Rahm Emanuel is So Very Different From Tom Delay... Not!
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A few years back I joined an online political discussion group. One of my first comments was that Rahm Emanuel was exactly the same as Tom Delay. OMG! I could have been at Daily Kos for the explosion of vitriol that ensued. And of course they're not exactly the same. Delay is a fat little slob and Emanuel is a wiry worm. And Delay was the black hat in the Evil Party. Emanuel is the black hat in the less evil party. Otherwise... exactly the same. I don't have mixed feelings on Emanuel. Many, even among progressives give him far too much credit beyond the self-promotion he's so really, really good at. Let me quote my friend Jane:
Rahm Emanual is the architect of NAFTA. He wants to privatize the border, and give immigrants no path to citizenship. He hates Howard Dean and did everything he could possibly do to block him, openly opposed the 50 state strategy, was a total war hawk, wouldn't let Democratic candidates for the House run in opposition to the war...
My problems with Emanuel run even deeper. I'm certain he's the most corrupt man in Washington and that he puts the interests of a foreign nation over our own. If he's really the Jewish LBJ, I'll have to go back and reassess my interpretation of LBJ-- downward. Nor is he nearly as smart as his hype machine makes him out to be. But all during the campaign I marveled at how well Senator Obama did even when I had my doubts. I wanted him to hit back harder and go for the jugular. But his way was the winning war. I'll always distrust Emanuel and know full well he's not on the side of working families. But I'll still trust Obama until he proves that I shouldn't-- and at this rate that could be soon. 'Til then, though, I'll keep an open mind and give him the benefit of the doubt. I have to admit that I was mighty amused when I saw Emanuel's doppelganger on TV with Tweety a few nights ago explaining how Obama, Pelosi and Emanuel would destroy America-- first and foremost, apparently, by raising the minimum wage:
Labels: Rahm Emanuel, Tom DeLay
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 6:00 AM
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4 Comments:
Hillary like him...
Apparently, according to MSNBC a few minutes ago, Rahm and Boehner had a very pleasant phone conversation. Initiated by Rahm, it apparently was about "bipartisanship," etc., and I'd bet it put some of Boehner's worst "Pelosi-Reid" nightmares to rest. I'd hoped for better, I'd hoped for a Chief of Staff who would've put the utterly fractured Repugs. on notice that their nightmares had not dissapated, but had arrived . . . With Emanuel his first choice, my only hope is that Pres. Obama has some "super secret agenda"; perhaps he's keeping Emanuel close at hand to attempt to control his Republican mindset, but let's face it, that's a long shot.
Nearly everyone in the media is, of course, pushing the Repub. talking points about Obama needing to "govern from the middle." Perhaps this first choice of Chief of Staff is more likely a signal that Obama will do just that. What a shame that would be since now, more than in the recent past, we have real opportunities to propose progressive solutions to the fiasco of the neoconservative and laissez faire policies of the Reagan/Bush decades.
Progressives need to keep pushing. Elect more progressives in 2010, and let's not bury our heads in the sand . . .
I believe that Rahm is the "carl rove" of the democratic party. Smart for Obama who is already looking at the path to a second term. But an encouraging decision as "an agent of change"? ...sigh...well we knew that Obama was more of a centrist than a progressive. All we can do is keep vigilant and, as Mike said, work hard toward 2010. True sustainable change is an evolution, not a revolution. I look as Obama as the first opportunity toward sustainable change. How that will look will be up to all of us.
Bad cop. Bad Lieutenant quality bad cop.
When scandal mars this administration it will emanate from the chief of staff's office.
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