Legal Commentary

Rahmbo Unplugged or Compromiser In Chief?

By Jeralyn

Sunday's New York Times Magazine has an 8 page profile of Rahm Emanuel.

If Emanuel’s philosophy is to put points on the board, to take what you can get and then cut a deal, to make everything negotiable except success, then the White House is testing the limits of Rahmism.

....Emanuel occupies a unique niche in Obama’s White House. He makes up the rules of the game that others are supposed to follow, and he gets away with what others cannot. Emanuel seems to serve as a virtual prime minister, the most powerful chief of staff since James Baker managed the White House during Ronald Reagan’s first term.

The Times portrays him as a rattlesnake wired into every important decision:

At 50, he has the coiled energy of aides half his age, still as wiry thin as he was during his improbable days as a ballet dancer. He meets with Obama at the beginning of each day and again at the end, in between dipping his hands into virtually everything the White House does, from economic policy to national security. In any meeting with the president, he sits to Obama’s left and is typically called on at the end to summarize arguments and present his recommendations.

And here lies the rub:

Emanuel is far less concerned about the details of a bill than the ability to get it passed.

I wish these people would speak up louder:

Many Democrats, including quite a few in the White House, believe the real problem was not shutting out Republicans but trying too hard to work with them.

The article quotes Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake:

“A lot of people feel like opportunities were sacrificed to do something really good because Rahm’s instincts are to go and strike some sort of deal,” she told me. “That’s not what Obama ran on. That’s not what people want.”

What's in Rahm's future? The article says if the health care bill passes, he's likely to stay with Obama a long time. Even if it doesn't, it's unlikely he'd leave before the November elections. In the future, he'd like to run for Mayor of Chicago.

I'd like to see both him and his pal Lindsay Graham gone. We'd all be better off.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 13, 2010 (boomark / email).