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It looks Rahm Emanuel is done. Dana Milbank transcribed an article written by Rahm Emanuel today in The Washington Post. Never has an article been more clearly written to support a political benefactor.
As I was reading the article lavishing praise on Rahm Emanuel and throwing dirt on everyone else inside the White House, I kept thinking two things. First, how many leaks has Rahm given Milbank over the years? How much do they love each other? Milbank gets a cherished inside source so he can seem like he’s got the scoop on what’s happening in DC and Rahm gets a hatchet man that’ll write whatever he tells him to, I mean whatever he leaks to him as "important inside information."
My second thought was, "Wow, what a hatchet job on Jarrett, Gibbs and Axelrod!" Since Rahm is obviously feeding this to Milbank, that is very revealing. You don’t throw these kinds of bombs unless you’ve already lost. This is an act of desperation. It’s bound to make mortal enemies of these people inside Obama’s inner circle. You can’t really work with these people anymore. That means you’re already finished there.
This is basically Rahm saying on his way out, I was right all along and these guys were wrong. Maybe it’s a last minute attempt at a Hail Mary to swing the decision in his favor if he can start a conversation in DC about how he had offered better advice than the other three to Obama (by the way, everything he claims to have been right about inside the article was disastrous advice that led Obama further and further away from his voters). But either way, that means he thinks he is very close to being on his way out the door.
For my part, I don’t think it will work at all. It seems desperate, vindictive, political and obvious. If Obama was still considering which direction he was going to go, I think this will certainly cinch it. He hates these kinds of leaks and this kind of internal dissension. Rahm is done. Thank God.
43 Comments
From your lips, Cenk. I hope it is twue, weally twue.
If obama does not get rid of him now after that “praise” from a sock puppet, then obama is more “done” than rahm.
Cenk,
Let me add that I am a skeptic about the timing of the release of this. Rahm knows progressives have a goal to move Rahm out and enjoy taking time to write about it.
A big document dump happened on Friday and Marcy is busy linking information together.
This is Rahm’s further effort at a distraction effort for the Friday document dump because the Tiger Woods press conference has not been enough of a distraction.
Que?
You have my attention.
As I’m REALLY hoping Rahm is gonna be gone, and buh by.
And frankly, I don’t care WHY or how . . . at this point, his leaving will please me greatly, regardless of why.
GO Rahm, just go, please.
Ya fuckin putz.
Cenk, recommended and thanks for another Rahm Bashing exercise. After all, if we cannot rough up this simple corporate shill, how can we defeat the rest of K-Street.
PW had a Dkos Diary, with many supportive comments but a few that deserve repeating. My favorite,
Rahm is quoted himself, talking about the base of the Democratic Party,
There is a critic or two who do not like the way we twist facts here.
Rahm has a lot in common with Newt Gingrich. They believe that the true enemies are hippies and lefties. Their mission is to destroy these peace mongers and make the world safe for offshore multi national corporations.
Newtie will even pretend to be bipartisan to exterminate the libs.
Thanks, Frank! As I mentioned there, this isn’t the first time Rahm’s done this. Marcy described a more blatant incident that happened in August, where Rahm actually went on the record about it — and was chewed out by Obama for it. Rahm’s response was to simply go off the record.
If true, I’m wondering what this f**king weasel and his backers want as a golden handshake? After all, the Democratic party is AIPAC’s playground.
they are gonna go ahead and start a third party, the neo-con party, if necessary. they own most of the nation’s wealth, and they have dirt under just about everyone in the position of power of any kind, and they have made it more than clear that they are more than willing and happy to use their custom-made “intelligence” for their agenda.
I was under the impression the GOP was in bed with the Likud party.
Honey…they are both in bed with Lukid…always have been.
“The president disregarded that strategy and sided with Capitol Hill liberals who hoped to ram a larger, less popular bill through Congress with Democratic votes only. The result was, as the world now knows, disastrous.” ; talk about being completely disingenuous.
Everyone should send Milbank a roll of toilet paper to emphasize how full of shit he is.
I don’t believe Obama has the guts to fire Rahm. Doing so would be an admission that choosing him was a mistake. At best they’ll try to keep him muzzled, then in the unlikely event Obama wins a second term they’ll ease him out.
Which assumes the president has a problem with Rahm. I am not convinced that is the case. They appear to share a corporatist conserva-Dem weltanschauung.
Rahm’s been hinting at an early exit for a few weeks now. I suspect he wants to avoid getting hit with the blame for the looming midterm debacle, where his PhRMA sellouts created a Senate HCR bill that’s electoral death for Democrats.
I hope so, I would also like to see him in permanent exile, far from the corridors of power. St. Helena sounds like a good final destination for diminutive tyrants.
The Washington Post has become such fertile ground for toolery that it ought to be rechristened The Toolery Gardens.
However, I regard the notion that Rahm is on the way out as wishful thinking in the extreme.
I’m glad that Keith Olbermann got rid of Dana Milbank a couple of years ago.
And Ralph, there’s a daily supply of steaming, fresh “fertilizer” over at the WaPooPoo Foolery,oops-I mean Toolery, Gardens.
Hey Cenk–If you’re right, you’ll get the “I called it first” award. I just hope you’re right. By the way, whose next in line for the job?
Just what I was wondering. Evan Bayh?
Hell, Obama can’t even get rid of the Bush moles in his “administration” I just don’t see him giving up Rahm. If Rahm goes, it’ll be because HE wants out, not because his dastardly deeds have gotten him dismissed.
