Let me start this post by saying I'm no Rahm Emanuel fan. I don't like his vicious hatred of Howard Dean and the 50-state strategy (which I helped kick start back in the '04 election). I don't like how he's stared down the base sometimes. He's not a guy I think I'd want to chill out with.
But that's why he's the right person for Chief of Staff in an Obama administration.
I think back to 1993 for this one. The first and maybe biggest mistake that Bill Clinton (another fresh, young president) made was picking his longtime friend Thomas "Mac" McClarty to be Chief of Staff. McClarty was (and is) by all indications a wonderful guy. He quickly earned the nickname "Mac the Nice."