The new power players.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6831897/site/newsweek/

The Bush legacy will be cemented, or sunk, on Capitol Hill. A user's guide to the key members of Congress who stand at his side—and in his way.


A veteran of the Vietnam-era Army and CIA covert ops, Rep. Rob Simmons of Connecticut knows how to survive in perilous situations—such as the one he finds himself in as a moderate Republican in a Democratic district. When George W. Bush put Social Security "reform" at the top of his presidential wish list, Simmons executed a tactical retreat. Asked by reporters whether he would vote to divert payroll-tax receipts into private savings accounts—the controversial core of the Bush concept—Simmons declared: "I would not consider that something I would support." His avowal won praise from some bipartisan-minded Democrats.

But not Rep. Rahm Emanuel. The new chair of the Democrats' campaign committee in the House, a Chicagoan reared in the House of Daley, he ordered an immediate strike. "We did some quick research and found some stuff," Emanuel said—including a letter that Simmons had signed in May 2001 supporting "personal retirement accounts" for younger workers paying into Social Security. Emanuel blasted e-mails and faxes to local newspapers in eastern Connecticut and talked his way onto drive-time radio in Hartford. Simmons argued that the drain on the budget caused by the war on terrorism justified the shift. No way, said Emanuel (nicknamed "Rahm-bo" by his allies), who then lobbed the all-purpose accusation of flip-floppery. "How can seniors in Norwich or Groton trust Rob Simmons with their Social Security checks," Emanuel asked, "when there's no telling what his next position will be?"