Emanuel: Obama ‘disciplined,’ Clinton ‘creative’

President Obama is more “disciplined” than former President Clinton, but Clinton is more “creative,” Rahm Emanuel told reporters this morning.

NYT’s Jeff Zeleny gets some (surprisingly) on the record thoughts on the two Presidents from Emanuel, who has served as a top aide to both men.

Of course, Emanuel starts out with a qualifier making clear that direct comparisons are tricky.

“The world that they are dealing with is fundamentally different,” Mr. Emanuel said in an interview with reporters over breakfast on Thursday. “I think they are incredibly talented individuals. They have different styles. We’re in different times.”

Right, right, OK. Get to the good stuff.

“President Obama has a little more disciplined mind and style,” Mr. Emanuel said, speaking to about three dozen reporters at a breakfast organized by the Christian Science Monitor. “This guy is incredibly disciplined.”

Interesting. Anything else?

“President Obama has what President Clinton had,” he added, “by a quotient of 10.”

Zing! OK, now what about Clinton?

Mr. Obama reads his briefing books the night before a meeting, Mr. Emanuel said, and has “the crux of the discussion” written down. Mr. Clinton, he said, was “creative” and the administration was considerably more free-wheeling and infused by spontaneity.

Some initial thoughts: Emanuel’s “quotient of 10” remark was obviously intended as a compliment to his current boss, but one has to wonder if somewhere Bill Clinton is actually little miffed that Obama may accomplish what Clinton himself could not–i.e. healthcare.

And isn’t “free-wheeling and infused by spontaneity” sort of a long euphemism for “chaotic?”