and take between politics and policy better than Emanuel.

5. He comes from a ridiculously accomplished family. One of his brothers Ezekiel is the chairman of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health while another brother Ari is a Hollywood agent and the basis for the character of "Ari Gold" on HBO's "Entourage."

6. He is a man extremely comfortable with profanity. The more he swears at you, the more he likes you.

7. Although known as a relentless partisan warrior, he has made some friends and allies across the aisle.

8. The foremost Rahm scholar among reporters? Naftali Bendavid of the Chicago Tribune, who wrote a book entitled "The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution."

9. Advice to incoming White House staff from DCCC executive director Brian Wolff: "Develop a thick skin, cancel vacations, weddings and all personal appointments........learn what the term 25/8 means......25 hours
a day .....8 days a week......expect to be available."

10. Rahm's closest friend in Congress is Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro