Is Obama Screwing His Base with Rahm Emanuel Selection?

I had really wanted to celebrate Barack Obama's remarkable victory for a day or so before becoming cynical again. I really did.

And yet, less than 24 hours after the first polls closed, the president-elect chose as his chief of staff -- perhaps the most powerful single position in any administration -- Rahm Emanuel, one of the most conservative Democratic members of Congress.

The chief of staff essentially acts as the president's gatekeeper, determining with whom he has access for advice and analysis. Obama is known as a good listener who has been open to hearing from and considering the perspectives of those on the Left as well as those with a more centrist to conservative perspective. How much access he will actually have as president to more progressive voices, however, is now seriously in question.

Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel is a member of the so-called New Democrat Coalition (NDC), of group of center-right pro-business Congressional Democrats affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Conference, which is dedicated to moving the Democratic Party away from its more liberal and progressive base. Numbering only 58 members out of 236 Democrats in the current House of Representatives, the NDC has worked closely with its Republican colleagues in pushing through and passing such legislation as those providing President Bush with "fast-track" trade authority in order to bypass efforts by labor, environmentalists and other public interest groups to promote fairer trade policy.

Emanuel began his political career as a senior adviser and chief fundraiser for the successful 1989 Chicago mayoral campaign of Richard M. Daley to seize back City Hall from reformists who had challenged the corrupt political machine of this father, Richard J. Daley. Emanuel later became a senior adviser to Bill Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998, serving as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy, and was credited with playing a major role in shifting the Clinton administration's foreign and domestic policy agenda to the right. Emanuel was the single most important official involved in pushing through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the bill ending Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and Clinton's draconian crime bill, among other legislation.

Leaving the administration in 1998, Emanuel worked as an investment banker in Chicago, where he amassed an $18 million fortune in less than three years prior to being elected to Congress.

As head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 2004, Emanuel has promoted pro-war and pro-business center-right candidates against anti-war and pro-labor candidates in the primaries, pouring millions of dollars of donations from Democrats across the country into the campaigns of his favored conservative minions to defeat more progressive challengers.

Emanuel was a major supporter of the Iraq War resolution that authorized the invasion of Iraq. Indeed, he was the only one of nine Democratic members of Congress from Illinois who backed granting Bush this unprecedented authority to invade a country on the far side of the world that was no threat to the United States at the time. Even more disturbingly, when asked by Tim Russert on Meet the Press whether he would have voted to authorize the invasion "knowing that there are no weapons of mass destruction," Emanuel answered that he indeed would have done so, effectively acknowledging that his support for the war was not about national security, but about oil and empire. Not surprisingly, he has also voted with the Republicans in support of unconditional funding to continue the Iraq War and has consistently opposed efforts by other Democrats to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. occupation forces from that country and related Congressional efforts to end the war.

At a time of record budget deficits, Emanuel has been a passionate supporter of increased spending for the Pentagon and has resisted efforts by fellow Democrats to trim excesses in the Bush administration's bloated military budget. For example, he has repeatedly voted against amendments to cut funding for Bush's dangerously destabilizing missile defense and even voted against an amendment to identify unnecessary Pentagon spending by examining the need, relevance and cost of Cold War weapons systems designed to fight the former Soviet Union.

A major hawk regarding Iran, Emanuel has also voted against Democratic efforts to prevent the Bush administration from launching military action against that country and has joined the administration in exaggerated claims about Iran's alleged nuclear threat. He is not opposed to nuclear proliferation if it involves U.S. allies, however. Emanuel has consistently voted against a series of Democratic amendments that would have strengthened safeguards in the Bush administration's nuclear cooperation agreement with India to prevent U.S. assistance from supporting India's nuclear weapons program.

Emanuel is also a prominent hawk regarding Israel, attacking the Bush administration from the right for criticizing Israel's assassination policies and other human rights abuses. He was also a prominent supporter of Israel's 2006 attacks on Lebanon, even challenging the credibility of Amnesty International and other human rights groups that reported Israeli violations of international humanitarian law. Emanuel's father had emigrated from Israel in the 1950s, where he had been a member of the terrorist group Irgun, which had been responsible for a series of terrorist attacks against Palestinian and British civilians in mandatory Palestine during the 1940s. Emanuel himself served in a civilian capacity as a volunteer for the Israeli army in the early 1990s.

