"The Sooner Rahm Leaves, the Better for Obama" (Ari Berman)

[KoKo]

The Sooner Rahm Leaves, the Better for Obama
Ari Berman | September 8, 2010

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s announcement that he will not seek a seventh term has prompted widespread speculation that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel <1> will run as Daley’s successor. "I'd be shocked if he doesn't run <2>," a senior administration official told the Washington Post.

The sooner Rahm leaves Washington, the better for Barack Obama. His White House is desperately in need of a serious shakeup, especially with Democrats facing a tidal wave of losses in the midterms. Replacing Rahm is the best place to start.

I’ll never quite understand why a transformational candidate who ran under the banner of a new style of politics chose the ultimate old-school inside operator to control his administration. Rahm isn’t solely to blame for diluting Obama’s unique outsider brand, but he’s a major reason why. After all, in the Clinton White House and in Congress, Rahm was often at odds with the very grassroots activists who powered Obama’s presidential campaign. As head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in ‘06, he famously clashed with party chair Howard Dean and recruited conservative Blue Dog candidates at the expense of legitimate progressive challengers <3>. Rahm brought his corporate centrism to the White House, pushing for a smaller-than-needed stimulus bill, urging Obama not to pursue healthcare reform <4>, watering down the bill when he did and calling progressive activists who wanted to pressure obstructionist Democrats “fucking retarded <5>.” He later apologized to Sarah Palin but not to the Democratic activists he insulted.

Rahm’s alleged biggest asset—his ties to Capitol Hill and intricate knowledge of Beltway politics—paid few dividends for Obama. The president’s legislative agenda has hit a brick wall in the Senate and the dysfunction of the Democratic Congress, which Emanuel has done little to tame, helps explain why voters are set to punish the party in power this November. “If picking the leading practitioner of the dark arts of the capital was a Faustian bargain for Obama in the name of getting things done, why haven’t things got done?” asked Peter Baker of the New York Times in a profile titled “The Limits of Rahmism <6>.” In other words, if you sell your soul, you better get something good for it in return. Instead, Obama is facing the prospect of a Republican Congress and an uphill re-election bid. No wonder Rahm is so eager to get out of town.

More at.....

http://www.thenation.com/blog/154566/sooner-rahm-leaves-better-obama

Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com)

[vi5]

1. Good riddance. Please let it be true......

..And here's hoping he hires someone with some fire, like Dean.

Although I suspect he'll hire someone just as centrist and insider as Rahm was.

The last paragraph on there about the Faustian bargain was dead on.

[yurbud]

3. The Faustian bargain passage:

The only thing Rahm was possible good for was keeping the big corporate PR guns from turning on Obama the way they did early on in the Clinton administration. But they are largely holding their fire because they don't see him as a threat.

“If picking the leading practitioner of the dark arts of the capital was a Faustian bargain for Obama in the name of getting things done, why haven’t things got done?” asked Peter Baker of the New York Times in a profile titled “The Limits of Rahmism.” In other words, if you sell your soul, you better get something good for it in return. Instead, Obama is facing the prospect of a Republican Congress and an uphill re-election bid. No wonder Rahm is so eager to get out of town.

[xchrom]

2. Here's your hat, rahm - and there's the door. Nt

[Hawkowl]

4. Rahm is indistinguishable from Obama

At this point, I don't think most democrats can distinguish any policy differences between Rahm and Obama. If Rahm goes he will be replaced by someone very similar ideologically, just perhaps a bit more diplomatic, or more likely, someone who can remain in the background and pull strings.

A democratic president's version of Cheney in the early years.

[Skittles]

5. the better for America

[Citizen Worker]

6. Rahm Emmanuel's departure, if it happens, is a beginning. Next should be Summers, Geithner and

Goolsbee. Then Obama can reassess.

[FlyByNight]

7. Even with Emanuel's potential departure...

...I'm not so sure much would change with a new Chief of Staff.

To be fair, it's not just Rahm. It's the other Obama appointments (Summers, Geithner, Salazar, etc.) that have stifled significant structural reform so far - probably not by accident.

That being said, I would still be pleased with Emanuel's departure. He's a cancer within the Democratic Party and I feel for the citizens of Chicago should he choose a potential mayoral run.