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Thursday, November 06, 2008

For those who thought Obama would put us bloggers out of business
Posted by Jill | 5:29 AM
Rahm Fucking Emanuel?

This is the best you can do?

Rahm Emanuel? The guy tho fought Howard Dean, without whom the next president would be named "John McCain", tooth and nail about the 50-state strategy and tried to have him booted from the chairmanship of the DNC? The guy whose idea of strategy in presidential politics was to pour money into states that were a sure bet anyway and hope that maybe Florida and Ohio might go your way and get you the victory?

Rahm Emanuel? The guy who drove a nascent Democratic star in the person of Paul Hackett out of politics for good after insisting that Sherrod Brown, a good "party man", should run against Mike DeWine in Ohio in 2006? Sherrod Brown is a perfectly good Senator but Paul Hackett was a potential star who could have sold the Democratic brand for decades to come to the very swing voters that are always wooed so heavily at election time.

Rahm Emanuel? The guy who decided that a good, honest, well-known and popular progressive named Christine Cegelis wasn't the right candidate for Illinois' 6th district because you don't dare run against Captain Codpiece's war? It was Rahm Emanuel, having learned absolutely nothing from the infamous Max Cleland/Saxby Chambliss race of 2002, who machinated the moving of an Iraq War vet named Tammy Duckworth who had lost both legs in Iraq into the district under the assumption that no one would dare criticize a war amputee. No one knew who Duckworth was, so no one was there to defend her when her opponent, Peter Roskam, accused her of wanting to "cut and run" from Iraq. Duckworth is a brave and good woman who was as ill served by Barack Obama's would-be chief of staff as she was by Peter Roskam.

Rahm Emanuel was quick to take credit for the Democrats' takeover of the House in 2006, but as Paul Lukasiak pointed out at the time, if Rahm had had his way, the Democrats would have spent the next two years still in the wilderness. But hey...Rahm would have still been on the talk shows, and isn't that all that really matters?

The Hackett/Brown and Cegelis/Duckworth fiascoes is what makes Rahm Emanuel, as far as I'm concerned, the poster child for the Democratic Party's long sojourn in the wilderness. The future of the party is with Obama and with Howard Dean at the helm of the DNC, bringing the kids into the fold and showing that we don't have to be the party of glad-handing and hackery. Choosing this odious hack as his chief of staff is not the most auspicious of beginnings for Obama, though it's one that was predictable. After all, only Republicans thought Obama was the most liberal Senator. The rest of us knew better.

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9 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I know, I know. Emmanuel is not our ally, and yet even at Hullabaloo, they would rather have him in the Cabinet than the House.

It's not just that we can't remember the Republicans spent the last eight years punching us in the face and telling us we did it, we can't even stop the Vichy Dems.

That is really sad, and bodes ill.
11/6/08, 6:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Keep your friends close keep your enemies closer?
11/6/08, 9:01 AM  
Blogger D. said...
The Chief of Staff is the person taxed with whispering "Remember thou art mortal" into the ear of the emperor, right?

Oh, wait.

Getting Emmanuel out of the House is a good thing, and he's no Rumsfeld, but it's like trading a semi-good pitcher to the other league and then having to face him in the Series.
11/6/08, 9:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
d: Still better than trading your up-and-coming left-handed flamethrowing prospect for an untameable wildman whose shoulder gives out shortly after acquiring him -- then watching the lefty lead his team to a Series you missed for a shortage of pitching.

Ask the Mets.
11/6/08, 9:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Here's the thing: Chief of Staff doesn't decide the agenda. Okay, CoS is a gatekeeper to their boss, but Rahm isn't going to be making policy as CoS. Yes, Rahm's wrong on many issues, and he will have a voice in the White House, but once the decision is made, his job will be to make it happen.

Rahm is a fighter, an arm-twister, and that can't hurt coming out of the Oval.
11/6/08, 10:57 AM  
Blogger D. said...
rishathra: The Mets have been doing some variation of that for thirty plus years, going back to Ryan-for-Fregosi.

You'd think they'd learn.
11/6/08, 11:51 AM  
Blogger Hank Kalet said...
I can't argue with much of what you say -- except for your observation about Hackett. Sherrod Brown was exactly the kind of populist that was needed in the party. Brown is among the most progressive Dems around and one of the few to challenge the NAFTA/free trade orthodoxy that grew up during the much overrated Clinton years, opposed the war in Iraq and is a staunch defender of LGBT rights. Brown, who was a member of the House progressive caucus, also had previous success in statewide races. Hackett, remember, lost his race for Congress in Ohio and was seen as a somewhat moderate Democrat. He would have been a fine candidate had Brown not shown up.
11/6/08, 1:02 PM  
Blogger Bob said...
I'm a little disappointed. If Rahm had had his way we wouldn't be looking at a blue VA, NC (with Dole gone), IN, & CO. Depends on why Barack chose Rahm. Probably because he wants to overcome the kind of resistance Clinton had from a Democratic congress in his first two years, which contributed mightily to the '94 disaster. I trust that Barack will quickly establish to Rahm that the President is The Boss.
11/6/08, 2:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I assumed it would be Daschle so you can see how little I know. I'm inclined to trust Obama, but I am waiting to see what falls out about this choice. I can see that it is troubling to many. I am concerned given that I think H. Dean had a brilliant strategy that ran perfectly it seems. Everyone cannot be pleased no matter what choices are made no doubt.
11/6/08, 3:52 PM  
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