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Rahm Emanuel has the right priorities. When news broke on President-Elect Obama's selection of Emanuel, many people assumed it was a done deal. Rahm wasn't so sure.
The Times Online reports that Emanuel's family weighed heavy on his mind:
"A veteran of Bill Clinton’s Administration, Mr Emanuel said that he knows “what it means to a family” to be Chief-of-Staff — 15-hour days from before dawn to late-at-night and being at the hub of every big decision.
“I used to joke in the White House that on Fridays, I would say: ‘It’s two more workdays till Monday’,” he said. But, back then, “I didn’t have children and I do have children now.”
He asked: “What is the cost? This is not a professional choice. This is a personal choice about what my wife and I want to do for our family.”
The Times also reports that family commitments are becoming a common theme in the Obama administration with rumors that Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe took himself out of the running for a top job because his wife is expecting a baby soon.
We have an incoming administration that reflects this new age of Fatherhood with men walking a tightrope usually reserved for women - balancing family and career. With Obama's reputation as an involved family man and with many men in his administration openly concerned about the possible affects of their high powered, highly demanding jobs on the family dynamic, we are seeing men taking up a transformative role in childrearing.
Gloria Steinem noted this evolution Wednesday on The Oprah Winfrey show as she discussed how both President-Elect Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden focus on a father's responsibility in child rearing:
"To have two men in the national leadership … who actually are the first two in my lifetime to talk about male responsibility for children through policy and also personally, that is of huge, huge importance to women."
So you know what this means - one of the rooms in the White House is going to have to be converted into a staffed nursery for all the kids to hang out in, nothing like "Bring Your Kid to Work Day" everyday!
More Obama Administration Family Links:
- Obama will adopt a dog for his daughters - Why that's important and tips for adopting a family dog
- Change.gov - The official site of President-elect Obama - He's asking for your ideas
- Should the Obama family adopt?
- Choosing Barak Obama's "first puppy"
Comments
Tereece: great article. As a boomer woman it warms my heart to see the inclusion of family concerns on the job. My big question however, is how it would have been taken if a woman with school age children expressed the same concerns. In corporate America there is still a double standard on that.
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