Well, all kinds of criticism, but there's this to consider:
(1) Wiggle Room for the President-elect: Selecting this guy who ran the DCCC and is known to be partisan means that Obama has effectively lassoed the Congressional Democrats. Obama can tack back towards the center as he wishes without losing the Dems on Capitol Hill. Why? Because Democrats in Congress know Emanuel, they are used to working with Emanuel, and they know Emanuel won't sell their interests out completely for "triangulated" Administration efforts...(sorry Bill, but you deserve the shot...Dick Morris! whose last name should be "Head"). Besides, he's a DLC type, so even if partisan, not particularly ideological, which makes him even better for holding the Dems together.
(2) The Bad Cop: Obama gets to be the considerate one of the pair. Emanuel takes all the heat for unsavory decisions, freezing out some of the interest groups, etc.
(3) Substance: (related to 2) Emanuel is not any sort of yes-man. He will provide Obama with substantive feedback during the policy decision-making process.
(4) Lightning Rod (related to 2): Emanuel gets to be the guy no one likes, shielding Obama from many of the inevitable slings and arrows directed towards "Administration Arrogance," the whole "who the hell do these guys think they are?" dynamic/rhetoric that all administrations have to deal with.
(5) Bringing the right knife to the fight: Washington politics is a knife-fight. Obama either isn't a knife fighter or doesn't want to appear to be one, but Emanuel doesn't care, has the reputation, relishes the reputation, and knows which end of the knife goes where. A necessary part of any Administration, just ask Ike. Seriously, who the hell goes to Washington these days and actually gets anything done without one of these guys around? Hmm. Lots of silence there in trying to answer that question? Well, that silence is eloquent.
Have you considered that a lot of conservative complaints about Emanuel may have more to do with fears that he will make the Obama Administration effective than with Emanuel being a poor selection?
UPDATE--See Sullivan, here. And Ambinder's post that Sullivan links, here.
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It's going to be an incredibly gifted administration--a welcome relief from the nightmare of the past eight years.
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