The brute force Chicago politics of the Obama White House

Drudge highlighted a story about Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon.  The point of the story is that he’s not a guy who can be easily intimidated.  That’s good.  We like people with backbone.

What fascinated me about the article is it’s unembarrassed descriptions of the crude, brute force tactics the President and his staff use:

“Rahm does not yell at me,” DeFazio said, “because he knows that I yell back.”

[snip]

Obama himself has taken notice.

“Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother,” Obama told DeFazio during a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, according to members afterward.

Yelling?  Keeping score?  It’s more like a bad episode of The Godfather than it is a description of the highest office in the land.