Rahm Emanuel is Running for President
The establishment Democrat is pretending he's not...
From Politico on Sunday, in an article titled, “Democrats Have a Rahm Emanuel Problem; Touring diners and factory floors with the man taking aim at his own party.”
This is how Rahm Emanuel eats a salad: He rips open its clear, clamshell container with two hands. He grabs the ramekin of the dressing. He pours it across the salad. Then he picks up the salad container, shaking it with an intensity and ferocity that forces the balsamic throughout, giving no quarter to the greens and the grilled chicken.
(I had to look up the word ramekin—here you go)
The article continues:
The next presidential election is more than two years away. But Rahm, 66, is already saturating old — and new — media with his small-bore policy rollouts and white papers, spending hours cultivating Beltway and battleground state reporters with on and off-the-record bull sessions, like this one at a deli amid a three-day swing through Michigan in February.
“My view is you got to be able to be comfortable in the classroom and the Situation Room and everything in between…”
There is one interesting exception to Rahm’s desire to meet with reporters—his staff decided that he shouldn’t give me an interview, and for probably good reasons.
I’ve been to several Bagniewski fish fries over the years, and they are always fun events that build community and hope for the future. It’s also camaraderie, friendship, and party-building. Sean and Lindsay are perfect hosts.
When I pulled up to the Bagniewski house, where Emanuel was the draw, I saw that the crowd was larger than I had ever seen before at the event—maybe 400 people. It was hard to find a parking spot, and a UTV came to pick me up several blocks away.
For many of us who live in rural Marion County, begrudingly represented by our MAGA legislators, we see every Democrat in the legislature, especially Sean, who shows up here all of the time, as our true representatives. Thank you all.
There were many interesting political speeches.
Rahm’s wasn’t one of them. Rahm is boring. Rahm is smug and patronizing. Rahm loves the sound of Rahm’s voice. Rahm laughs at Rahm’s jokes. Rahm thought we were interested in hearing his many long and stale tales about the Obama and Clinton years.
Numerous times Rahm told us he had to leave, but he kept on talking. Again and again. Blah, blah, blah, Clinton… Chuckle, chuckle... Blah, blah, blah. Obama…Chuckle, chuckle… and on, and on…
At least three times, Rahm told us he had to leave to get to the Eric Church concert downtown. Why repeat it three times? Just go, I thought. He’s running for president and is telling maybe 400 active Democrats that an Eric Church concert is more important than us? Three times? What’s the significance of his Eric Church signaling? That Rahm is a good old country boy, one of us, who likes country music? Figuring that we do? I had to look up who Eric Church is.
Rahm "News” at Draft Rahm Emanuel for President “reported” on the event. Under the headline “Rahm Emanuel Turns Iowa Fish Fry Into a Democratic Reality Check”, we learn:
Last weekend, 400 Iowa Democrats showed up in Des Moines expecting fried catfish and maybe a pep talk. Instead, they got Rahm Emanuel with a verbal sledgehammer. The man didn’t just work the room—he gutted it, filleted it, and served it back with lemon wedges.
Now that’s entertaining writing. The article was correct in that he called out Dems for betraying the working class, and called them out for the “party’s bad habit of obsessing over woke distractions,” and that the audience reaction was mixed.
The Rahm “News”/PR piece concludes:
The Chicago Magazine nickname—“Rahmosaurus”—was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. But in Des Moines, it felt prophetic. Dinosaurs died because they couldn’t adapt. Rahm? He’s the one chewing through the meteor. And while everyone else in the party is still workshopping hashtags, Rahm is already carving out the territory.
Make no mistake: Rahm Emanuel didn’t come to Iowa to eat fried fish. He came to remind Democrats what it feels like to have a spine. And judging by the nervous grins leaving the hall, plenty of them realized it’s been missing for a long time.
After reading this, it was my time to chuckle. Maybe yours too.
When the Rahm event was announced, Sean asked me if I would like to interview him. “Sure,” I said.
When I arrived, Sean asked me if one had been arranged by Rahm’s staff. I told him no, and he looked puzzled for a moment and then went to find the staffer who could set it up. I wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t gotten an interview. It happens. After all, I’m not with a traditional news outlet.
A woman soon came over, greeted me, and we had a pleasant conversation. When she asked me what I wanted to ask Rahm, I made the mistake of telling her.
I had been reading that Rahm had said repeatedly that the Democratic party was too “woke.”
So I told her that, if he thought the party was too “woke,” I wanted to know who Rahm planned to abandon, or throw under the bus, first. Women? Black people? Other minorities? Gay or trans people? And I have news for you, Rahm. All of these people ARE working class.
I also said something like Rahm was using Republican talking points to attack Democrats. The “woke” distractions are served up by Republicans and MAGA media and all Democrats do is stand by our values that are reflected in the last line of the pledge of allegience, “with liberty and justice for ALL.” The only reason Democrats talk about these issues are because Republicans have weaponized them and are taking away the rights of Americans. We have to resist or abandon our values.
And now, people like Rahm are buying that framing.
So I didn’t get the interview.
Despite Rahm saying he wanted to go into uncomfortable spaces, have interviews with beltway and battleground reporters, his staff didn’t want him to speak with me.
They know how to find me. The staffer has my card. She told me she would get in touch later.
I’m still waiting.
And Rahm, like it or not, you really are a dinosaur. Please embrace it and get out of the way of the next generation of leaders we need.
Speaking of framing, why did Politico, and why do other media outlets buy into the framing Rahm “News” presents, that Rahm is the “outsider candidate” when he is the consummate insider?
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Democrats in general need to promote a younger bench.
I was there. Bob nails it. The only surprise to me is that Rahm is only 66. I thought he was closer to 76 than 66. I'm not suggesting ageism here. I'm just suggesting that that his trip down memory lane suggested he was closer to the end of his career than his actual age would indicate. Sean always does an amazing job of welcoming people and elevating others. Rahm could have learned from the event. Instead, he reinforced he didn't come to learn. He came to preach. The photo Bob used is brilliant.