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Rahm Emanuel Leaving White House Friday

By Jeralyn, Section Obama Administration
Posted on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 11:57:35 AM EST
Tags: Rahm Emanuel (all tags)
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Tomorrow is Rahm Emanuel's last day at the White House. He's returning to Chicago to run for Mayor. Too bad for Chicago.

Who will replace him?

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    Rahm Emanuel Leaving White House Friday | 51 comments (51 topical)

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    I hope he can garner the retarded vote (5.00 / 2) (#1)
    by Dadler on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:05:20 PM EST
    Perhaps he can charm them.

    Seriously, good riddance.

    You mean the "F*g retarded" vote, no? (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by scribe on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:11:14 PM EST
    His temporary replacement will be Peter Rouse, TPM reports.

    Parent
    TL's commenters, (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by the capstan on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:37:20 PM EST
    including me, are pretty irritable today.  I have an adult retarded 'child'--and I don't like  off-hand slurs about retarded people, gays--or southerners and hillbillies.  I know you are responding to that jerk's drivel, but it just 'sits wrong' when someone borrows the term to be sarcastic or poke fun.  Maybe we could say he could corner the cripple vote?  Or the gay vote?

    Parent
    The point is, (5.00 / 2) (#10)
    by scribe on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:00:50 PM EST
    I don't make fun of people for their abilities - wherever they fall on the spectrum.  I do mock politicians for their infantile behavior.

    Rahm referred to Real Democrats who wanted to actually have Obama carry out his campaign promises as "F'g retarded" in a semi-public meeting with representatives of left-leaning organizations/think tanks, and then undertook to have the big corporate funders of those organizations pull on the string of the organizations' funding if/when the organizaions dared divert even slightly from being an applause section for whatever policies he and Obama decided to pursue.  

    Thus, for instance, please point out to me a major environmental organization which has come out against the Obama administration on, say, mountaintop-removal mining.  The crickets from those organizations have been deafening, as a result of Rahm's endeavours.

    I do pity Chicago.  I used to live in a town with a long history of bad parking and worse governmental corruption.  The standing joke was the FBI had reserved parking at City Hall b/c they were there so frequently serving subpoenas.  Two mayors in the last decade have gone to federal prison for corruption.  But, if anything, Chicago's probably in an even worse state and inflicting Rahm on them is something they surely must have done something seriously bad in a prior life to deserve.  Few people have done so much damage to a country in so short a time as he.

    Parent

    are you (none / 0) (#18)
    by Capt Howdy on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:11:25 PM EST
    from the south?

    Parent
    Dagummit leave the south out (none / 0) (#20)
    by coast on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:46:21 PM EST
    of this CH. :)

    Parent
    Oops..missed a "d" - dadgummit. n/t (none / 0) (#21)
    by coast on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:47:44 PM EST


    Parent
    Guilty-- (none / 0) (#22)
    by the capstan on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:50:39 PM EST
    as confessed in a later thread.

    Parent
    then (none / 0) (#23)
    by Capt Howdy on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:52:33 PM EST
    you must know what we are talking about.

    so am I and the commenter who made the remark.

    Parent

    Are you on or off topic (none / 0) (#31)
    by the capstan on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 04:13:35 PM EST
    for the R. Emanuel post comment I was addressing?

    Parent
    And if 'submissiveness' was the topic, (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by the capstan on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 04:41:28 PM EST
    most of the families I know are working class or middle class, including academic faculty.  And more often than not, the wife runs the family for all practical purposes.  (Ever heard of the Honey-Do list?)  A lot have jobs, maybe better jobs than the men.  Almost all make most decisions for the family; that is not submission (unless 'submission' is referring to the 'missionary position.' And 'barefoot and pregnant' is out-of-date also, unless the rethugs get rid of the pill.)

    If the point was about intolerance or religiousity, when I was growing up (Chicago and Cleveland to name two places) the north was every bit as bad as the south--maybe worse, considering I lived in a Jewish neighborhood and went to Catholic schools.  In the south most all kids went to public schools.  And as far as Baptists are concerned, you have to remember that no two Baptists agree with each other--or with the preacher.

