The Chicago Clan: The Chiefs of Staff in the Obama White House

Abstract

Objectives This article examines the roles, responsibilities, and performance of the first two White House chiefs of staff during the Obama administration: Rahm Emanuel and William Daley. Methods Data are drawn and analyzed from academic and media resources, original interviews conducted by the authors with former staff in the Obama White House, and public documents. Results Perhaps the most high‐profile chief of staff in history, Rahm Emanuel was an important, but at times, ineffective advisor to, and proxy of, the president. He also served as a sturdy guardian, despite evident disagreement on policy priorities and strategies. His focus on shorter term tactics and his weakness as an honest broker negatively impacted the Obama administration. Emanuel's successor, William Daley, initially brought needed discipline and focus to a White House riven by factions. Daley, however, lasted only a year as he never fully adjusted to the demands of the job nor did he appear to fully appreciate the depth of the partisan polarization and hostility in Washington. Conclusion The Obama administration's first two chiefs of staff had to navigate a challenging environment in an administration filled with strong personalities and tested by events including the financial crisis and recession, passage of the health‐care legislation, the 2010 midterm election debacle, the debt‐ceiling crisis, and a number of foreign policy challenges in the Middle East, North Africa, and Afghanistan. Though very different in terms of personality, style, and the roles they emphasized during their tenures, both chiefs of staff were largely ineffective, thus diminishing the performance of the president and administration.

El poder en Moncloa: el jefe de Gabinete del presidente del Gobierno

“…Así Aznar, por ejemplo, tenía una relación previa de trabajo y confianza con los directores de Departamento, pero no conocía a la mayoría de los asesores [Aznar]. La situación con Zapatero era similar, pese a que puntualmente incorporó a algunos colaboradores procedentes de su entorno de León [Serrano], que es una práctica habitual en Estados Unidos: Carter, de su estado, Georgia, conocidos despectivamente como «los cacahueteros»; Obama, por su parte, nombró a varios conocidos de Chicago, que eran denominados como el «clan» o la «mafia de Chicago» (Cohen et al, 2012;Whipple, 2017: 263), etc.…”

“…Por ello, el estudio de las oficinas presidenciales está recibiendo una especial atención en los últimos años (Inácio y Llanos, 2015;Lanzaro, 2016Lanzaro, , 2018Rhodes y Tiernan, 2014a, 2014bTiernan y Pfiffner, 2014;Truswell y Atkinson, 2011). En otros países, los jefes del Gabinete han estado muy presentes en la doctrina, especialmente el staff de la Casa Blanca (Cohen et al, 2012(Cohen et al, , 2016Pfiffner, 1993Pfiffner, , 2011Sullivan, 2004;Virgala, 1994;Whipple, 2017). En España, sin embargo, este interés ha sido menor y los escasos estudios publicados sobre el Gabinete, con carácter general, han sido de tipo jurídico o sociológico (Olías, 1994;Ortega, 1991;Santolaya, 1991; Prats y Villoria, 2011) o permanecen inéditos (Molina, 1998) o se centran en el proceso de «presidencialización» del Gobierno (Heywood y Molina, 1997, 2000Van Biezen y Hopkin, 2005).…”

White House Evolution and Institutionalization: The Office of Chief of Staff since Reagan

“…Emanuel's successor, William Daley (the secretary of commerce in the second Clinton term), strove to bring more orderly management to the White House as well as to underscore ties to the business community (Ambinder 2011;Lipton 2011;Shapiro 2011). Daley faced significant challenges, which in turn triggered significant contraction of his responsibilities and his ultimate departure (Cohen, Hult, and Walcott 2012 Structurally, however, the six twenty-first-century chiefs of staff conform to the general mold that emerged and stabilized in the closing decades of the twentieth century. (Table 1 lists…”

“… Some of the evidence has appeared, for example, in Cohen, Hult, and Walcott (), Cohen and Walcott (), Cohen, Vaughn, and Villalobos (), Cohen ( ), Cohen and Krause (2000), Cohen, Walcott, Warshaw, and Wayne (2008), Cohen, Dolan, and Rosati (), Villalobos, Vaughn, and Cohen (), Hult and Walcott (), and Walcott and Hult ().…”

¿Poder duro o poder blando? El Gabinete del presidente del Gobierno en España

“…La investigación sobre los gabinetes de los primeros ministros está aumentando en el ámbito del derecho y la política comparada (Rhodes y Tiernan, 2014a y 2014b; Tiernan y Pfiffner, 2014;Truswell y Atkinson, 2011). Este renovado interés gozaba de una notable tradición en algunos casos, como los estudios sobre el staff y el funcionamiento de la Casa Blanca en Estados Unidos; un interés amplificado por la atención de los medios de comunicación, películas y series de televisión (Cohen et al, 2012;Pfiffner, 1993Pfiffner, y 2011Sullivan, 2004;Virgala Foruria, 1994;Walcott y Hult, 2005). Esta atención no se ha extendido al caso español, que cuenta con escasos estudios sobre su composición, funciones, competencias o estructuras (Molina, 1998;Olías, 1994;Ortega, 1991;Prats i Català y Villoria, 2011).…”