In American politics, there is a small group of leaders who are, to borrow a term from Hollywood,

hitmakers.

Everything they touch seems to turn to gold.

There is perhaps no better example of this in democratic politics than Rom, a manual.

For those of you who need a refresher,

Rom is a former Bill Clinton advisor, turned Illinois congressman, turned D-Triple C-chair,

turned Barack Obama chief of staff, turned mayor of Chicago, and currently,

he's Joe Biden's ambassador to Japan, and to add yet another honor to Rom's long career,

he's also this week's guest on the show.

I'm Ryan Liza, this is Playbook Feet Dive.

At 63, Rom, and everyone calls him Rom, has had quite a run in politics.

As D-Triple C-chair, he was instrumental in engineering the Democrats blow out win

in the 2006 midterms. As Obama's chief of staff, he was at the forefront of stimulus,

Obama care, Dodd Frank, and other big debates that defined the first half of the Obama presidency.

As mayor of Chicago, Rom led the nation's third largest city through one of its most tumultuous

periods. Unlike many politicians who go out of their way to be agreeable and to satisfy every

constituency, Rom is famously confrontational. Long ago, his aggressive style earned him the

nickname Rombo, after Stallone's 80s action hero, and many of his most prescient quotations have

been too thick with expletives to print. His style has served him well in some instances,

and it's been his downfall in others. Recently, in what might sound like a practical joke,

President Biden has given Rom a new assignment, to be a diplomat. Since March of 2022,

Rom has been the ambassador to Japan, and not surprisingly, he's shaken things up.

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