    Parent

    Good One! (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by squeaky on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:16:19 PM EST
    Too bad for Chicago indeed.....  that is if they choose to elect him.

    Chicago must have done something (5.00 / 2) (#12)
    by scribe on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:01:38 PM EST
    seriously bad in a prior lifetime to deserve having him inflicted on them.

    Parent
    The Black Sox scandal and Haymarket (none / 0) (#15)
    by jeffinalabama on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:08:35 PM EST
    riot come back to haunt them. Or just the corruption in general, "vote early and often," and so forth...

    Parent
    Three words (none / 0) (#25)
    by Zorba on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 02:26:13 PM EST
    "Chicago Political Machine."  And if Rahm wins, it will be because the Machine wants him, and he will have considerable control of the Machine.

    Parent
    You could make a good (none / 0) (#46)
    by jondee on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 12:27:21 PM EST
    argument for an American political machine, except it would make the fatuousness of those still whining about the primaries even more obvious.

    Why is it always just the Chicago "machine"? Check out the history of places like New Orleans, Kansas City and Mike Davis's "City of Quartz" LA, for starters..

    Parent

    I'm not saying (none / 0) (#47)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 12:51:46 PM EST
    that Chicago's is the only political machine- there are such in other cities, as you point out.  It's just that the Chicago Machine has a direct bearing on Rahm Emanuel, who came up in Chicago politics, and who will have a difficult time being elected mayor of Chicago (not impossible, if he can gather enough money, but difficult), unless he plays ball with the Machine.  Chicago's Machine isn't as powerful as it used to be in its heyday, but it's still pretty powerful, and a lot of Chicago politicians owe their success to the Machine.

    Parent
    It's one big Machine (none / 0) (#48)
    by jondee on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 01:15:48 PM EST
    from where I sit. And has been for some time.  Those Democrats who went along with that wmd charade were willingly arm twisted, motivated by ambition and fear of being hung out to dry. Not an idealist with "core principals' in the lot..  

    Emanuel just has a brighter spotlight on him than most. And much of this current "dirty Chicago politics" buzz, imo, is a recurrent meme pushed by the Right for it's Emanuel=Obama=the Democratic Party effect in the larger turf war..

         

    Parent

    The Right may be (none / 0) (#49)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 01:35:44 PM EST
    pushing the meme, but that doesn't make Chicago politics "not dirty."  I'm as left as they come, but I can recognize dirty politics when it occurs, even if perpetrated by Democrats.  My family lives in southern Illinois.  I grew up in the St. Louis/southern Illinois area.  I have relatives in Chicago, and spent a whole lot of time there.  I've been watching Chicago politics for much of my 62 years.  As I said, the Machine isn't as powerful as it used to be, but it's still a force to be reckoned with.  The worst thing about it may be, not the Machine itself and what it may or may not do, but the political culture it has spawned in Chicago and Illinois politics, where graft and corruption seem all too routine.
        I also don't see the various city machines as being all "one."  I don't think they're that coordinated, and I think they each have their own agendas in each of their cities.  This doesn't mean that there are not national efforts, in both parties, to win elections at all costs, up to and including dirty politicking and, sometimes, corruption.  This doesn't make it a national "Machine," it just makes it "politics as usual."  It has always been thus, back to the early days of the country.

    Parent
    Not coordinated (none / 0) (#50)
    by jondee on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 01:54:25 PM EST
    but motivated at bottom by the same dog-eat-dog, law-of-the-jungle ethos. And, as we all know, birds of a feather flock together. So that the overall effect easily lends itself to the hyperbole of "one big machine"..

    Welcome to the machine..what did you dream? That's alright, we told you what to dream..

    Parent

    And how has anything changed? (none / 0) (#51)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 03:03:29 PM EST
    Harry Truman got his start in politics by close association with Tom Pendergast and his Kansas City Machine.  (Although Truman was criticized for it, he never repudiated Pendergast, and always considered him a friend.)  It's just the way politics is done.  Unfortunately.  Dirty politics has a long, long tradition in the good old USA.  Look up the vicious things printed by the very partisan newspapers on either side about Jefferson and Adams in the campaign of 1800.  I wouldn't call that a "machine," but it was certainly a "law of the jungle" ethos.  One learned very well by more modern political operatives such as Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, and, yes, Rahm Emanuel.  Both sides do it, and have always done it.

