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RAHM'S CAREER AS A POLITICAL OPERATIVE

One of Emanuel's proudest moments during his tenure at the Clinton administration was when he directed the details of the ceremony, down to the choreography of the famous handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat, in the 1993 Rose Garden signing ceremony after the Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. This event touched Emanuel's political sensibilities and his personal ties to Israel.

No one knows how Emanuel felt when, predictably, war broke out between the "peace partners" shortly thereafter.

Emanuel began his political career with the public interest and consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action. He went on to serve in a number of capacities in local and national politics, initially specializing in fundraising for Illinois campaigns and then nationally. Emanuel worked for Democrat Paul Simon's 1984 election to the U.S. Senate, was the national campaign director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1988, and then was senior advisor and chief fundraiser for Richard M. Daley's victorious campaign for Mayor of Chicago in 1989.

At the start of then-Arkansas Gov Bill Clinton's presidential primary campaign, Emanuel was appointed to direct the campaign's finance committee. Emanuel insisted that Clinton schedule a lot of time for fundraising and greatly delay campaigning in New Hampshire. Clinton agreed and embarked on an aggressive fundraising campaign across the nation. The fundraising paid off later, providing the campaign a vital buffer to keep buying television time as attacks on Clinton's character threatened to swamp the campaign during the New Hampshire primary. Emanuel's knowledge of the top donors in the US, his personal ties to Israel, and his rapport with potential donors within the Jewish community helped Clinton amass a then-unheard-of sum of $72 million.

Following the campaign, Emanuel became a senior advisor to Clinton at the White House from 1993-1998. In the White House, Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives.