There he goes; now, turn the page

The likely departure of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
provides President Obama with an opportunity to “turn the page,” as he
has been talking so much about lately. With the state of his current
poll numbers and the start of his reelection campaign just months away,
he better turn it.

Emanuel was clearly left on the outside of a close-knit, Chicago group
led by David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett. From every report of the
decisionmaking inside the Obama administration it is evident that
Emanuel — no matter how tight he is with the president — did not have
the same influence over Obama as others did. For Emanuel, who wanted a
slower, more incremental approach on healthcare reform, to pursue
climate change legislation later on instead of early summer of 2009 and
to include more infrastructure in the original stimulus package, being
politically savvy didn’t mean winning the day.

There is long-held speculation that should Emanuel leave Washington to run for mayor of Chicago, then Jarrett would become the favorite for chief of staff. Jarrett, who holds the titles of senior adviser to the president and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement, is a close friend of the Obamas but has no experience working in the federal government. The rest of the list of contenders are almost all experienced hands who could step in and handle the challenge of trying to help pull Obama out of the political quicksand.

Obama has been acting a bit detached of late, and many Democrats decided that inserting himself into the debate over a mosque near Ground Zero was the final indication he intended not to help Democrats hold their majority but in fact to help Republicans win back the House in November. If he wants to signal a complete disconnect and even a lack of interest in winning again, he can choose Jarrett for the job.

If Obama wants to convince his party, independents who voted for him but now disapprove of his policies and even those who voted against him that he knows how unpopular he is and isn’t as out of touch as — increasingly — he appears, then he will turn the page.

WHY DOES THE GOP OPPOSE THE R&D EXTENSION AND THE EQUIPMENT WRITE-OFF FOR BUSINESSES? Ask A.B. returns Tuesday, Sept. 14. Please join my weekly video Q&A by sending your questions and comments to askab@digital-staging.thehill.com. Thank you.