Robert Reich, who served as Labor Secretary during the Clinton Administration, issued a warning about the 2028 Democratic Primary primaries: Do not support Rahm Emanuel.
He wrote:
I know Emanuel. I worked with him for years in the Clinton administration, and then when he was Obama’s chief of staff.
Rahm Emanuel represents everything that’s been wrong about the Democratic Party for the last 34 years — its dependence on money from big corporations and the wealthy, its reluctance to embrace bold ideas to reverse widening inequalities, and its indifference to the needs of average working people — and Democratic candidates should be warned off him.
I would never support him for one big reason.
When he was Mayor of Chicago, he closed 50 public schools in a single day, throwing the lives of children, parents, communities, and staff into chaos.
He imagined he was doing them a favor but he was harming them. They were assigned to unfamiliar schools, had to walk through gang territory, lost friends, and suffered needless disruption. He boasted about helping them when in fact he treated the children and their families with disrespect.
He was Chicago’s worst mayor on education issues.
He is right. Rahm is a sleaze ball. He was kicked out of D.C. and came to Chicago to screw the citizens of Chicago.
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Do you have a link for the Robert Reich article about Rahm Emmanuel?
I usually get Reich’s emails several times a day.
I agree that Emmanuel was terrible as the Sec. of Education but have barely followed what he was doing after that as Chicago’s mayor.
Thanks,
Roberta M. Eisenberg
>
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Rahm was not Sec of Education, that was Arne Duncan (equally horrible). Rahm was Obama’s chief of staff for his first term then he moved to Chicago & was elected mayor. Chicago school system is under the control of the mayor, not an elected school board, so Rahm made sure to bulldoze his privatization policies through the school system and concurrently tried putting his foot on the necks of the Chicago Teachers Union. Teachers pushed back with amazing acts of courage to stymie his efforts and they were successful more often than not.
When Biden was elected he nominated Rahm to be the US Ambassador to Japan. While the Ambassador he made some very suspiciously timed stock trades. https://prospect.org/2024/11/19/2024-11-19-rahm-emanuels-suspiciously-timed-stock-trades/
“Among the millions of dollars of stock trades Emanuel conducted between 2021 and 2024 while serving as ambassador, one purchase jumps out. On September 29, 2023, Emanuel bought between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of stocks in CoreWeave, a leading AI cloud computing service.
Emanuel’s purchase took place one day before the Japanese government announced a $320 million subsidy to Micron Technology to manufacture storage components that are essential to the Nvidia chips which CoreWeave relies on for its AI computation services.”
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Roberta,
I originally posted this at 11 am before it was finished. There was no link. I posted the same story at noon with my commentary and the link. It’s all there.
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I agree! The problem is that many have a short memory. Let’s not forget the failure of No Child Left Behind and mass testing
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Emanuel is a toxic bully that, as the mayor of Chicago, closed fifty public schools in a single day. He recently said that democratic socialists should form their own party. He is an out of touch corporate Democrat that cherishes the status quo and is quite the opposite of what is needed today. We need people with vision and guts to make bold moves to preserve our democracy, and an inspiring, empathic person who will work to rebuild the working class. We need a leader that can work with Democrats of all persuasions to form an united coalition against the anti-democratic extremists.
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I wrote this in 2013 about him
Yes, the Kool Aid must stop – Opine I will
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I agree that Emmanuel would be terrible, but I don’t understand why Reich even thinks that a guy who will be 68 in 2028 and has no base and no public appeal would ever be a viable candidate.
It’s more likely Rahm will try to be a power broker, but even that seems unlikely.
I don’t think the more well-known Dems like Newsom are going to be the candidate. More likely to be an unknown as 1992 and 2008 – like the Gov of a small southern state like Andy Beshear or a young candidate like AOC or Buttigeig or someone not yet well-known enough to be mentioned.
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NYC public school parent,
After the administrations of two men in their 80s, 68 does not seem old.
There are many reasons why Rahm should not be elected, but age is not one of them.
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“Rahm Emanuel represents everything that’s been wrong about the Democratic Party for the last 34 years — its dependence on money from big corporations and the wealthy, its reluctance to embrace bold ideas to reverse widening inequalities, and its indifference to the needs of average working people — and Democratic candidates should be warned off him.” Yup!
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Rahm Emanuel has widely been characterized by critics, progressive commentators, and political opponents as a central figure of the neoliberal and centrist wing of the Democratic Party.
The neoliberal and centrist (“New Democrat”) wing of the Democratic Party largely controlled the party’s direction and presidential politics for roughly 25 to 30 years, spanning from the late 1980s and the 1992 election of Bill Clinton through the Obama administration up until the early-to-mid 2010s.
