rahm is the new josh is the new rahm

Commenter Ben makes a very good point: Rahm Emanuel was the inspiration for one the West Wing's finest characters Josh Lyman (the show continues to exert its peculiar influence over real life). So -to get a flavour of how Emanuel might operate we need to do little more than watch this great clip. In it, Josh is trying to persuade a congressman to support a bill he's threatening to vote against:

Comments

[rellis]

Why don't we treat Joe Lieberman this way?

[Anon]

Surely some mistake? Josh wasn't Bartlett's chief of staff, but his deputy chief of staff (and - as you'll know from your observations of No.10 - really it's the deputy that runs everything. The chief of staff, not sure what he does).

[Ben]

Cheers for the name check Marbury! I wonder if all these similarities had Joe Biden checking his pulse come election night?

But as a response to anon, if you watch through to the end of the seventh season you'll see how Josh/Rahm indeed ends up as chief of staff to Santos/Obama (alternatively 'Santama').

[Anon]

Thanks Ben. You're right, I'd forgotten that entire season!