I love these stories.
There's an entire category of behind the scenes players who know how the political game is played and are hired to play it. Here's the latest. Meet Jim Messina (not the guy in Loggins and Messina):
Messina, 39, has one of the lowest profiles of any key player in the top tiers of the Obama administration. But he has already become known as a key "fixer" in the operation -- both because of his extensive ties to political operatives and lawmakers, especially in the Senate, and because of his relentless focus of purpose that mirrors that of his immediate superior, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Messina's most renowned feat on Capitol Hill was straight out of Emanuel's no-holds-barred playbook, and it came shortly after President George W. Bush was reelected in 2004. With Democrats still in the minority and frustrated by their inability to block the Republican president or his congressional allies, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) tapped Messina's boss, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), to run a strategic effort to defeat a top legislative priority of Bush's second term, the partial privatization of Social Security.
As Baucus's chief of staff, Messina helped craft a message that was simple and straightforward, arguing that the Bush plan was risky and would cut benefits. His critics in the opposition party saw it as misleading at best, but it worked. The plan stalled quickly, and its defeat was credited by some for setting the Republicans on the path to losing control of Congress in the next midterm elections.
"Messina stepped in and delivered a beat-down sandwich, and in my view, it was the beginning of the end of Bush's approval ratings," said Barrett Kaiser, Baucus's communications director and a close friend of Messina.
If you want to know how politics is really played, here you go.
