The Note: Thousand Day Stare

Nov. 6, 2008— -- What Rahm Emanuel knows as he prepares to take the most important job in the Obama White House:

1. Mandates and honeymoons sound really nice until you start counting votes.

2. There's nothing' in a thumpin' that can't be served right back.

3. John Dingell and Dave Obey didn't need Barack Obama to become chairmen -- and don't need him to stay chairmen, either.

4. It was easier to keep the Rahm pace before he had kids.

5. He'd rather be on this team than any other [bleepin'] team right now.

6. Not taking the job he's been offered would cause a bigger public snafu for his friend than anything he went through during the course of his campaign.

The early moves in the transition period may say more about the kind of president Obama will be than anything he did or said during the campaign.

(And, in reverse, the early words pouring out of what was once the McCain-Palin campaign tells us more about what kind of operation that really was -- and that there's at least a few someones still gunning for Sarah Palin.)

In turning to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., for chief of staff, Obama is signaling that he wants to get things done, not make friends, and not let fears of public perceptions guide his early choices.

When Obama and Vice-President Elect Joe Biden get their first round of full-on security briefings on Thursday, they'll be continuing to learn far more than they say. (Still no press conference scheduled for of our newly elected ticket -- though there's at least that possibility on Thursday)

The biggest theme sounding around Chicago now: After a campaign that leaned on the audacity to hope, this needs to be a transition that avoids the unreality of hype. (All those tears, all this emotion, all the expectations -- this is energy that needs somewhere to go.)

Starting with the lack of fireworks Tuesday night -- and a speech that was somewhere between restrained and solemn -- and up through the decision to avoid the public for a full day Wednesday, our president-elect wants the starry-eyed dreamers to get to work.

"President-elect Barack Obama has begun an effort to tamp down what his aides fear are unusually high expectations among his supporters, and will remind Americans regularly throughout the transition that the nation's challenges are substantial and will take time to address," Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg write in The New York Times.

"While the energy of his supporters could be a tremendous political asset as Mr. Obama works to enact his agenda after taking office in January, his aides said they were looking to temper hopes that he would be able to solve the nation's problems or fully reverse Bush administration policies quickly and easily, especially given the prospect of a deep and long-lasting recession," they report. "They said they would discourage the traditional yardstick for measuring the accomplishments of a new president -- the first 100 days. Mr. Obama told an interviewer toward the end of his campaign that it was more appropriate to talk about the first 1,000 days."

"[Obama's] temperament as a candidate suggests a president not given to highs and lows, and his campaign foreshadows a White House more orderly than those of the two most recent Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter," Dan Balz writes in The Washington Post.

"The debate that is coming will be over how large his early agenda will be and how quickly he will move to try to enact it," Balz writes. "One adviser noted that there is a difference between being bold and being rash, suggesting that, as president, Obama will set big goals for the country but with a realistic timetable."

Karl Rove gives credit where it's do (the Davids Plouffe and Axelrod) but sound a warning: "Many Americans were drawn to Mr. Obama because they saw in him what they wanted to see. He became a large vessel into which voters placed their hopes," Rove writes in his Wall Street Journal column. "This can lead to disappointment and regret. What of the woman who, in the closing days of the campaign, rejoiced that Mr. Obama would pay for her gas and take care of her mortgage, tasks that no president can shoulder?"

Leading the charge: a friend about much has been and will be said, little that would use words like "hope," "dream," and "nice."

"To many Democrats, including some who are close to both men, Mr. Obama's choice of Mr. Emanuel to run the White House seems at odds with the atmosphere Mr. Obama enforced at his Chicago campaign headquarters. The motto there was 'No drama with Obama," in contrast with the backbiting and shakeups in rivals' campaigns,' Jackie Calmes writes in The New York Times.

"Some Democrats say former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who is as laid-back as Mr. Emanuel is brusque, would be a better fit. Several have privately expressed or relayed reservations to Mr. Obama about Mr. Emanuel. To one Mr. Obama replied, 'Rahm's grown a lot.' "

"In turning to Mr. Emanuel and [John] Podesta, Mr. Obama sought out two of the hardest-hitting veterans of President Bill Clinton's administration, known for their deep Washington experience, savvy and no-holds-barred approach to politics," The New York Times' Peter Baker and Jeff Zeleny report. "Neither is considered a practitioner of the 'new politics' that Mr. Obama promised on the campaign trail to bring Republicans and Democrats together, suggesting that the cool and conciliatory new president is determined to demonstrate toughness from the beginning."

Wait until the nation starts hearing Rahm stories: "Rep. Rahm Emanuel might not appear to be the obvious choice for White House chief of staff for a president-elect who speaks eloquently of setting aside partisan differences and bringing the country together," the Chicago Tribune's Naftali Bendavid writes. "The Illinois congressman, after all, is best known as something of a Democratic political assassin. From his days as a top aide to President Clinton to his recent role leading the Democrats to a House majority, Emanuel has relentlessly attacked his foes and gone ruthlessly after anyone who stood in his way."

Geoff Earle, in the New York Post: "H.R. Haldeman, White House chief of staff to President Richard Nixon, famously said, 'Every president needs a son of a bitch, and I am Nixon's.' And many observers believe Emanuel fits nicely in that slot."