Following the 2008 financial crisis and the eventual closure of the DLC in 2011, the hegemonic grip of strict neoliberalism began to loosen. The energetic rise of economic populism—typified by Bernie Sanders’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns and subsequent shifts in the Biden administration’s industrial and labor policies—marked a transition away from the orthodox centrism of the 1990s.
Let’s hope and pray that the faction Rohm Emanuel represents does not return to dominate the Democratic Party like they did for those three decades.
The current Democratic Party’s leaders:
Hakeem Jeffries – Serving as the House Democratic Leader (Minority Leader), he represents the mainstream, centrist-to-moderate establishment wing of the party in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Katherine Clark – Serving as the Democratic Whip in the House, she works alongside Jeffries to coordinate the party’s legislative strategy and aligns with the mainstream liberal/moderate leadership.
Pete Aguilar – As the Democratic Caucus Chairman in the House, he is part of the core leadership team representing the party’s central governing establishment.
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – As prominent national figures and legislative leaders, they serve as the foremost standard-bearers for the party’s progressive / left-wing faction, advocating for social democracy and democratic socialism.
According to Time Magazine, “The democratic socialism faction holds significant and growing influence among the Democratic Party’s base—particularly younger and college-educated voters—though its electoral success remains heavily concentrated in deep-blue urban areas.”
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This comment turned into a chore. I originally wrote this on my iMac desktop, but WordPress wouldn’t recognize that one. Again! This problem keeps happening and it’s being going on for years. So, I copied and pasted the comment into an email and sent it to me so I could open it on my Lenovo Microsoft Windows desktop and add it that way. Both desktops share the same desk in the same room. I thought I fixed this WordPress problem, but it seems to have returned.
*****
Rahm Emanuel has widely been characterized by critics, progressive commentators, and political opponents as a central figure of the neoliberal and centrist wing of the Democratic Party.
The neoliberal and centrist (“New Democrat”) wing of the Democratic Party largely controlled the party’s direction and presidential politics for roughly 25 to 30 years, spanning from the late 1980s and the 1992 election of Bill Clinton through the Obama administration up until the early-to-mid 2010s.
Following the 2008 financial crisis and the eventual closure of the DLC in 2011, the hegemonic grip of strict neoliberalism began to loosen. The energetic rise of economic populism—typified by Bernie Sanders’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns and subsequent shifts in the Biden administration’s industrial and labor policies—marked a transition away from the orthodox centrism of the 1990s.
Let’s hope and pray that the faction Rohm Emanuel represents does not return to dominate the Democratic Party like they did for those three decades.
The current Democratic Party’s leaders:
Hakeem Jeffries – Serving as the House Democratic Leader (Minority Leader), he represents the mainstream, centrist-to-moderate establishment wing of the party in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Katherine Clark – Serving as the Democratic Whip in the House, she works alongside Jeffries to coordinate the party’s legislative strategy and aligns with the mainstream liberal/moderate leadership.
Pete Aguilar – As the Democratic Caucus Chairman in the House, he is part of the core leadership team representing the party’s central governing establishment.
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – As prominent national figures and legislative leaders, they serve as the foremost standard-bearers for the party’s progressive / left-wing faction, advocating for social democracy and democratic socialism.
According to Time Magazine, “The democratic socialism faction holds significant and growing influence among the Democratic Party’s base—particularly younger and college-educated voters—though its electoral success remains heavily concentrated in deep-blue urban areas.”
‘
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WordPress would not let my iMac log me onto Diane’s blog to see if the comment I wrote made it, which is why I did what I did to post that comment through the Lenovo desktop. WordPress doesn’t stop me from logging on through the Lenovo. Only the iMac.
Now I see that the comment made it through the iMac too and repeats. Please delete one of them, Diane, if you read this. Thank you.
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Thank you, LLOYD.
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Rahm Emanuel and John Fetterman, just what the Democratic Party does not need. The Democratic Party appears to be plagued by Joe Manchinism in the case of Fetterman.
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Please explain why you think Letterman is part of an alleged plague infecting the Democratic Party.
The WSJ said, “U.S. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has shifted from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to a more independent, centrist-populist stance that often puts him at odds with the party’s mainstream progressive faction.”
The Guardian explains, first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016, he aligned closely with the progressive wing and described himself as a disciple of Bernie Sanders, emphasizing income inequality, universal healthcare, and legalizing marijuana. [1, 2]”
Spotlight adds, “According to reports from outlets like Spotlight PA and The Hill, John Fetterman has drawn criticism from progressives due to his staunch support for Israel, hawkish stances on border security, defense of the Senate filibuster, and willingness to work across the aisle with Republicans like Senator Dave McCormick.”
