Loose Lips On the U.S.S. Hope

The message discipline of the Obama juggernaut is legendary in the political world. This is a campaign that started and ended with the same slogan (Change We Can Believe In) and the same campaign rallying cry (Yes, We Can), in an environment where their competitors were constantly re-tooling to try and adjust to conditions on the ground. Over the course of the campaign, McCain had so many slogans (Country First; Reform. Prosperity. Peace; A Cause Greater than Self; A Leader You Can Believe In) that it became difficult in the end to tell exactly what he was selling. Whether you think Obama was a phony or not, you knew what he claimed to stand for.

Beyond his grip on the campaign narrative on a news cycle by news cycle basis, the Obama campaign was notoriously effective at preventing leaks. There was little drama in the inner circle, and the loyalty top aides displayed to their leader was remarkable. The Biden unveiling was not picked up by any news organization until Obama released it himself, and there is even some belief that Biden didn't know until late in the evening the night he was named.

Which is why the dramatic leak-fest that was associated with the selection of Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) to be the next White House Chief of Staff was so unexpected. First there was the Halloween leak that Emanuel was being considered; then, after the election, the leak that he had been asked. Unsure whether to accept, it leaked that Emanuel was "agonizing" over the decision. Finally, just hours before it was announced that he accepted, word leaked that he had. What happened? How did the Obama ship suddenly become the freaking Titanic?

Did I mention previously that Emanuel was a staffer in the Clinton White House?

This is just getting started. Let's hope he doesn't invite the whole circus to town.