I'm pretty pleased with Rouse for CoS.

[WilliamPitt]

Obama wasn't going to tap Dean or Kucinich, and besides, anyone who comes out of Daschle's camp is a nice big step in the right direction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/30/AR2010093007155_2.html?nav=hcmoduletmv&sid=ST2010093004161

(snip)

When Obama was elected to the Senate, he asked Rouse to be his chief of staff. By then, Rouse was a legend on Capitol Hill. A longtime and powerful aide to Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), who had just been defeated, Rouse was known as the "101st senator." He had close relationships with senators and often helped to manage tricky negotiations.

Rouse wrote a strategic plan for Obama to follow in the Senate. Two years later, as Obama was preparing to run for president, he came up with a similar plan. As the 2008 campaign drew to a close, Rouse once again handed Obama a thick black binder, this time with ideas for setting up the White House if he won.

It was Rouse who arranged the presidential transition, hiring John Podesta to run it.

Over the past 20 months, Rouse has been handed a string of messy problems and told to cut across bureaucratic lines to fix them. In late 2009, Obama asked him to grapple with the administration's policy for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after it became clear that the president would miss his self-imposed deadline to close the prison there. Although the facility has not been closed, officials credit Rouse with getting the process under control and coming up with an alternate site in Illinois.

More recently, Rouse helped create the administration's new consumer protection bureau, navigating competing internal factions (including between Emanuel and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett) to make Elizabeth Warren a senior adviser to the bureau.

On a personal level, colleagues describe Rouse as a calming presence, someone who is an "honest broker" and treats lower-level staff members well. After Daschle lost, one adviser recalls, Rouse spent weeks helping campaign aides find new jobs.

[Warpy]

1. My hope is that he's less of an ideologue and bully

Gibbsie, especially, deserves a break from bullying.

I don't expect a sudden shift to extreme left wing policy, or even left of center policy. Obama has never been that, although his rhetoric has been at times, causing disappointment when he fails to live up to it.

I'm just overjoyed Emanuel is gone.

[joeybee12]

2. Wait and see is my attitude...he's certainly not a progressive...

but Palin does hate him, so that's a plus.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. He sounds good...

Let's see how it plays out.

Recommended.

[derby378]

4. I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude

Obama allowed Rahm and the others to put him in a bubble and cut him of from the rest of the nation. I hope Rouse is going to be one of the first "pops" in the bubble.

[xchrom]

5. shrug -- we'll see. nt

[Better Believe It]

6. How familiar are you with Tom and Linda Daschle's past/current work with union busting law firms?

Tom Daschle is currently employed as a "Senior Policy Advisor" by one of the biggest corporate law firms that has an entire department that specializes in helping corporations "outsource" jobs and another department to help corporations maintain "a union-free environment" and assist unionized employers in their efforts to defeat labor strikes and undermine union contracts!

Well, isn't that just wonderful.

I don't think any former politician who supports working people and organized labor could accept any position with a law firm that engages in those types of activities, even if the former politician doesn't oversee or participate directly in that firms anti-worker, anti-union activity.

You might want to investigate the Daschle's employment backgrounds and activities a bit more.

There is a reasonable chance and danger that President Obama might select Thomas Daschle to become his permanent Chief of Staff.

I think we can both agree that we'd prefer someone who is not Wall Street or corporate representative and anti-labor to become Chief of Staff. I think we've seen enough of that in this White House.

I'm sure there must be some competent liberal/progressive beyond Dean and Kucinich that could be appointed.

Can you think of any?

Oh .... Thomas Daschle's law firm is DLA Piper. Well, here's what they brag about on their website:

DLA Piper became one of the largest legal service providers in the world in 2005 through a merger of unprecedented scope in the legal sector. While large in scale, the merger strategy was simple – to create an international legal practice capable of taking care of the most important legal needs of clients wherever they do business. We wanted our clients to rely on receiving the right service for their particular matter, whether requiring seamless coordination across multiple jurisdictions or delivery in a single location.

Building strong and substantial client relationships was and remains the compass for DLA Piper's business strategy and future development. With Frank Burch as Chairman of our Global Board, DLA Piper today has 3,500 lawyers in offices throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. We represent more clients in a broader range of geographies and practice disciplines than virtually any other law firm in the world. Our client commitment is also our brand – everything matters when it comes to the way we serve and interact with our clients. If it matters to them, it matters to us.


Our clients range from multinational, Global 1000, and Fortune 500 enterprises to emerging companies developing industry-leading technologies. They include more than half of the Fortune 250 and nearly half of the FTSE 350 or their subsidiaries. As we build our global practices, we remain committed to maintaining regional practices around the world where we already do great work for longstanding clients.