It is unclear how serious of a blow Obama's selection of Emanuel is to those who hoped that Obama might actually steer the country in a more progressive direction. It's easy to see it as nothing less than a slap in the face of the progressive anti-war elements of the party to whom Obama owes his election, particularly following his selection of Sen. Joe Biden as vice president. (See my articles "Biden's Foreign Policy 'Experience'" and "Biden, Iraq, and Obama's Betrayal.")

However, this does not necessarily mean that Obama as president will pursue nothing better than a Clintonesque center-right agenda. Someone with Obama's intelligence, knowledge and leadership qualities need not be unduly restricted by the influence of his chief of staff as less able presidents have. At the same time, this shocking appointment of Emanuel is illustrative of the need for the progressive base that brought him to power to not celebrate too long and to refocus our energies into pushing hard to ensure that the change Obama promised is something we really can believe in.

_______________
Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics and chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco and serves as a senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election

Comments

[KillBillV2]

You guys are forgetting that Rahm has to follow Obama's decisions no matter what. Plus why can't we wait to judge until Obama picks his own cabinet etc. ??

[tangenjill]

Check out how Ray Hanania, a Palestinian American sees this appointment:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ray-hanania/obamas-growing-pro-israel_b_141964.html

[plaidsportcoat]

Right you are! Somebody out there please start an online petition urging him to get NEW people in there immediately! He's got to hit the ground running so of course for people who know the process, that's okay. Plus, he's strong enough to have opposed many of Emanuel's positions already, I'm hoping, since he has the "most liberal voting record." But hey - let's get some counterparts to Neil Kash n karry! Some new, brilliant faces!
Helen Thomas, the long-time White House reporter who's been there thru 8 prezzies says exactly the same thing. She wonders why the heck he's going for Clinton people when he should be mining the new generation of brilliant minds.

[marinade]

Sure, the economy was the most important issue with voters but maybe a large percentage of the people knocking on doors, making phone calls and contributing were anti-war. That describes the crowd I was working with.

It isn't clear what Obama is thinking with this move but it does feel like a slap in the face. This feeling is compounded by the efforts to keep Lieberman as chairman.

The campaign was "listening" when they had their hands out for volunteers and donations. It doesn't feel that way anymore.

[Stashpanache]

I too was very disappointed with this selection. I have always thought of Emanuel as very similar in philosophy to Joe Lieberman, especially his policy on Iraq and the Middle East in general. He is very hawkish and to the right of center on many issues.

If President elect Obama throws progressives under the bus, he has misread the election results and is buying into the right wing propaganda that we are a center right nation. I am already very wary of his economic advisors, many of whom worked for Clinton and advocated for some of the policies that have caused this financial crisis. Statistics show that big tax cuts create bubbles which burst and cause deep recessions. He should get rid of the tax cuts for the wealthy instead of waiting for them to expire in 2010. But, Emanuel was a Wall Streeter for a time so it will never happen.

[Petey131]

I didn't have a problem trusting Senator Obama during the election and I have no problem trusting President-Elect Obama now.

I am a progressive/Liberal American, Latino,Pro-Choice, Roman Catholic.

[Fongenie]

Are you single? Just kidding.

[karela]

The only thing that is growing more weary than the pundits are the armchair politicians who feel that they are such expert advisers that they must continually attempt to force Obama to do whatever is on their agenda. Over 40% of the country see themselves as moderates. We voted for Obama. About 20% see themselves as liberals. They voted for Obama too. And then some of the 34% who see themselves as conservatives voted for Obama too. We're all his "base". I have worked my heart out for Obama and given until it hurts bad to his campaign, but I often find that when "progressives" talk about making him do things for the "base" that I don't agree with them. I don't even know what the "progressives" stand for and have not been involved with politics for years. But I do know that when people from the far left talk they often seem to have that same far right stridency that Sarah Palin so embodied. I am very, very comfortable with Obama, with his choices, with the rate of movement he selects, with the people who work most closely with him. . . . I've learned to trust him. There are a lot of people like me. Let's give the new president elect a chance. He's doing great on his own and so far he's ignored all the pushing and shoving from the far left or far right and done just fine.

