Although the global situation certainly merits quick action from Obama, the haste with which he has appointed Clinton's former Chief of Staff to fill the same postion in his own administration is slightly worrying. Having promised CHANGE, we seem to be getting more of the same, although admittedly more of the same that we had in the Clinton White House, not Dubya's neo-con creationist flying circus.

The reason I am writing this post is today's Telegraph newspaper, whose article "Profile: Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's new enforcer" had me choking on my sandwich. As is often the case with PR puff pieces masquerading as journalism the Telegraph did not allow for reader comments to be added after the article, hence the need to vent my spleen in these hallowed pages.

Being a PR puff piece one must assume that the aim of the article is to paint Rahm Emanuel in a light which the authors think will impress the punters. As in any mythologizing worth its salt, our hero must conquer the greatest adversity to come through the other side a stronger, wiser man. Unfortunately in Rahm's case the only adversity the authors have come up with was that he once cut his finger while working in a fast food resaturant, which ended in blood poisoning.

While I am the last man to underestimate the viciousness of a finger cut while slicing those burger patties, it just doesn't have enough of a Homerian ring to it to furnish its victim with instant street cred.

It gets even better.

To further cement Rahm's growing image of a bit of a hard man the authors then wheel out another anecdote (I quote): "At a dinner to celebrate President Clinton's first election victory, Mr Emanuel began to name those who he believed had earned his enmity. As he listed the names of those he saw as traitors, he grabbed a steak knife, stood up and began plunging the knife into the table and shouting "Dead! Dead! Dead!" after each name.".


I am not making this up.

I would suspect that had this happened in any country other than the US of A, save possibly Uganda in the times of Idi Amin, the perpetrator of these crimes against tablewood would have been quietly escorted from the premises by the folks in the white coats. In America, however, it is regarded with awe, proof that our man is not to be messed with. It's amazing what a continuous flow of gratuitous violence from Hollywood can inflict on an unsuspecting population.

Maybe the gulf with our american buddies is wider than I had started to believe when they elected President Barack Obama!