[treestar]

11. So anyone who ever worked for Tom Daschle is evil?

What has his wife got to do with it?

What has Rouse got to do with it?

Of course, you were not going to be happy with the choice no matter who it was, were you?

[Better Believe It]

12. I would never work for someone who is employed by a union busting outfit. How about you?

No problem with that?

If not, well we just have different principals and morals.

I'm sure President Obama can find someone who doesn't carry that baggage.

[treestar]

13. So you'd starve rather than work for someone who worked for a

"union busting outfit?"

Are you condemning lawyers here again? If I represent drivers accused of dui then that makes me evil, right?

Even "union busting outfits" are entitled to representation.

[Better Believe It]

14. Yes. I'd rather go to the food bank and homeless shelter than work for

and prostitute myself to some corporate union busting anti-worker law firm.

I didn't realize that Thomas Daschle was in such dire straits and was forced to work for a right-wing union busting corporate law firm .... either that or starve.

How did he manage to get himself into such difficulty having been a United States Senator with connections?

And you think such anti-labor outfits are "entitled" to "representation" in the government!

Why is that?

[treestar]

16. Representation by a lawyer

And I don't know if your "union busting outfit" conclusion is something I'd agree with, since I'm not going on your word alone.

How would there be any money for the food bank or the homeless shelter if nobody worked for one of those evil corporations.

[Better Believe It]

17. So what kind of union busting is Thomas Daschle's law firm engaged in? This kind.

Representing a legal firm that's specializes in flat out union busting for a fee is not the same as working for a business engaged in manufacturing, distribution, transportation, retail sales or numerous other common business activities.

Do you understand the difference?

You wrote: "I don't know if your "union busting outfit" conclusion is something I'd agree with, since I'm not going on your word alone."

You don't have to take my word for it. Here's some information posted on the website of the law firm DLA Piper, who Thomas Daschle serves as a senior policy advisor.

Labor-Management Relations

For our clients that are non-union, we provide advice and counseling on methods for improving employer-employee relations and maintaining a union-free environment. When union activity arises, we work closely with the company to combat organizing efforts and the election campaign. This may cover the entire spectrum from advice on strategies, methods, and techniques, to representation before the NLRB in unfair labor practice charges.

For our clients that are unionized, we provide assistance in all aspects of the management-union relationship, including the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, contract administration, grievances and arbitrations, representation before the NLRB and the courts, and union decertification. Our attorneys have extensive experience in obtaining injunctions in cases involving wildcat and mass picketing strikes, as well as persuading the NLRB to seek relief for illegal secondary boycotts. We have defended employers in virtually every type of unfair labor practice case under the NLRA and similar state statutes such as California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

We help our clients implement preventive measures, as well as representing them in administrative and court proceedings arising out of the various federal, state, and local laws and regulations prohibiting discrimination in employment based on race, sex, age, religion, national origin, and handicap, and those pertaining to equal pay. We have found that early representation helps avoid later problems and minimizes exposure. Most administrative charges of discrimination can be handled quickly and economically.

Litigation is an important aspect of EEO law. Our lawyers have represented companies in the defense of EEO charges and lawsuits throughout the United States, in both major class actions brought by the government or private parties and individual charges and suits.


Occupational Safety and Health

We have provided counsel and handled litigation pertaining to OSHA standards and citations. Our lawyers have represented corporations that have been cited by OSHA in some of the most serious fatality cases in the past 10 years, including a successful defense of one of the first criminal MOSH cases.

http://www.dlapiper.com/us/services/detail.aspx?service=3

As you can see, Daschle's law firm doesn't limit itself to union busting and strike breaking. They also help companies defend themselves from Equal Employment Opportunity and OSHA lawsuits.

Nice.

[Brickbat]

18. Thanks for posting this information.

I didn't know about it, and now I do. :mad:

[Scurrilous]

7. K & R

:thumbsup:

[AtomicKitten]

8. Rouse is a pro and I think will be an asset to the Obama Admin. nt

[tilsammans]

9. Sounds good to me!

A tremendous improvement over Rahm-bo! :applause:

[snooper2]

10. Rouse for Class Of Service

never used that one...

Is that a new DSCP setting :P

[Tatiana]

15. This is an upgrade. The problem is in the Senate and Rouse is a Senate fixer.

The House still functions, but the Senate cannot get anything passed at all. Rouse will help out.

[Arkana]

19. He sounds like a decent guy.

DU already hates him, of course, but that's to be expected.

[WilliamPitt]

20. (facepalm)

Sad, but true.

But then again, DU might be right. Wouldn't be the first time...or the thousandth.

So.

;)