What will the blogosphere do without Rahm Emanuel to kick around anymore?
I mean, there’s only so much Summers and Geithner can carry.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Gibbs. That’s who I’ll probably be kicking around. Maybe Summers, but apparently he’s been on the same page as Romer; I still hate him, though.
Oh, goodie. We can get our hate on on Gibbs? Sweet.
Isn’t hating on Robert Gibbs a fairly large waste of energy? The guy’s biggest decision in a day is which direction he’s going to spin. (“Left, then right? Perhaps with a twist and a somersault? Yes! That’ll keep the monkeys in the press corpse clapping!”)
Hating on Robert Gibbs is kind of like hating on the guy who plays Ronald McDonald in the TV commercials. Sure the guys he works for do things you might hate, but at the end of the day he’s just a guy dressed up like a clown.
He’s been a horrible Press Sec. Plus a lot of locals around here have been complaining about him more than the president.
Just saying that’s where the hate is going to flow.
Doesn’t that depend on who he chooses as a replacement (if indeed Rahm does leave?)
In truth, any brickbats that fall to the President’s CoS (whomever that is) should really go to the President since it’s not like he’s an impotent merely following everything the CoS tells him. In fact, it’s the other way around. I don’t agree that such brickbats are deserved but if you’re really angry about something that the President’s CoS does, that should really be directed at the President too.
Not really. Emanuel wanted to blow off health care, then we wanted to cave on health care. Neither of those things happened, but that’s what he advocated. It matters what the CoS of whispering even if he or she doesn’t win the argument.
What about Peter Orszag, who’s Op-ed was completely misconstrued?
whose*
The ragging on Rahm was getting kind of old. I seem to remember his getting a little credit for HIR passing. It was never really clear to me what he was doing and what he wasn’t, so it seemed that he was getting beaten up more for his persona than for the specific ways that he was wielding power.
But the timing couldn’t be better. If Obama realizes that he needs to send strong populist signals now, he can do that with who he picks as Rahm’s replacement. I wonder if a woman could be considered.
Maybe a better question to ask is who would progressives prefer to have as CoS? Who has sufficient progressive cred, yet also the knowhow to get stuff done in Washington cleanly and with “No Drama?” I’d be curious to hear the answer to that. Would Podesta ever consider coming back, and would progressives be happy with that pick?
Podesta? You mean the guy who was in Drudgico yesterday saying:
He thinks the Republicans will compromise? Can I have some of what he’s smoking?
Well ok. But as far as I understand the man also founded and runs one of the most important progressive institutions in the country.
Did I miss something? You’re assuming Rahm will quit to run for mayor I assume? That’s kind of a big stretch unless you know about some pressure on him to go that the rest of us are unaware of. If he does go, Gibbs would be wise to do likewise, but there are plenty of flapping mouths in the administration and in the party to goose up the despair level among liberals and lefties.
There’s been talk lately of him leaving after the elections, even beyond running for Mayor.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20002900-503544.html
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/07/rahm-emanuel-for-chicago-mayor.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sc-dc-0908-emanuel-20100907,0,2813441.story
No, the real question is: when Rahm doesn’t have Obama’s protection who will HE kick around? You think fuck-the-unions-fuck-the-base will fly in Chicago outside of his old yuppie district?
I think he’ll have serious problems if he runs for mayor. In his favor he’s got the good connections and image as a tough guy who can step into Daley’s shoes. OTOH, his anti-labor, anti-liberal rants will be fodder for a range of opponents and will not go down well in this labor-liberal town. Anybody who thinks he’d be a shoo-in doesn’t know Chicago.
The election will be a mess no matter who runs. I foresee an ugly ethnic-based contest between machine whiteys, more activist Afro-Americans, and a range of Hispanics. Daley managed to retain the loyalty of voters across the ethnic range. I’m not sure anybody else can do that. I’m not looking forward to the battle, and don’t know who I’d support/work for. But it will be epically fascinating.
Anyone who thinks Chicago elections are about policy hasn’t lived there. The question is whether the Daley machine will pick up Rahm as their candidate. If they do, he wins. If they don’t, then the debate is about policy.
Daley says he’s not endorsing. Which is kind of a blockbuster, I think. There’s no unified machine anymore. Daley managed to hold together a multi-ethnic coalition. I don’t see anyone else, least of all Rahm, following in those footsteps. In the absence of a machine drive, the election will be about ethnic power, not policy for the most part. I don’t look forward to it.
Orzag seems to be off to a fine start, here’s Josh Marshall. Milquetoast Josh Marshall!
Too bad Orszag’s a has-been. Now he’s on his way to being a pundit. That must hurt.
Orzag’s trying to remind people that he only supports the full extension if that’s the only way.
Of course the GOP is using his article as a cudgel to bash Obama. No one could have predicted, right? For a pretty smart guy Orzag can be pretty stupid.
Anyhow, I hate Obama but I hate the GOP far FAR more. So. What do I do to support Obama in this so that he doesn’t cave and attack the GOP for this idiocy?
there is little more nauseating than watching you run defense for someone everyone knows is an asshole, in politics and out.
really smart to say shit like “fuck the UAW” and then have it come out right before labor day. and boy oh boy, his “fucking retards” comment sure made relations between the white house and the left stronger, didn’t it? right, you’re the guy always complaining that the left is mean to the president and needs to get on board.
some fuckface like rahm making asshat comments isn’t helpful, and you should know that.
Yep, I fully believe that Gibbs can take up the slack in animosity left by Rahm Emmanuel’s departure to lead the great city of Chicago.
After all, he succeeded in torpedoing Howard Dean.
Dean?? that loser hippie who screams a lot?
oh and who as head of the DNC pretty much led the Democrats to victory?
He’s a FUCKING LOSER as anyone with brains can tell you. A TOTAL FUCKING LOSER. Tim kaine: now there’s a man with VISION AND CHARISMA.
/snark
being told you’re retarded and to fuck off by Rahm Emanuel is like being simply acknowledged by most people. He’s curses out anyone who annoys him all day long. It’s who he is.
I’d love to see the list of shit he’s called various Republicans.
You going to panty-wad routine is just depressing.
I don’t like Rahm and I think his political instincts are much too cautious, but he’s not the freaking devil and the obsession over him has been farcical.
my panties aren’t in a wad.
rahm emmanuel, as you admit in your post, is a dick who alienates people, doesn’t support progressive legislation, buys into right-wing frames, and is way too cautious.
he’s a douchebag who’s made things more difficult, not better. maybe that’s who he is, but in the “real world” those aren’t admirable or even acceptable traits.
fuck off retard.
You continue with the ‘Rahm said bad things about me’ cry-fest.
I agree with everything you said, but I still am tired of people whining about it.
It would be nice if the White House had a CoS who was more focused on taking the fight to the Republicans than taking it to us.
Just sayin’.