Reason to Like Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff

Spotted in today’s Times story on Barack Obama’s emergency economic agenda:

Mr. Obama is coordinating with Congressional Democrats behind the
scenes on the stimulus plans, which would include more jobless
benefits, food stamps, aid to financially strapped states and cities,
and spending for infrastructure projects that keep people at work. His chief liaison has been Mr. Emanuel.

“You
don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do
important things that you would otherwise avoid,” Mr. Emanuel said in
an interview. “In 1974 and 1978 we never dealt with it, and our
dependence on foreign oil never changed.”

Good stuff, except for that “foreign” part.