A president who would need the deft navigation of Congress to pass his ambitious legislation turned to the Illinois congressman and former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee because he possessed a unique understanding of the legislative mind.The pairing made sense, but things haven't worked out as expected. And in the search for what has gone wrong, influential Democrats are -- in unusually frank terms -- blaming Obama and his closest campaign aides for not listening to Emanuel. And this puts the 50-year-old chief of staff in a very uncomfortable position.
But David Axelrod thinks our President Barack Obama is historic, as does our President Barack Obama himself (and who would know better), so that's that. More sniping from his fellow Illinoisans:
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who wrote Obama a letter of support for Emanuel's appointment, now says it was "a mistake."
"For Rahm, power and preservation of power is always the number one priority," Gutierrez said. He said Emanuel corroded Obama's commitment to immigration reform, and he gleefully compared the renewed scrutiny on Emanuel, and the popular Washington parlor game of when he'd return to pursue other opportunities in Chicago, to "vultures circling."
Oh, but Valerie puts in a good word--guess she's biding her time... at least he can comfort himself with those index cards embossed with his title. The Blue Dogs are mad:
One early supporter of Obama, who has known Emanuel for years, did not give the chief of staff a pass. "The House members recruited by Rahm say to me, 'He is supposed to know our needs; how come we are being cut off at the knees on so many issues?' They don't understand why Rahm is not being more aggressive."Because, at the core, he's a leftist like Barack Obama. And he didn't want a crisis to go to waste--despite all his CYA now.
More. Not surprisingly, the left wants him to go. The Rahm bomb. Via RCP. It's apparently naive to suggest the stimulus was a bomb. It was just too small a bomb for the Guardian.
Related: Is Rahmbo on the Chopping Block?
2 comments:
Bizarrely, though, BO didn't even listen to Herr Rahm when he told him to back off the healthcare fiasco, or when he told him not to have the KSM trials in NYC. Rahm seemed to be supporting a slower lunge left than BO opted for (not that either is acceptable, I'm just sayin'), and now that it's all blowing up in their faces, Rahm is this week's fall guy. He's not long for the job.
Yes. I think Rahm read Massachusetts right. Not Barack.
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