Progressive Group: Rahm's A 'Cancer On The Democratic Party,' Should 'Flatly Go Away'

News that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley would not run for reelection produced almost instantaneous speculation that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, not shy about his ambitions to be Chicago's mayor, would make a run for the post.

It also quickly produced the reflexive Rahm-bashing that has become a staple of the progressive community, which increasingly views him as the point person for the ills that have beset this White House.

"Rahm is unfit to represent Democrats in office," Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green said. "He's a cancer on the Democratic Party. Democrats' current 2010 situation is due to a weak Rahm Emanuel mentality that says water down real reform at the urging of Republicans and corporations, thus making Democratic reform less popular with voters than the real deal would have been. If Democrats had passed the overwhelmingly-popular public option and broken up the big banks when they had the chance, they'd be cruising for a landslide victory right now."

Over at Slate, Dave Weigel makes the argument that the PCCC statement is primarily a fundraising venture. And, indeed, Green's first push was a petition, already signed on its release by more than 1,700 people pledging not to support Emanuel for any run for political office.

But the crux of Rahm-hatred is not simply institutional benefit. There is a genuine sense that the White House Chief of Staff took the euphoria of the Obama brand and whittled it down into something more compromised and corporate. With that in mind, it would seem to make sense for the PCCC to cheer Emanuel's departure from the administration, not to lash out against a move to Chicago.

Wouldn't Emanuel leaving the White House fit the PCCC's larger objective? "Yep," Green replied. But, he added, "He should flatly go away. No golden parachute..."

Comments

[cavallo]

08:55 PM on 09/17/2010

Is Rahm Emanuel a citizen of Israel? Does he have an Israeli passport? Is his brother in the Israeli air force?

If the answers to these questions are "yes," where do Emanuel's loyalties lie, in Israel, or in the U.S.?

No wonder Israel has no intention of stopping their depredations, torture and killing of Palestinian people. Israel has its frontman in the White House.

[parlimentMike]

11:50 PM on 09/08/2010

Why, would a different person pick Rahm's replacement?

[mcartri]

11:04 PM on 09/08/2010

Obama chose Rahm because Emanuel is a reflection of Obama's views. If Rahm is a cancer on the Democratic Party, what does that make the person who allowed the infection to begin?

[goblue137]

04:20 PM on 09/08/2010

I live in Chicago and no way does he ever get my vote.

[Frog in a pot]

04:02 PM on 09/08/2010

Obama inherited a coup and international one.Facilitated with the help of Rubins,Summers and Rahm.They helped get the repeal of glass-stegall that allowed the banks to bankrupt most of the world and all of the west.They set this up along with people like Phil Gramm...who would have been Mccains sec of treasury.{Gramm was a democrat before he changed parties....boll weevil}

It wouldnt have mattered who was elected in that reguard.The only real difference is if a republican were elected we would be in Iran by now.


Pretending we still live in a democracy may be comforting but its not true.”

[clearwaterclearmind]

04:15 PM on 09/08/2010

two republicans introduced the repeal of glass-steagle, and a democrat signed it into law.

bipartisanshit.

[Frog in a pot]

04:19 PM on 09/08/2010

They are in both parties,Cover the bases.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

01:57 PM on 09/08/2010

Rahm Emanuel is a highly complex character. Rahm and his DLC wrenched the Democratic Party to the right. That was bad enough, but it got worse. Rahm and his coterie actually believed what they did elected Clinton. Wrong as wrong can be. Bush Sr. was ousted because of the economy. Paul Tsongas would have won that election. They continued to believe the winning formula could be refined by Dick Morris -- and they moved hard right again in 1996. They ended Glass Steagle and Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) -- which they labelled "welfare reform." In other words, Rahm represented the corporations (Reaganomics) and an old-fashioned cut and thrust school of quid pro quo politics that is a as passe as LBJ. Rahm got a golden parachute from the Clinton White House with a sweet deal in banking that saw him "earn" $16.2 million in only 30 months - ie. slightly over $500K per month! Then he went to Congress and landed on Obama's team in 2008 - after Obama defeated Rahm's dearly beloved first choice, Hillary, in Montana. To his credit, Rahm did carry a lot of heavy water to Israel, where he is hated more than in America. Netanyahu hates him. Netanyahu's hatred of Emanuel is public knowledge in Israel. Months ago, Netanyahu begged Obama to axe him. Rahm would make a terrible corruption-prone mayor of Chicago, so watch him scurry back to the banks. Rahm is done in the Democratic Party, a dead Dinosaur.

[Frog in a pot]

03:58 PM on 09/08/2010

Rahm is a neo-con in sheeps clothing.

[bweve05]

12:23 PM on 09/08/2010

I may not always agree with Rahm, but at least he has a backbone and isnt afraid to go to war with the republicans. Other than grayson, he seems to be the only one these days who isnt soft. For that I give him credit.

[Highlulu]

12:50 PM on 09/08/2010

your joking right? wow talk about taking the media's lines hook line and sinker. pretty much every issue across the board rahm has been fighting against progressives for the positions of "compromise" with the republicans. (you know, the kind of compromise where the republicans take concession after concession and then give 0 votes in return).

rahm ONLY has a spine when going after other dems.

[bweve05]

03:21 PM on 09/08/2010

You dont remember his words about republican obstructionalism during the health care debate? republicans are scared of this dude. Just because he dosnt always agree with you dosnt mean you become blind to the fact that he can stick it to them regularly. Dont be blind like the republicans

[Frog in a pot]

04:00 PM on 09/08/2010

You are kidding right?
He never went to war with the republicans ,he went to war with the progressives and liberals.
HE is the reason we got a republican healthcare bill.
And NAFTA?
The repeal of Glass-stegall?
He is a bankster and a crook.

