Washington  - Rahm Emanuel, the new chief of staff under president-elect Barack Obama, is a long-time Washington insider known for a hard-nosed but successful style.

Emanuel, 48, served as a senior advisor in the administration of former president Bill Clinton, distinguishing himself during Clinton's unlikely rise to power in 1992.

After being elected to the House of Representatives in 2002 from a district in his home town of Chicago, Emanuel rose quickly through the ranks in Congress.

Four years later, Emanuel was widely credited with orchestrating the Democrats' gains in the 2006 November elections, where the party retook control of both chambers of Congress for the first time since 1994.

In January 2007, he was rewarded with the position of Democratic Caucus chairman, making him fourth highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives.

Emanuel is the Jewish son of an Israeli immigrant, and his appointment was welcomed by Jewish groups. Israeli daily Maariv headlined its Emanuel story: "Our man in the White House."

A prolific fundraiser and top-notch political strategist, Emanuel has earned a combative reputation that won him both allies and enemies.

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee criticized the selection and referred to Emanuel by his nickname, "Rahmbo." Even Democratic strategist Paul Begala once called his party colleague "a cross between a hemorrhoid and a toothache."

But on policy, Emanuel is known as a pragmatic centrist. He led Clinton's effort to pass the North American Free-Trade Agreement, a treaty Obama suggested he wanted to renegotiate during the campaign.

Emanuel's ascendency - from career politician to what many regard the second-most important position in the White House - could be interpreted as a contradiction of Obama's core campaign theme.

Having just been elected as a candidate above "politics as usual," Obama's choice of a hardened veteran of Washington's bitter partisan battles of the last 20 years was not lost on Emanuel's past rivals.

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

Obama seemed to anticipate such criticism and pointed to Emanuel's ability to establish strong relations with ordinary voters despite his long time in Washington.

"Though Rahm understands how to get things done in Washington, he still looks at the world from the perspective of his neighbours and constituents on the north-west side of Chicago," Obama, a fellow Chicagoan, said in his announcement.

Emanuel's first choice of career was a ballet dancer, graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981. He received his master's degree in communications from Northwestern University four years later.

Married with three children, Emanuel said that he wrestled with whether to accept Obama's offer because of the strain the job of White House chief of staff would put on his family, currently living in Chicago. (dpa)