My Conversation with Congressman Rahm Emanuel

Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois is one of the powerful voices in the Democratic party today. As the Democratic Caucus Chair, he is the fourth-highest ranking member in the House Democratic leadership. He is also close to Senators Obama and Clinton but has not made an endorsement. I spoke with him earlier today about how he sees the Democratic presidential contest and whether the party can pull together in the general election against Senator John Mccain.

Comments

[ntmessage]

Rahm is the main reason that the Democrats took over the house. He searched out overlooked Reagan Democrats and won!

The Obama Campaign and Parrot-like media outlets such as, ObamaWeek, MoveCon, and DailyCon, (not to shortchange the tourette infected outlets like MSNBC, NBC and CNN), cannot admit Obama is more risky an Electoral College candidate directly contrary to this obvious fact. (Please spare the platitudes if commenting)

1. Rohm"s strategy worked because the centrist Democrats connected with the voters necessary to win.
2. Obama conflating his "preaching to the converted" exercise as a general acceptance of himself is intellectually dishonest.

The public suffers as the media shills.

For example, the bizarre "reporting" on Clintons PA win as "9 points", "almost 10 points" or "10 points", in addition to vote count arithmetic that insults the intelligence of any 3rd grader proves advocacy journalism.

These "news programs" lack primary grade arithmetic or are blatantly biased. Going to decimals, calculating the spread backwards and then rounded down decimals exceeding 1/2 to justify a non 10-point win is expected from pathological Obama supporters, but news people? This particular higher math only occurred after the PA primary.

Further and without shame, the media extrapolated a caucus result to some fictional primary equivalency to demonstrate dishonestly that Obama is actually ahead in votes cast.

In the bag for Obama, while collectively and lazily repeating Blogs, they have now lost the ability to add, in addition to the ability to think for themselves.

[iheardthisbefore]

Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter?
Obama, Clinton?
HELLO AMERICA...TOTALLY DIFFERENT SOCIAL DYNAMICS AND EVENTS WERE
TAKING PLACE IN AMERICA....AND IRAN. A little "incident" at our American Embassy
and some prisoners that were taken by those "pesky" Iranian militants were the major
political issue at the time.
1980 is NOT the same as 2008.
THE ONLY THING I AGREE WITH HERE IS THAT MOST ALL OF THOSE WHO SUPPORT
CLINTON OR OBAMA WILL VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE THIS FALL.

Is it November yet?

[RabidRightRebel]

I could not agree more, whether or not a Democrate is elected President will be largely determined by how well Hillary accepts defeat. If she treats Obama like Ted Kennedy treated Carter, Obama will have a hard time winning.

What is really scary is that I have no confidence that she will accept defeat gracefully.

[rwe]

Rahm is from Chicago, The City with the highest taxes (10.25 Sales for one) in the country, Cook County is Todd Stroger,. The Governor of Illinis will probably join the fraternity of ilinois governors who will go to jail... This is where Barack hails from...Wake up people... Farrakhan, Wright , Rezkow.. all Chicago....hillary left a long time ago.Jesse Jackson jr, Emil Jones... Oh sorry , can't associate here

[Chris7982]

i am with you on this issue, and we are numerous and counting that want change from the CLINTONS and Bushes...they are all power hungry people who will do anything and everything to win the WH...remember how Bush stole the election by getting the Spreme court to give it to him ...that is what HRC is doing ...asking the Superdelegates to give the nomination to her despite that Bo is winning in all the categories....her argument is that she is more electable and can withstand the republicans attacks in Nov.....well said except we could have saved our selves months of torture and voting...lots of money thrown for campaigns etc. and just give it to her initially since it is an entitlement program where bushes and Clintons get to be in the WH....How dumb of us to think that democracy will work or should be applied in America? Do you see any difference between these two families.....?

[imogene]

Totally agree!

[AnnieinOR]

ditto

[Jazz42]

(lbrillante)
Great comment.
I completely agree with you.

[katefranklin]

Rep. Emanuel made a very telling statement at the very end of this clip: "John McCain has been able to unite his party". The implication is that Clinton would be able to do the same. The fault in this argument is the following: at no point in Mitt Romney's or Mike Huckabee's campaign did either of those candidates insinuate that McCain was a) not ready to be commander-in-chief; b) that he hadn't passed some threshold to be president; or c) make overt character assasinations on him during a debate. The year is not 1992. There is no Ross Perot to spoil the show for the Republicans this year. Come on superdelegates - show some cojones! (Or "cojonas", if you prefer!)

[imogene]

This is the biggest point that Super Delegates and the Party should be taking notice of. Hillary's negatives are way too high -- some say higher than any presidential nominee in history.

All those new voters that Obama have brought to the Democrats will just fade away if the Dems go for Hillary.

[KevinKSF]

Emanuel is waiting to see which candidate will please his corporate paymasters before making a choice between the Democrats if neither pleases his masters" Rahm will do what he usually does, quietly unofficially endorse the Republican.

[dexxjones]

this sounds about right to me, kevinksf. rahm is the status quo, lets be neocon lite and doesnt seem to want change at all. if dean had listened to him, we wouldnt have swept in '06

[quixoto]

Rahm is an Obama supporter. He's from Illinois. He may have worked for Bill Clinton during the 90's but, much like many in the Democratic party, switched his allegiance.