Not satisfied, I turned to Vote Smart.
Vote Smart compiles non-partisan background information, issue positions, and interest group ratings for public officials like U.S. Senator John Fetterman.
Interest Group Ratings: The platform tracks scores and evaluations given to John Fetterman by various ideological, labor, environmental, and business interest groups. These scorecards measure a politician’s votes against the specific group’s stated platform (such as conservative scorecards like Heritage Action or progressive/liberal advocacy evaluations).
Voting Record & Positions: Vote Smart outlines his public key votes, public statements, and general stance on issues like economic policy, social issues, and foreign policy. While he votes with his party the majority of the time, the platform’s data reflects instances where he breaks from mainstream Democratic positions—such as on certain foreign policy matters and energy issues.
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Rahm Emanuel is the darling of the hedge fund oligarchs who are behind the deceptively titled “Democrats For Education Reform” (DFER) that launched the first aggressive wave of demand for charter schools (which the hedge funds financially benefit from because of lucrative Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) lease agreements from charter schools).
DFER bought Obama early in his political career by funding his Senate campaign and he was keynote speaker at the dinner for the founding of DFER. DFER poured money into Obama’s presidential campaign, and when Obama won, he betrayed his pledges to teachers unions and made Rahm Emanuel, DFER’s choice, his Secretary of Education.
Emanuel then, with Obama’s blessing, proceeded to exponentially expand the number of charter schools, much to the detriment of genuine public schools.
So, NO — don’t support Rahm Emanuel for anything!!!
And Obama’s betrayal of the teachers’ unions and labor unions should never be forgiven because it was a craven act to reap more political funding for his second presidential campaign, as well as a ‘thank you’ for all of DEFR’s previous funding.
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To be clear, Obama wasn’t alone. Every president starting with Nixon, and expanded drastically after Reagon released his biased, lying misinformation loaded “A Nation at Risk” report, is guilty of doing little to nothing to stop the organized destruction of the public schools that made the United States what it had become between 1900 and 1983, when the actual full out war against public education was launched by the Reagan administration.
The North Carolina Law Review reported, “An analysis of President Richard Nixon’s education and civil rights policies published in the North Carolina Law Review highlights a complex legacy where his actions were viewed by some as a support for local public-school systems and by others as a burden on federal integration efforts.”
Joe Biden was the first president since Nixon, who strongly supported public schools through record federal investments, contrasting with conservative privatization approaches used by several previous administrations.
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Rahm is everything you described but he was not Obama’s Sec of Education. Rahm was Obama’s Chief of Staff. Arne Duncan was Obama’s Sec of Education who was (and still is) shilling for education privatization.
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Yep. Gettin’ old. Gotta check my notes instead of relying on my aging memory. Was 84 yesterday.🙂
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Happy birthday!
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I saw Rahm’s brother, Hollywood agent Ari, on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last week. Ari wrote a memoir to explain why his insane rage and vengefulness is good for everybody! Seriously. Actually, he wrote the f-word a few thousand times and called it a book. That billionaire, Ari Emmanuel, who went to Jeff Bezos’ wedding, is not okay. Not. No. Not okay. He gulps a cup of live worms every morning “to clear his gut of bacteria.”
Apparently, the Emmanuel siblings were raised in a striking manner that reminds me of how Bill Gates describes the vicious rivalries of his childhood, but worse. Here’s a quote about the Emmanuel brothers from Time magazine: “Their home was a constant state of trial-by-combats. The boys fought… ‘We were called a lot of bad names, and we had to withstand that and continue to go on,’ says Zeke Emanuel… ‘If there wasn’t blood,’ Zeke adds, ‘it was a good night.'” There was punching, kicking, biting, eye gouging, and nightly arguing at the dinner table, all of which was insisted on by their parents to toughen them up.
Ari has stated he views Zeke as the smart one and Rahm as the cunning one. He told Jon Stewart that if Rahm runs for president, “there is not one person more qualified than my brother to do it” because, for example, “he fought the teachers unions on strike for nine days.” Stewart pulled back in his chair and barbed sarcastically, “Really!” And when the audience applauded because Ari waited for them during an awkward moment of silence to clap for Rahm, Stewart jumped forward and shouted at the audience, “Oh. My. God. You’re buying this? Hold on one second. He’s an agent! His whole job is– that’s how he got Tyler Perry his own F*&#ing studio!” Then feigning solemnity, “There is not one actor I would trust more — than Madea.”
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You’ve just explained a lot about Emanuel.
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