Posted on 03/12/2025 11:52:03 AM PDT by Red Badger
Thomas English DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Rahm Emanuel, an Obama-era White House chief of staff and former Chicago mayor, is seriously considering a bid for president in 2028.
Emanuel returned from serving as U.S. ambassador to Japan in January, spending the past two months aggressively increasing his public profile with high-profile media appearances, speeches for liberal organizations like Democracy Forward and a regular column in The Washington Post, according to a Politico article published Wednesday. Despite not holding elected office since leaving the Chicago mayor’s office in 2019, Emanuel’s re-entry into domestic politics has fueled speculation about his presidential ambitions.
“I’ve only been back two months, and I have no idea what I’m doing,” Emanuel told Politico. “I’m not done with public service and I’m hoping public service is not done with me.”
Since returning to the U.S. in January, Emanuel has appeared on major political podcasts, television networks, and speaking engagements nationwide. In recent events, he has tested campaign-style messaging around education, criticizing Democrats from becoming sidetracked by lofty social debates and urging a renewed focus on educational standards.
“I don’t want to hear another word about the locker room. I don’t want to hear another word about the bathroom. You better start focusing on the classroom … In seventh grade, if I had known I could’ve said the word ‘they’ and gotten in the girls’ bathroom, I would’ve done it,” Emanuel told Bill Maher on Feb. 28. “We are literally a superpower, we’re facing off against China with 1.4 billion people and two-thirds of our children can’t read eighth grade level.”
Emanuel’s potential candidacy is already drawing polarized reactions within Democratic circles. Some longtime party operatives view Emanuel, known for his blunt style and pragmatic centrism, as precisely the type of candidate who could challenge Republicans effectively. This pragmatism is exemplified by his 2008 remark at a Wall Street Journal conference: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
David Axelrod, also a former Democratic White House official, argued that Emanuel’s combative style and extensive government experience make him uniquely suited to run.
“Who has more relevant experience?” Axelrod told Politico. “He understands how to win and speaks bluntly in an idiom that most folks understand.”
Emanuel also faces substantial obstacles over his past records. His tenure as Chicago mayor was marred with persistent allegations of cozy relationships with figures linked to organized crime, with critics repeatedly pointing to Emanuel’s fundraising ties and city contracts awarded to businesses associated with alleged mob affiliates—fueling accusations of corruption and machine politics that could haunt a national campaign.
“20 years ago it would have been an article in The Onion,” Doug Sosnik, another former White House official, told Politico.
Additionally, he faced backlash for using private email accounts to conduct official city business during his tenure as mayor, further fueling allegations that Emanuel deliberately circumvented transparency laws to conceal questionable dealings from public view.
As U.S. ambassador to Japan, Emanuel frequently used social media to mock Chinese leadership, drawing attention to high-profile disappearances of government officials.
Emanuel, a centrist Democrat, would likely encounter fierce resistance from the party’s progressive wing given his reluctance to champion its more frontier social issues, as well as his reportedly “dismissive” remarks about the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) closure at a Democracy Forward event in February, according to Politico.
“Nobody looks at a presidential campaign and does it to say, ‘Well, we’ll see what this feels like,’” Emmanuel told the outlet.
Emanuel severed part of his middle finger as a high school student while cleaning a meat slicer at an Arby’s restaurant, he told CBS’s 60 Minutes in 2010.
Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation
Looks like the dems have hit bottom and started to dig.
I have always expected Rahm to run for president. I’m only surprised he has waited this long.
The clarity and force of his personality were main clues, not that I want this. He’s hardball Liberal/ Progressive, aka Gov. Pritzker of Illinois.
Obama needs another clown to run to help cover his treasonous activities. I hope Trumps $500M war chest continues to grow and be used wisely.
Reminds me of McAulliff the guy who lost to Younkin in Va. Both are punks. He’d be a heavyweight but their cupboard is pretty much empty.
Is he the guy who sent a dead fish to a political opponent?
Is he also the guy who stabs a table with a steak knife, while he chants names of Republicans and says “dead”?
If he is the same guy, is he somewhat unbalanced, if you get my meaning?
no new blood... the dems are the whigs of today.
Other than his unyielding love of Israel, he has no redeeming qualities. I have read that in person, away from cameras or presstitutes, he’s a complete jerk...............
Yes, Rush use dto refer to him and ‘Dead Fish Rahm’..............
The only worthwhile thing this slob has ever done was tell Hillary Clintoon that Trump kicked her ass on November 8, 2016.
He’s a ballerina and served in the IDF and is up to his eyeballs with Obama. No thanks.
“centrist democrat” ha,ha, ha, ha!
Running this up the flagpole to see who salutes.
That’s a Clintonista, turned Obamite. He’s the one that wants to kill babies and those over 60 because that’s the age groups that cost our healthcare systems the most.
The Anti-Semite Dems would never allow a Jew on the top of their ticket.
Bill and Hillary want back in.
It won’t work this time.
The ‘Progressives’ would embrace a self-loathing Jew. However the IDF affiliation would give them pause. Rahm’s father called his children ‘Zionists’.
He’s the towel-snapper.
“Is he the guy who sent a dead fish to a political opponent?
Is he also the guy who stabs a table with a steak knife, while he chants names of Republicans and says “dead”?”
He’s very dramatic, and a ballet dancer. Queer as a 3 dollar bill. He loves cosplaying as a tough mafioso.
Tiny Dancer
So disturbing...
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