[lbrillante]

I just watched Chris Mathews and friends pound Senator Obama over an interview Rev Wright did with Charlie Rose. I was apalled at their conversations... they were tearning him down and talking about how presidential Hillary looks??? Rewarding all of her slime... They didn't criticize Senator Obama yesterday over Rev Wright but now that he did an interview it's open season?

I have moved beyond losing all respect for the Clintons.... I am utterly disgusted with them. I feel about the same about the Clintons right now as I do George Bush... and I think he is the stupidest president in our nation's history. The Clintons are worse because they are not stupid... the intend all of the awful things that they are doing to attaing power..

I want change from that kind of power mongering. I want someone to lead and uplift our nation.

It feels like it's getting very dark out there... Obama has a huge army of people who are and don't want their dream to die... there must be a way we can all help him win this and put the 'dark forces' to rest...

America deserves excellent leadership, honesty, and integrity. America deserves President Barack Obama!

CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!!!!!!

AS MUCH AS THE CLINTONS, THE GOP, AND THE MEDIA TRY TO STOP US.....

YES WE CAN!!!!
OBAMA '08

[imogene]

I can't believe how all the Media has turned on Obama. I suspect their "bosses" who are probably Republican and who really want Hillary because they feel sure McCain could beat her, is a big factor on this sudden "turn". It seems universal....... and I can't see anything Obama has done to deserve it.

I also agree that everything the Clintons say is intentional -- there is a plan behind it all.

[ButterflyWeed]

MSM lives on ratings. We're supporting its escalating feeding frenzy on OJ, Lady Diana, Britney, the TrimSpa chick and now the Democrats' presidential candidates. If it were truly about news, we'd be focused on the Iraq War, crimes committed by BushCheneyCo., global climate change and promotion of alternative solutions.

Patriots need to boycott MSM. This is the time of year schools go on break and outdoor activities take center stage. Let their ratings plummet. Boycott sponsors of dumb and hateful chatter. Send an e-mail to stations you've grown to despise, otherwise they'll believe we actually need this kind of lazy butt-wipe hate-spin. Shutting off TV is an instant savings on electricity we can use to buy Bush's oil.

[iluvsam]

Your comments seem as though they came from someone very young and inexperienced in the way politics works. Be advised: Utopia isn't real. We should strive for it, but it will never exist- depressing I know. Because something "should be" doesn't mean it ever CAN be. For instance, no child should ever be abused. However, a reality where child abuse is irradicated will NEVER exist as human brains are flawed. Idealism is noble, but not realistic. Sadly, society will be crying for abused children until humans no longer exist.

Also, It's interesting how Obama supporters are only offended by HER negative attacks, but are not offended by his negative attacks. A quick history lesson, Thomas Jefferson hired "thug" journalists to otherwise destroy John Adams (someone he considered a good friend) in the press so that JA would not be re-elected. The "Thug Journalism" worked, and Jefferson was elected Pres. The country survived, so did Jefferson's reputation as a great statesman and a good man despite the dirty politics. You act like the Clintons are doing something common to ONLY them--like they invented dirty politics and are the only practitioners of it. Obama is as guilty as Jefferson, Reagan , George W. Bush, and the Clintons. Come to think of it, he's as guilty as EVERYONE in the history of politics. Please realize your guy is NOT PERFECT, and don't be offended when someone points that out!

[Housewife]

Someone's been watching HBO.

[barrista]

"A quick history lesson, Thomas Jefferson hired "thug" journalists to otherwise destroy John Adams (someone he considered a good friend) in the press so that JA would not be re-elected."

Awwww, someone watched HBO and now think they're well versed in history....

[iluvsam]

I'm a lawyer by trade with a degree in history. I know American history well. Umm, it has nothing to do with watching HBO. But, FYI, I am watching HBO and so should everyone. Great, great mini-series.

[sadler05]

Iluvsam - would you like to have a contest over how many elections you have seen and participated in or are you just another young women who claims that anyone who does not support Hilliary is betraying her sisterhood. You sound inexperienced and naive to me and you obviously haven't really followed this contest. As an historian I can also quote history to make any point I wished. It doesn't make this drama useful to go on.

However I wanted to support the words of Ibrillante. I agree wholeheartedly. I was saddened that the headline on this article is a bit misleading. Listening to Rahm Emanuel it appears to be quite a stretch to say that he is "tilting toward Obama". He seems perfectly happy for this to go on ad infinitum.

[Lugdunum]

well, aren't we the wet blanket! If "lBrillante" is "young and inexperienced", BRAVO! He/she is full of hope and enthusiasm and is the future of this country. Unless sour old geezers keep saying "no, we can't". And no, I'm not young and inexperienced, au contraire.

[iluvsam]

UGH. Of course there is nothing WRONG with being young and idealistic (I'm still young btw and not a "geezer"). However, you also have to have enough experience to KNOW how the world works. For instance, we are all idealistic and want to end hunger in Africa as we think we know what it means to be go hungry. We all have an idealistic view that hunger in Africa must stop as it's horrible, and we want to do what we can as fellow human beings to end it. A noble thing to do and a great goal to have. However, if you want to accomplish the goal, you have to take the real world into consideration. Who grows the food? How do we get it there? What is the cost? What is the political systems like in the places where we want to take the food? Will it be given to the right people? etc., etc. These things have to be worked out, and you have to be realistic about them. That was my only point in my original post. Clean politics is a noble goal, but due to human nature it is not realistic. I want to irradicate all religion. To me, that is a noble goal for numerous reasons. Unfortunately due to human nature, it just won't seem to go away. I am realistic about it.