Obama Offers Chief of Staff Post to Emanuel

President-elect Barack Obama offered the White House chief of staff position to Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the Wall Street Journal reports, and Obama aides said other critical economic appointments, especially that of Treasury secretary, will quickly follow.

The aides said Treasury chief contenders include Lawrence Summers, a Harvard University economist who served in the same position in the Clinton administration; New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner; former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; and Robert Rubin, another former Clinton Treasury secretary and director and senior counselor of Citigroup, the Journal reports.

Volcker has been a close adviser to Obama on the financial crisis, but is reluctant to take the job of Treasury secretary, people close to the campaign say, the Journal reports. Obama advisers say the new president is likely to name a White House advisory board to oversee the remaking of the financial industry's regulatory structure, which Volcker could serve as chairman of instead.

The newspaper reports people close to Emanuel say he hasn't yet made a decision about the offer.

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