Opinion: With the White House won, Barack Obama now must pick a team

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Now that the presidential election business has been pretty much settled in much of the media and Barack Obama has obviously won, we can get down to the next political game at hand: guessing who’s going to make up his administration’s team.

First, White House Chief of Staff.

How about Rep. Rahm Emanuel? Is he being courted to run the big house for the big man? Or is that story just part of a big (not to mention premature) D.C. guessing game?

Aides and advisors to Obama and Emanuel -- fellow Democratic members of Congress from Illinois -- are trying hard to tamp down the rumors. At least before next Tuesday.

‘There’s no news because there’s no job to offer,’ Obama spokesman Bill Burton said on behalf of his team. ‘We’re focused on one thing and that’s the election, not anonymous D.C. parlor games.’

It’s not the looniest idea ever floated. Emanuel was a key money guy in Bill Clinton’s campaign and then in that administration and is an ally of Obama. Both are helpful credentials for the position.

But as a high-ranking member of the House, Emanuel’s also in a pretty good position to help Obama shepherd his agenda through Congress. That’s not something to give up lightly.

And while Emanuel’s name is prominently in the mix, there’s also a contingent putting its money on former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle.

Neither Emanuel nor Daschle is Mr. Bipartisan, but who cares about that promise now that the voting is, in effect, over?

Our colleague Christi Parsons has the rest of the details over at the Swamp. But before you go there, click the Read more line below to see how some Obama folks are trying to fight campaign complacency with a video.

--Andrew Malcolm

To keep up with what’s up in politics, go here to register for automatic alerts to your cellphone whenever a new Ticket item is posted.

Hat Tip to Frank James at the Swamp