As this blog matures into the next year, it will owe a debt to the great Hedrick Smith, as I'll be writing more and more about power in Washington; what it is; who has it, who pretends to have it; how it is expressed explicity, and how the press used as a conduit to weild it, implicitly.
The Politico's John Bresnahan has written a great story about how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put the screws to her former House colleague, Rahm Emanuel, informing him that she did not need his advice about leadership elections and, most dramatically, demanding that the White House account for every conversation it has with Pelosi's members.
The story makes Pelosi look formidable and Rahm look like a creampuff.
Clearly, the origin of the story -- even if it was laundered through neutral parties before reaching the Politico -- comes from Pelosi allies.
Why share that anecdote now?
Because, in the wake of the Blagojevich revelations, Rahm's public standing is as weak right now as it's ever going to get. He's been portrayed as knee-deep in the Blagojevich corruption case, although there's no indication he did anything wrong or even suspicious. Cameras are chasing him all across Chicagoland, and he is hiding from them; and given the investigation, he is in the un-Rahm-ian position of not being able to comment. Right now -- and only right now -- no one's afraid of Mr. Emanuel. He can't fight back.
Granted, there is no chance that Obama drops him before the inauguration unless everything we think we know about the case is entirely wrong. And once Rahm becomes the chief of staff, he'll be one of the strongest in recent memory -- probably stronger than Don Regan or H.R. Haldeman. Like Haldeman was to Richard Nixon, Emanuel will be first among equals to Obama. He'll be scary again, and no one will be able to dish about him without facing consequences. To borrow a wrestling analogy, Pelosi claimed a receipt on Emanuel after all those stories about Obama selected Rahm in part to make deals with Democrats around her back.
The real story behind this story is not even about Pelosi and Rahm; it's about the battle for the hearts and minds of rank and file Democrats, who will face four-way cross-pressures from the White House, their constituents, the Republicans and their party leadership in Congress.
Pelosi knows the power game.
| 
