Rahm Emanuel accepts job as Obama chief of staff

WASHINGTON: Hard-charging Democratic congressman Rahm Emanuel has accepted the position of chief of staff in president-elect Barack Obama's administration, a Democratic said on Thursday.

Emanuel's decision to accept the crucial job, which controls access to the president, makes him the first senior level official to join the nascent Obama administration, two days after his historic election triumph.

Illinois lawmaker Emanuel, 48, knows Washington inside-out as a veteran of the Clinton White House, and is credited with masterminding the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in 2006.

Emanuel, who had been tipped as a possible future speaker of the House, had been agonizing over whether to take the high-pressure position, fearing the impact of the long hours on his young family.

"When I was in the White House, I didn't have children. I do know something about the White House, and I do have children now. I have a family," Emanuel said in an interview broadcast by MSNBC on Thursday.

"This is a personal choice about what my wife and I have to do for our family as much as what I want to do with my career," he said.

Emanuel is known as a sharp-elbowed, sometimes profane political operator who is fiercely committed to Democratic partisan ideals and often has harsh words for Republicans.

John Boehner, the Republican minority leader in the House quickly issued a statement about his long-time adversary's appointment.

"This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center," Boehner said in a statement.