[Shieldmaiden]

Well said. I tend to be very liberal but it was not just liberals who voted for Obama. I think he will try to do what is best for America. Some things will be exactly what I agree with while others will not. Liberals, moderate, independents are going to be dissapointed at some point over the next few years, but I think we'll also be elated about other things as well.

Obama has a history of choosing people who are right for the job and he has only chosen two people as of right now - Biden and Emanuel. Both men have pretty different ideas on some things. I think the team Obama chooses will be diverse, but efficient and effective. Obama is the president. Not Emanuel, not Nunn, not Richardson, not Hagel, not Duckworth, not Clinton, not Biden. Obama. It has been 8 days and only two slots are filled. Let's get the guy inaugurated at least before we freak out.

[Finchy13]

I would think - getting him out of Congress - was probably a good move......­..........­...

[karela]

Yeah well, congress is full of people who vote democratic because Rahm ran a very successful 2006 democratic plan to make it so. Rahm gets things done. And that after all is the whole point is it not? Obama chooses what to do and Rahm helps get it done. What's not to like?

[research]

Rahm did not win in 2006.

Howard Dean did.

BushCo and GOP lost.

[research]

Obama roasting Rahm:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/07/obama-roasts-rahm-emanuel_n_142259.html

[Shieldmaiden]

Now THAT was funny.

[research]

I trust Obama will not be unduly swayed by Rahm's awful DLC bs.

Did you listen to the Roast Obama did of Rahm? It will ease your mind.

remember:

Obama pledges to be president for ALL Americans.

[canucklivinginUSA]

You know what pisses me off about this article, the fact that you people seem to forget that a lot of centrist, moderates, independents and conservatives voted for him(or supported him). Thanks for flipping the bird at us

[plaidsportcoat]

Your "you people" isn't flipping the bird???????

[TParrish]

Hi,
People who were paying attention heard Mr. Obama explain his admiration for, and intent to emulate Abraham Lincoln's preference for being at a table populated by people whom he disagreed. (Hearing the other points of view, etc.). Choosing people who seem to have views at odds with his own is exactly what he said he would do. It is one of the reasons I voted for him.

[LizM]

...and, as far as change goes, that would be a 180 degree turn from what has been happening for the last eight years...that's change I can believe in!

[zell]

I am praying that the Lord directs President-elect Obama to do ,what he told the American people that voted for him, what he said he was going to do, specifically, fix the economy, health care and the War in Iraq, etc. Now, if he has selected a chief of staff that will direct him to go in another direction, then our new president would not be living up to his word. I believe he is a man of his word. Let's give him a chance and take note of his intellect and pray that he will follow his own counsel and do what is right in God's sight.

[AC-DC]

lets leave GOD out of it please why do you think where in this situation in the first place.Religion is the problem here!

[DaCoach]

I was always of the impression that narrow minded people like you were the cause. Obviously you learned nothing from the past 8 years when the administration was run by people who insisted that everyone must agree with their beliefs.

[plaidsportcoat]

That is so vapid. How the heck are you going to know if it was "right in God's sight"? Just, like the humanists say, be good for goodness sake, then worry about some deity...

[DinkSinger]

Perhaps this is a case of "keeping your enemies" closer. One less NDC member of Congress is a blessing.

[Jane]

You are a little late with this. It has been chewed over all over the internet, and the results are mixed. RE is a tough guy, and his appointment sent a signal to the Republicans that they can forget the wimp factor. He is also a Chicago guy and someone Obama feels comfortable with. He's also loyal. My guess is that he will execute Obama's agenda, not dictate it. Whether Obama is a progressive is still up in the air, always has been. I trust him for now, we'll see about later. But if he plans to undo all those executive orders? Hooray for that. Anecdotal evidence is that he listens. So, you just keep talking. But I wouldn't take RE at face value.