Wait, I'm confused about Rahm Emanuel.

[Drunken Irishman]

Over on one board they say he is a radical leftist and this indicates Obama will shift to the far-left.

On another, a PUMA board, they say this is Obama caving into the DLC wing of the Democratic Party and continues to show his march toward the center-right.

WTF?

[tekisui]

1. He gets shit done.

He will be working FOR Obama, that's all I need to know.

[stray cat]

2. It means its probably a good choice because it offends each extreme

[wyldwolf]

5. yep!

[NotThisTime]

11. Exactly, PLUS he'll be working FOR Obama....

[Barack_America]

12. +1

:thumbsup:

[blondeatlast]

14. Yup! nt

[grantcart]

3. It means that the new Administration is going to have a strong ballet bias

[goodgd_yall]

10. Lol! n/t

[ellacott]

4. That's funny

It shows that people are looking for anything to criticize Obama.

[AlCzervik]

6. i checked his voting record, he's not perfect but he's firmly pro-choice and gets

an A on veterans issues.

[aldo]

7. Rahm Emanuel backstabbed antiwar candidates running in 2004.

Unbelievably bad choice. He's pro-war and pro-corporate money. I'd call him a sellout but I think he's a committed member of the Pelosi/Reid wing of the Democratic Party, the DINOs.

[goodgd_yall]

8. I know what you mean

I'm hearing both, but if Fox News reported he's a member of the far left, he's OK by me.

[iamthebandfanman]

9. pumas should be happy, this was part of the compromise

Mr Emanuel is a huge friend of the clintons and served with Bill. theres alot of talk this was promised to Rahm as part of an agreement to ensure party unity.


its definitely a shift to the center, i dunno if id say center-right tho.

im not happy about it, but hey... if its what needed to be done to get the clintons full onboard then so be it

[killbotfactory]

13. It's fine as long as he leaves the policy up to Obama

If he focuses on what he's apparently good at and does his job he'll probably be fine.

Obama is going to surround himself with a diverse range of opinion to begin with. He's not Bush, however, and won't just be given marching orders by his "advisers" and he'll be smart enough to cut through any bullshit.

[No Elephants]

15. Obama will be centrist to a degree or he will not get re-elected.

[TheWraith]

16. Rahm's known for being pro-business and slightly hawkish. Otherwise he's a good guy.

Remember, after Cheney claimed that he existed in his own seperate branch of government, Rahm was the one who introduced a bill to stop funding Cheney's office through the Executive Branch.

[liberalpragmatist]

17. Rahm is a centrist but a firm partisan

His ideological preferences are centrist, but that's largely because he has a very skeptical personality -- he's a rabid realist. Ultimately, he's concerned with the bottom line. That means, he sometimes loses the big picture -- hence his fights with the blogosphere in 2006, where he wanted to pick more conservative candidates instead of firm progressives because he wanted to be sure he'd win.

I don't expect to always be happy with Rahm. But he's a pitbull and a bruiser who knows how to get shit done. This selection says less about ideology than it does about Obama's desire to get things passed -- he knows Congress is ALWAYS dysfunctional and he wants someone close to him who can get his agenda passed through Congress.

What this ultimately indicates is that Obama plans to run a very parliamentary government -- with very a great deal of cooperation between the executive branch and the two houses of Congress. He's learning his lessons from Carter and Clinton, both of whom brought their own staffs to Washington and didn't know how to work with Congress at all -- meaning they could get nothing passed even though there was unified party control.

[sandnsea]

18. He voted against the bankruptcy bill

I thought that was the sole criteria for hating on Biden and defining a corporate sell-out.

:shrug:

[MadBadger]

19. THats the same problem with Tim Russert, Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric, and other members of the media

[THUNDER HANDS]

20. Rahm wants to win, that's the only thing anyone needs to know

he likes winning, and he's good at it.

[apnu]

27. He's my rep. This is true. "Winning" for the party is his highest priority from what I can tell.

And as a Chief of Staff, that's a very good facet to have.

[riverwalker]

21. I have very mixed feelings

I will be watching him very close. A part of me feels this is a mistake, and I can't quite say why.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

22. He is left of center

-

Go here:
http://www.ontheissues.org/IL/Rahm_Emanuel.htm

He is solidly behind stem cell research, pro choice

He is not Dennis Kucinich but he has a good record as a liberal when voting.

:)

[WinkyDink]

23. I trust OBAMA.

[RaleighNCDUer]

24. Emanuel is a long-time DLCer (and why the PUMAs would have a

problem with that is mystifying because they started as Hillary supporters who is DLC herself - oh, right, they are actually REPUBLICANS so fuck em) but he won't be setting the agenda, Obama will. Emanuel is very savvy, competent, experienced and connected, and so long as Obama is guiding the way, and holds Emanuel to the agenda HE wants, there's nothing to worry about.

[rniel]

25. As far as I know

He's a DLC. He's better to have working for Obama than against him.

[apnu]

26. He is (and will soon not be) my US Rep. I've voted for him several times.

I can tell you this about him.

He is DLC.

He is hardcore tough on the Hill.

He gets stuff done.

He understands what a politician does, that is compromise and make deals.

He is a good knife man that never backs down from a fight. He has an iron will.

He bounces back from defeat and works even harder the next time.



That's Rahm's character and experience. He is, for me, more often on the right side of an issue than the wrong. And has done only one thing that reall pissed me off. That was the complicated story of Tammy Duckworth vs Melissa Bean in 2006. He carpetbagged Duckworth into the district that Bean was running for. Tammy lost the election and a Repbulican held the seat. And I like Duckworth a lot, Rahm helped get her a job in the Governor's administration. But I didn't like how he pushed home grown talent out of the way for a pick to symbolize how bad the Iraq war is. I believe very strongly that homegrown talent should be preferred over carpetbagging, no matter how noble the intentions.

Personally I believe Rahm, who is also a wounded vet, was overly emotional in that decision that cost use a probable pickup in that race. I have several friends in that district and people there saw that Tammy was helicoptered in and didn't like it at all. This was all during the 2006 'put as many Iraq vets into government as possible' push by Reid, Pelosi and Rahm.

[ieoeja]

28. Then you and I are in the same district. My issue with him is related.

Tammy Duckworth was only one example of Rahm's failed strategy for the 2006 election. Rahm fought hard against Dean's 50-State Strategy. And said nothing while others gave Rahm credit for Dean's success. That was pretty slimey.

I do *not* like the guy. On the other hand, I believe he will have less influence as White House Chief of Staff than as 4th ranking Representative. So I have decided to endorse this career choice.

From Chairman of the Ways and Means committee, to place-holder because of scandal, to future Governor, to future White House Chief of Staff. You know, most people who serve in the House never amount to more than just one vote among the hundreds. Our district seems to be a real power source.

But then we had Chicago's most prominent northside Democratic Committeeman slate all of those candidates. We'll now get to see how Schulter matches up with his choice.