    Parent
    A wart on the rump of politics (5.00 / 2) (#13)
    by kdm251 on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:02:37 PM EST
    Hopefully they won't hire him back after he loses the mayoral race

    I hope its not to bad for (5.00 / 3) (#14)
    by Capt Howdy on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:08:18 PM EST
    the rest of state politics and that he doesnt suck all the political air, and money, away from other candidates here.

    Dont let the door hit ya... (5.00 / 2) (#17)
    by magster on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:10:03 PM EST
    ... where the good Lord split ya.

    As Peter Daou (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by lilburro on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:14:03 PM EST
    tweeted:

    Has anyone answered the question of why POTUS said Rahm's decision would come after midterms and Rahm decided otherwise?

    Why is Rahm leaving, and why now?  I just find it curious in general, I didn't know Pres. Obama said he would leave after midterms before reading this tweet.  

    Good riddance....

    According to what I've read/heard (none / 0) (#29)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 04:09:19 PM EST
    the political people in Chicago have been telling him he has to get on the ground there and get started now, not two months from now, if he wants to be mayor.

    Parent
    Mark Your Journals (5.00 / 1) (#40)
    by pluege2 on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 08:11:47 PM EST
    if obama manages to turn it around by 2012 and actually become a halfway decent POTUS, it will have started this Friday.

    emmanuel, sumners, geithner - all crap. obama is a neophyte. such an unsophisticated visionless stooge can not lead successfully surrounded by subversive flotsam.

    I predict David Gergen will replace him (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dan the Man on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:13:57 PM EST


    GEEZUZ (none / 0) (#42)
    by cal1942 on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 01:38:07 AM EST
    Let's hope not.  The last thing this country needs is yet another Republican in the White House.

    Parent
    According to the Times the repalcement is (none / 0) (#5)
    by fuzzyone on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:33:44 PM EST
    Pete Rouse

    The two officials, who declined to be named in advance of the official announcement, confirmed that Mr. Obama plans to name Pete Rouse, a senior adviser, to replace Mr. Emanuel. Mr. Rouse has been at the president's side since Mr. Obama arrived in Washington nearly six years ago as a senator, serving as his chief of staff.

    From the Caucus Blog

    Anyone know anything about him?  From the Times blog post sounds like another uber insider:

    Mr. Rouse has a low profile outside the White House and across Washington, but he is extraordinarily close to the president and is respected inside the West Wing and on Capitol Hill, where he was known as the "101st Senator" in his role as an adviser to Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, then the Democratic leader.

    When Mr. Daschle was defeated in 2004, Mr. Obama hired Mr. Rouse to run his Senate office, a decision that was central to Mr. Obama's abrupt political rise.
    Tom Daschle? (5.00 / 3) (#7)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:47:21 PM EST
    Someone just shoot me now :)

    Parent
    Jeebus Daschle??? (none / 0) (#8)
    by smott on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:52:28 PM EST
    Great, another winner....

    Parent
    this morning on MSNBC (none / 0) (#16)
    by Capt Howdy on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:09:39 PM EST
    they were saying it was someone else.  someone I had never heard of but who is apparently well known on capital hill.

    Parent
    Rouse was Daschle's very` (none / 0) (#27)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 04:04:14 PM EST
    powerful chief, wanted to retire when Daschle got kicked out and was persuaded to take on Obama instead.  He was absolutely central to Obama's careful threading the political minefields in the Senate and as I have heard it, was specifically tasked with grooming him to run for pres.

    He's said to be actually only an interim replacement for Rahm while they figure out who to put in that job permanently.

    I do wonder what Rouse thinks of the recent "blame the base" strategy.  I'm inclined to think he's not in favor of it since he's a very, very experienced guy in politics, though behind the scenes.

