Good Old Fashioned Arm Twisting

As about anyone who pays attention already knows, politics is definitely  a contact sport. So, like the participants or not,  sometimes one just has to admire results and how they were achieved. Rahm Emanuel is Obama’s Chief  of staff which doubtless covers a wide variety of duties. You know, that line in the job description that says other duties as required. I think we could safely say that arm  twister supreme would fall under Mr Emanuel’s purview. And true, all Presidents have them, some maybe have had several.

Remember, Emanuel comes out of Chicago style politics, one of the great arm twisting locales. No doubt, there are a  number of  instances that could be used as an example of his skill in this area. But let us pick one  that involves the prime time  presidential news conference. Mr Obama seems to like this venue, having employed it frequently. Originally the ratings  were very good but of late they  have been on somewhat of a decline, perhaps due to overexposure in the media? Maybe.  Anyway, the most recent press conference was #4 since Obama took office. Do you remember the most memorable thing from that event- hint- Cambridge,Ma. In retrospect, it may have been a better idea to skip that one.

According to an  article in the Washington Post, when the networks expressed a bit of reluctance at airing  the latest press  cconference live, Emanuel did a Mr Ed- he went  right to the source. Not news people or network execs but the head honchos of the companies that own the 3 major networks. Slick move and it worked.

However, the Democrats least favorite network has skipped the last two such press conferences. Wonder if one of the others will try that  the next time ? You know, for the policy wonks that like this  stuff, they could just use CNN or PBS or something. Just  as  long as they don’t  preempt NCIS.  Jethro would not be happy.

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