I hate to say it but I miss Rahm Emanuel.

[craigmatic]

At least when he was in the House and chair of the DCCC. He was ruthless and out for blood and willing to do whateverit took to get the job done. Van Hollen is ok but he doesn't have the killer instinct that Rahm had. The congressional democratic message isn't there and they're cutting off candidates in tough races. Maybe we were just hungrier in 2006. I still hope we keep the House but they're running away from a great record of being one of the most hard working Congresses since the Great Society.

[AtomicKitten]

1. I actually think Chris Van Hollen is doing a pretty good job.

btw it's Rahm Emanuel with one "m"

[craigmatic]

3. okI fixed it thanks.

[AtomicKitten]

5. .

:fistbump:

[polichick]

2. Not me - I miss Howard Dean and the Democratic wing of the party. nt

[texastoast]

4. +1 n/t

[TheWraith]

6. You know Dean and Emanuel were a team, right?

Emanuel ran the DCCC at the same time Dean ran the DNC. They worked together to win those elections.

[polichick]

8. Too bad they had such a falling out - the prez needs someone like Dean in the WH. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. With Rahm dissing Dean the whole time, then taking credit for

Dean's 50 state strategy - which he abandoned immediately after the election.

Good riddance.

[polichick]

18. That's how I remember it - and Obama would be in much better shape now...

...if he had chosen Dean over Rahm.

[bkozumplik]

25. I wouldnt call that a "team"

thats like calling the progressives and the blue dogs a team.

Not a team. at all. They are more republican than dem in my book, to be loathed, blocked, fought, and destroyed, by scorched earth, if necessary.

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

17. Verily....

:(

[WI_DEM]

7. how would Emanuel be any different in this political atmosphere?

[craigmatic]

9. In shaping the message and encouraging dems to fight in a more unified way.

In the book 'The Thumpin' Emanuel was pretty good at picking candidates who fit the district too. That could've come in handy with some of the retirements we had earlier this year.

[frazzled]

12. That's not the Chief of Staff's job

People seem to think Rahm Emmanuel was in charge of everything in Washington, from policy to elections. The COS is supposed to:

Select key White House staff and supervise them
Structure the White House staff system
Control the flow of people into the Oval Office
Manage the flow of information
Protect the interests of the President
Negotiate with Congress, other members of the executive branch, and extragovernmental political groups to implement the President's agenda

Now, playing a hand in getting the President's agenda implemented might involve some in put electoral stuff, but he wasn't going to be running election strategy from the WH. I think people miss Rahm because there is no longer a generalized boogey man to blame everything on.

[craigmatic]

23. I wasn't talking about chief of staff, I meant his job as head of the DCCC.

[WhiteTara]

13. I blame him for many of our recent problems

he is DLC all the way.

[tularetom]

11. Me too - I really like the way he got all those blue dogs elected

You know the ones who vote against everything the President and the Democratic house leadership propose. The ones who refer to their party as the "Democrat" party. We should be grateful to him for working so hard to fill the House up with asswipes like these and refusing to lift a finger to work for real Democrats.

Yup, I'm really nostalgic for him.

[w4rma]

14. Actually only 8 of the 22 Congressfolks that he chose won. The rest lost.

The percentage of Dean's picks who won were much much higher. And they weren't blue dog DLCers.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

20. Wait, isn't Dean supposed to get the credit for the 50 state strategy?

That would mean most blue dogs who won those races was helped into power by Dean yes?

One can't really credit Dean for the 50 state strategy and then turn around and in the same breath blame Rahm for the 'wins' one does not like based on the strategy.

[tularetom]

21. One can if one considers that Emanuel ONLY backed blue dog type candidates

And refused to support those Democrats whom he considered too liberal.

[derby378]

15. Emanuel was a New Democrat, and I say good riddance

We need more old-school Democrats, not corporatists.

[vaberella]

16. Did we give this guy a weak before we said he was shit?!

Lord.

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. Nope - I've been saying he was shit since the Clinton administration. nt

[besdayz]

22. n

forget the house.. its gone

and that's not such a bad thing. after people see how insane these tea party blokes are, how they are nothing but front groups for corporation and the chamber of commerce for 2 yrs, the democrats and obama will look very good in 2012. add to that the lack of a viablile presidential candidate on the R side who is not seriously flawed....

in a way, getting to dump on the tea party douchebags for 2 yrs is the easiest path to a second term and democratic gains in the congress.....

[bkozumplik]

24. if rahm were around

the poor poor blue dogs would have a much better chance.