There are some confused reports coming in that congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) has either accepted, or is seriously considering accepting, the role of President Obama’s chief of staff. (UPDATE: It’s official.)

As a former senior adviser to the Clinton administration, and current chair of the DCCC, that would be a pretty high-profile pick. And assuming that, unlike Karl Rove as Deputy Chief of Staff, he stays out of policy discussions, then it’s probably a really smart pick.

Here’s the thing about Rahm Emanuel: as a Democratic strategist and all-around political hack, he’s great. He’s really good at winning elections and pressing a partisan advantage, and picking him for CoS suggests that Obama is serious about getting an ambitious progressive agenda passed in his first 100 days.

But as an actual legislator, Emanuel’s been simply awful. He’s a proud champion of the Democratic Leadership Committee, he was an outspoken supporter of the Iraq War, and he was involved in crafting an odious FISA “agreement” that basically handed our civil liberties over to the Republicans to do what they wished with them.

But that’s not an argument against making him Chief of Staff–it actually strengthens his case. Despite his pugnacious partisan style, he’ll be seen as a moderate, and he’ll be able to put his talents to good use while having to adhere with the Obama agenda–which is, by far, superior to the Emanuel agenda. So I hope he accepts, or has already accepted, the offer.

One more fun fact about Emanuel for The West Wing devotees: The character of Josh Lyman was based on Rahm Emanuel.

Photo Credit: house.gov