With Peter Roskam’s craven capitulation to President Trump in last week’s congressional Trumpcare vote, it’s time for suburban Democrats to play Rahm Emanuel.
In short, he’s got a safe seat and, as such, is free to vote his conscience. So what did he do? He voted with Donald Trump to replace Obamacare with Trumpcare.
His stated reason to reporters: “I think it was a good pathway forward because the status quo is not sustainable.”
As Sweet also points out, Hillary Clinton beat Trump in the district by a margin of 50 to 43 percent. Generally, voters there are fiscally conservative but socially liberal on issues like gay rights and abortion. Roskam has said he’s pro-choice, but Trumpcare also strips Planned Parenthood of its federal funding. So much for Roskam’s support for reproductive rights.
Watching Roskam scurry out of side doors reminds me of the time in 1989 when Congressman Dan Rostenkowski (from the Fifth District, in Chicago) ducked out of a meeting with outraged senior citizens as they chanted things like “Shame on you!”
In fact, it was Emanuel who helped launch Duckworth’s career by recruiting her to run in the Sixth. Before losing to Roskam, Duckworth defeated Christine Cegelis in a contentious Democratic primary. In 2012, she unseated Joe Walsh as congressman of the abutting Eighth District, and the rest is history.
