Rahm Emanuel gets up at 5AM. To go swimming.

Skimming through some of the papers late last night, I started reading an article on Rahm Emanuel. Quite a fascinating figure and since he uses swear words a lot, I feel a bond.

Besides an interesting read, it was this paragraph which stuck with me, in particular:

"Mr. Emanuel, 49, starts his day shortly after 5 a.m., when he swims at the Y.M.C.A. and then hits the House gymnasium to pick up intelligence from colleagues from his days in Congress. At 7:30 a.m., he gathers top White House officials in his office and meets the full senior staff in the Roosevelt Room at 8:15 a.m. He then sees the president alone in the Oval Office for 10 minutes, a private session repeated at the end of each day."

Holy insert expletive here ! 5AM? To go swimming? And then to the gym?

Right, note to myself: must try harder.

Moving on: So Rahm Emanuel, as we all know, is the White House Chief of Staff. And of course, I looked up what a chief of staff actually does. I mean, its kind of self-explanatory but still vague enough to warrant a more detailed job description:

"The White House Chief of Staff is the highest-ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President, often dubbed “The Second-Most Powerful Man in Washington”.

The duties of the White House Chief of Staff vary greatly from one administration to another. However, he is responsible for overseeing the actions of the White House staff, managing the President’s schedule, and deciding who is allowed to meet with the President. "

So, this chief of staff is "more chief than staff" and "as the principal author of Mr. Obama’s do-everything-at-once strategy", seems to be involved in pretty much everything that goes on. Like EVERYTHING. Which leads me to a second article, which, in a nutshell, discusses Mr. Emanuel's role in the Middle East Peace process and how Israel views America in general.

The Israelis see Emanuel as their champion in this administration. Certainly due to his roots. Yet he has been increasingly subjected to criticism from not only the Far Right political wing in Israel, but also from the liberals. Why? Because, apparently, he is demanding more concessions from the Israelis than from the Arabs. I guess the Israelis figure this guy is jewish, he has to be with us. I have to commend Mr. Emanuel for doing whats right and not what the Israelis think he should do. And him being jewish actually gives him more freedom to do so. Otherwise, he would be called an anti-semite (which, in fact, some hardliners are doing)

Now, this whole Middle East thing is, as we know, a scalding hot topic. Me, personally, feel the Palestinians deserve their own state. And there will never be peace unless this happens. In my humble opinion.

We shall see.

Ok - thats why he gets up at 5AM. Sigh of relief. Means I can relax a bit and won´t start getting up until 5.30AM, seeing as I don´t have to save the world.

The man in action reviewing the first 100 days with Katie Couric (it is only me, but she felt a bit out of her league......kinda like Little Red Riding Hood confronting the big bad-charming-only-when-absolutely-required wolf)