    Parent

    No Ego to compete with Obama's Ego (none / 0) (#41)
    by BrassTacks on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 09:27:25 PM EST
    That should work well for the President.  Rouse will do as he is told and not challenge anything that Obama says.  Not sure if that's a good thing.

    Parent
    Incorrect (none / 0) (#43)
    by cal1942 on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 01:44:27 AM EST
    Rouse will do as he is told and not challenge anything that Obama says.

    Not the case as this article exposes.

    Parent

    Goodnight, sweet prince (none / 0) (#9)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 12:56:23 PM EST


    Isn't it unusual (none / 0) (#11)
    by hookfan on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:01:32 PM EST
    for a Chief of Staff to leave BEFORE an election?

    It's unusual for a chief of staff (5.00 / 1) (#28)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 04:07:04 PM EST
    to be an actual working pol who's had eyes on a mayor's office most of his career.  Given the timing, he apparently really had no choice but to leave now if he wanted to make a run for mayor.

    I don't think there's anything more to this than what it looks like on the surface.  I've sure not picked up the slightest rumblings that Obama is in the least unhappy with him (more's the pity) or that he was losing political battles to others in the White House or anything of the sort.

    Parent

    I think (none / 0) (#32)
    by hookfan on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 04:22:16 PM EST
    it shows up Rahm's prioritizing of himself over everything else. Otherwise he could have left earlier, rather than immediately prior to a major election. I don't think Obama is upset in the least with him.
      I think Rahm left because he smells gold dust in Chicago. I suspect Obama supports this as,imo, he got himself elected President in pursuit of the same type of Eldorado for himself. Other than ego, not much else matters to either.

    Parent
    As the Street Singer in Madison Used to Croon (none / 0) (#24)
    by kaleidescope on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 02:01:57 PM EST
    If you're looking for some air pollution
    Traffic crime and noise
    Why don't you go back to
    Chicago, Illinois

    hopefully, (none / 0) (#26)
    by cpinva on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 03:34:03 PM EST
    Who will replace him?

    someone who actually knows what they're doing.

    I regret to inform you (5.00 / 1) (#30)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 04:10:06 PM EST
    that at least some inside speculation is that Daschle himself will take on the job.

    Parent
    Oh God (5.00 / 1) (#33)
    by lentinel on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 04:29:05 PM EST
    No.

    Not him again...

    Parent

    Jeralyn (none / 0) (#35)
    by Edger on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 05:20:44 PM EST
    Chuckle. That has to go down as the quote of the new century.

    Understated elegance, my dear! Well said.

    Is it appropriate to start a pool on what will be (none / 0) (#36)
    by BTAL on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 05:56:45 PM EST
    Rahm's going away gift?

    Suggestions anyone?  ;)

    Pelosi Endorses Rahm For Mayor (none / 0) (#37)
    by MO Blue on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 06:49:24 PM EST
    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered a spirited endorsement of Rahm Emanuel on Thursday afternoon, answering "yes" when asked at a Capitol Hill press conference if she would endorse the outgoing White House chief of staff's bid for mayor of Chicago.

    The Speaker lavished him with praise, referencing his "great reputation" and the "affection" he enjoys from his former colleagues in the House of Represenatives.

    "He can do anything he sets his mind to," said Pelosi of the Chicago mayoral hopeful, "and we all wish him much success. I extended those greetings to him myself this morning at the White House." HuffPo
    She want's him out of the WH (none / 0) (#38)
    by BTAL on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 06:57:36 PM EST
    That simple.

    Parent
    Have you heard the legend about (none / 0) (#39)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 07:55:30 PM EST
    the curse of the billy goat? the Cubs won't win the World Series until a goat f*** is mayor.

    Then This Could (none / 0) (#44)
    by cal1942 on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 01:49:26 AM EST
    be a wonderful development for long suffering Cubs fans.

    Parent
    Good Riddance. (none / 0) (#45)
    by Chuck0 on Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 11:31:12 AM EST


    Rahm Emanuel Leaving White House Friday | 51 comments (51 topical)

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