[bweve05]

04:59 PM on 09/08/2010

uh no im not kidding... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHhZa-3hExo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPSozkw3RWk&feature=related ....so dont get your panties in a bunch

[meko]

10:52 AM on 09/08/2010

To a Chicagoan, Daley leaving is the biggest news in years. It affects my job prospects, my taxes, my safety, my transportation, the quality of the air I breathe and every other aspect of my community.

Daley has prevented anyone rising in stature in order to avoid a challenger. The threat of Rahm coming here, privatizing and squandering more of our assets, setting up more TIFs for cronies and leaving middle-class homeowners to make up the difference in taxes, and expanding pay-to-play politics is very real.

We have to work to stop this now.

Quigley for Mayor. (but just this once I'll settle for the lesser of two evils if the main evil is Rahm).

[Matt Herren]

10:08 AM on 09/08/2010

Welcome to Chicago politics... on the national level.

[hecman]

09:44 AM on 09/08/2010

I'd say F**K Rahm he has nothing to offer but goodies to the corporate world. He will be a good match for Chicago policies. Maybe he can hire Blago as his adviser they will make a good couple.
The Right GOP machine will miss him dearly he has done more for them than any republican will do.

[Matt Herren]

10:11 AM on 09/08/2010

While what you're saying is true... this is hardly exclusive to Rahm Emanuel.

[bmcchgo]

12:02 PM on 09/08/2010

I get the sense from the national media and punditry that Rahm being elected Mayor of Chicago is a foregone conclusion, eh?

Don't bet your Goldline coin collection on it.

First of all, the Democratic primary (Feb 2011, need to file by Turkey Day) will be as crowded as Tea Baggers lining up to challenge Lindsay Graham. So, one candidate could win with just say the Black vote or the Gay vote or the Progressive Dem vote. Rahm has no natural constituency outside the Beltway and the DLC. And the meida crowning him Mayor FOr Life without a vote will not sit well with my fellow Chicagoans.

[meko]

01:52 PM on 09/09/2010

Go Dart, Hoffman and Quigley.

[MoreOptions]

09:40 AM on 09/08/2010

Obama did not promise a public option. He promised HCR that largely matched what we got. The auto rescue saved 200,000 direct jobs in the US and perhaps 2 million related ones. He also saved the country from a financial meltdown with the stumulus. He promised a new non-partisan approach which certainly he tried but certainly failed at. I wouldn't fault him for that when you have a GOP that opposes him 99.5% on any given legislation. These are all pretty astounding and Emanual, foul mouth and all, was part of that.

I would truly like to have universal HC, restore all the regulations that have been removed in the past 20 years, let ALL the Bush tax cuts expire and the stimulus to be at least double what it was. But there are political realities. Obama never ran as a progressive, so why bash him by those standards?

My main concern at this point is that the country is about to hand the fire department back over to the arsonists, and this Obama bashing by progressives is not helping.

[meko]

10:56 AM on 09/08/2010

There are no meaningful cost controls in the HCR bill, just mandates on consumers. The title is pretty but the long-term effects of the legislation will be devastating to the middle class. And Democrats can't hold majorities forever, so you can forget about subsidies masking the pain.

The stimulus package was smaller than it needed to be and mostly tax cuts. Big businesses are sitting on that money to drive down wages. The money from the easing at the Federal reserve is being eaten up by rent-taking by banks and large corporations using it for mergers and acquisitions (leading to more job losses).

Rahm's Blue Dogs were the biggest obstacle to all of the legislation promised by Democrats. It was Blanche Lincoln who stopped the Public Option. It was Christopher Dodd who stopped the Volker rule.

Obama was elected by a coalition that included progressives and he hasn't delivered. Rahm tells those people to f-off. Maybe they should listen.

[Willyshock]

09:36 AM on 09/08/2010

Rahm, Please go away. Please go far away. Come to Chicago and run, but please lose. You are a republican trojan horse who has done nothing but diminish the Obama presidency. You are the prime reason this president stumbles flaccidly between issues, never standing still long enough to seem to have a spine. Your opposition to Howard Dean's 50 state strategy was thoroughly documented when you and Dean squared off for the DNC chairman's job. Dean was right, you were wrong, and the first thing you did as COS at the White House was kick Dr. Dean to the curb. You have accomplished what your republican masters sent you to do, which is to destroy the Obama presidency. Mission Accomplished. Now, go away.

[american-dolt]

09:23 AM on 09/08/2010

I'd like to see the little Zionist Ballerina leave the White House myself.

[parlimentMike]

09:19 AM on 09/08/2010

Stop blaming Rahm for what his boss does, it's demeaning to the Commander in Chief. Imagine how completely Bush-like this administration would be without a good Democrat at the president's right hand.

[johnsonc20]

09:52 AM on 09/08/2010

You mean "how completely Bush-like this administration IS BECAUSE IT IS without a good Democrat at the President's right hand." Rahm Emanuel is a member of the corporate party - neither Democrat nor Republican. His boss hired him and sees to like his work, so, you are right, Obama deserves the "credit" for what has happened during his administration.

[JibberJabberwocky]

06:41 PM on 09/08/2010

Well... once Rahm leaves we might get a chance to see what this administration would be like with a good person, let alone a good Democrat, in the CoS position.

[rickroland]

09:18 AM on 09/08/2010

Let the Democrat vs. Democrat feeding frenzy begin!

Wow, look at 'em go!