| | Incoming White House chief of staff: Keep my House seat warm
 President-elect Barack Obama's choice for chief of staff hasn't yet given up his current spot in the U.S. House of Representatives and won't be officially on the job until Inauguration Day in January.
But he's already telling associates that he eventually wants his seat back.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Obama's somewhat controversial choice for one of the most critical positions in any president's Cabinet, apparently intends to return to Congress in the future and almost certainly vie for House Speaker.
Fran Spielman of the Chicago Sun-Times reported at the end of a blog post that the departing, thrice-reelected lawmaker "has told Democratic ward bosses that he would like to reclaim the seat after a few years as chief of staff."
Emanuel has long coveted the speakership, telling friends even before his election to Congress that his one goal in life was "to become the first Jewish speaker of the House."
His appointment to the Obama administration, in a role some have called "the second most-powerful" in Washington after the presidency, has put a crimp in those plans for now.
The Chicago native's ascendance to the White House has also not come without controversy.
Within days of Emanuel's selection, his father was quoted as saying, "Obviously, he will influence the President to be pro-Israel. Why shouldn't he do it? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floor of the White House." Emanuel apologized for his father's remarks.
Emanuel has also come under close scrutiny for his purported conversations with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich--recently arrested by the FBI over corruption charges and facing impeachment calls--over who might be appointed to fill the Senate seat Obama recently vacated.
Heavy media focus on Emanuel's possible Blagojevich links caused him to complain to a cameraman, "I'm getting regular death threats. You've put my home address on national television. I'm pissed at the networks. You've intruded too much." He also reportedly refused to work with the Obama transitional team until the media stakeout hounding him backed off.
Emanuel's very selection to head the Obama team raised eyebrows among some analysts and bloggers, and seemed to chagrin one prominent Democrat who apparently had his eye on the job. Former presidential contender Howard Dean--who many feel helped propel Obama to the Oval Office with his vaunted fifty-state strategy--quipped to talk show host D.L. Hughley that though he was right about his election strategy, he'd "rather be chief of staff."
The complete Spielman blog post at the Sun-Times is available in full here.
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