Obama Team Anything but Shy and Retiring

By HELENE COOPER
NYT

CHICAGO

Whatever happened to Mr. No-Drama-Obama?

After running a campaign known for its almost military-like cool and discipline, the president-elect is now assembling a staff whose members are known for their combativeness.

His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is a take-no-prisoners politician known for his willingness to butt heads with adversaries. Mr. Obama’s top liaison to Congress, Phil Schiliro, is a skilled political infighter. His press secretary, Robert Gibbs, is no shrinking violet, as one of the few people who can boast of shouting down Sean Hannity of Fox News on Mr. Hannity’s own show.

And then there’s the consideration that Mr. Obama is giving to Lawrence H. Summers, the outspoken former Harvard president, as Treasury secretary, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state, a move so explosively bold that it has sent the Washington press corps into overdrive.

Some kind of shift was inevitable in the transition from politics to governing, political experts say. But by surrounding himself with forceful personalities, Mr. Obama may also be preparing himself and his administration for real battles.

(More here.)