If he DOES go, it’ll be interesting to see where. I suspect he’d follow Bayh
Two thoughts: first, Rahm was an obsessive leaker in the Clinton administration. I’ve heard reporters talking about Rahm’s constant calls and self-promotion then. That Rahm was especially infamous says something because DC is loaded with the type. Second, I’ll bet Nancy Pelosi was happy to see Rahm off to the White House and won’t be delighted if he chooses to return to the House. Rahm made no secret that he aspired to the Speaker position and eventually would have collided with Pelosi.
I’m not so sure this article means anything other than Rahm as usual.
I would be just as happy to see Jarrett, Gibbs & Axelrod go with him. God, I hope you’re right about this, Cenk.
@ubet…why didn’t I think of this? Excellent!
Let’s see, Rahm leaves but the Jarrett-Gibbs-Axelrod alliance remains to change direction you think? Gibbs is a mealy mouthed tool, Jarrett is an ineffectual loser without any conviction for anything except being a sycophant to Obama and Axelrod is so far up the ass of his wife’s lobbyists connections he can’t see straight. So now Rahm leaves and we finally get the change we can believe in. Whew, you know for a minute there I thought we were headed down the drain!
Master of the obvious.. I’m not biting. The praise for Rahm is obsequious and it’s comical. If Rahm had commissioned Milbank to write this, it would be disguised praise, instead it’s devastating for Rahm if you follow the obvious markers.
I think this might be Podesta’s work. Rahm is not so stupid to be openly conceited. Have the others in the tight circle taken shots at Rahm in public like this? It maybe someone connected to Jarret that doesn’t like Rahm too.
Belive it when You see it and not before.
Thanks Cenk.
Poll-reader-extraordinaire Plouufe is back on board, and pointing out the obvious: Rahm is hated by both ends of the spectrum (you think the bible-thumpers like his foul mouth?), the back room deals with Big Pharma are political death for the Party, and passing the Public Option is an overwhelming slam dunk come November. Rahm has been isolated by the numbers, and BO is a numbers guy.
I dunno. That Harvard Pussy Obama is a doormat.
Im not even convinced that he is capable of punishing someone who is not right wing.
At this point ill believe it when I see it. Hoping its true.
I hope! I hope! I hope!
recommended! tweeted!
Correction:
*Im not convinced that he (Obama) is capable of punishing someone who is right wing.
If Rahm Emanuel is finished at the White House, that is all well and good. But if he is the only one to go, then all his departure represents is more window dressing on a crumbling house that is near to total collapse. All of Team Obama needs to be replaced with people from among the progressive base of supporters who got Obama where he is today. If not, then not even the drumming out of Rahmbo will save his political ambitions from his own stupidity.
And as an afterthought, I leave this point: why, after the way Obama attacked Jeremiah Wright to save his campaign, is anyone surprised that not even Rahmbo is safe from being tossed under the proverbial bus to preserve his boss’s neck?
Would you take Timmie, too?
replacing one face with another leaving the structure intact
will do nothing.
what has “replacing bush with obama” achieved so far?
Nothing on the I/P conflict. The I lobby is moving an attack on Iran even closer.
At least health care reform is being discussed, bantered about. Not much on that during 8 destructive years of the Bush administration
Obama will never fire Rahm or ask him to leave. He’s to much of a coward for that.
Rahm may leave on his own, but OBama will NEVER spine up enough to do it himself.
the man just doesn’t have the leadership for it
“Since Rahm is obviously feeding this to Milbank, that is very revealing.”
Sure does read like a script from Rahm.
One thing I totally agree with Rahm on. The Obama administration should have focused on jobs the first year. Jobs then health care reform. Think Rahm was spot on.
OBama will never fire or ask Rahm to leave. He’s to much of a coward. He thinks we can all just get along.
Rahm may leave on his own, but it will never be the Coward in chief’s doing.
Cenk, I’ll see your bet and raise you. If Rahm goes as you predict, Obama names Howard Dean chief of staff.
Think about it. It would be a master stroke. 1. It would eliminate Obama’s only potential 2012 Democratic opponent. 2. It would energize the base again. 3. It would largely muzzle Dean (because Dean would be loyal).
About as likely as Rahm going anywhere anytime soon.
Muzzle Dean? I’m thinkin’ twice, although a good strategic move
The sooner we all realize the establishment Democratic Party has declared war on liberals/progressives, the better off we all will be.
Off to join Likud?
I wish it were true. I think Obama will keep Rahm because it gives him this excuse, a whipping boy, a scapegoat. We liberals can all hate Rahm and think that if only Rahm wasn’t around, Obama would do the right thing.
Well guess what: Rahm is doing EXACTLY what his boss, Obama, wants him to do.
Obama learned from Daley: always keep a useful scapegoat or two around. You can always jettison them when later.
I’m sorry but I don’t agree with the diarist’s conclusion. Yes, the Wapo article is disgusting but….
Obama is the one who chose Rahm and has stood by him every day. I think it’s far more likely that someone like Gibbs, who is totally ineffective anyway, will get the axe than Rahm will. In a way (relating to Israel) Rahm is Obama’s master and not the other way around. Rahm is also one of the many links in the Obama administration to the Wall St. bankers, since he was one of them.
Sorry, but I just don’t think Obama is in the position to get rid of Rahm nor does he have the balls to do so. I think it more likely that Obama will ADD someone to his team, someone like Tom Daschle who really does have some smarts about Washington works (but no ethics). If anyone goes, it will be Gibbs.
For Leslie Gelb’s take on this …