Rahm Emanuel ducked out of City Hall alone on Tuesday afternoon, his usual security detail walking slightly ahead of him.
The calm, matter-of-fact way that Rahm’s rule is coming to an ending is shocking—particularly so if you compare it to the mood of eight years ago. In 2010, Obama’s former chief of staff returned to Chicago from the White House poised as a conquering hero ready to assume his rightful place on the throne.
Sure, a recent poll bankrolled by one of Emanuel’s many high-powered capitalist friends claimed that the mayor had more than a puncher’s chance of reelection. But multiple polls conducted earlier in the year for mayoral hopefuls Garry McCarthy and Lori Lightfoot weren’t so rosy for Rahm. McCarthy’s numbers had Emanuel’s job performance rating at just 32 percent, and Lightfoot’s showed that just 31 percent of 800 Chicago voters said they would vote to him. Sixty-two percent of those voters said they wanted anybody but Rahm in 2019. Those are numbers that don’t bode well for someone whom David Axelrod—one of the mayor’s closest friends—once described as a “heat-seeking missile” for his ability to win elections.
These are just a few out of hundreds (if not more) of photos in my archives showing some of the fierce protests and relentless organizing that has happened to oust #RahmEmanuel over the years. Like @prisonculture says, sometimes we win. #ByeRahm #IBelieveThatWeWillWin pic.twitter.com/HLNNU18Sg8
— Love+Struggle Photos (@sarahdashji) September 4, 2018
O’Connor’s musings echo Emanuel’s belief that what’s conventionally referred to as America’s political “center” must hold because it’s the wise way of bloodless pragmatism. The left and right are childish, blinded by ideology. “Winning’s everything,” Rahm told a graduating class at Stanford last year. “Sometimes you just got to win. OK? Our party likes to be right even if they lose.” It’s as if Rahm is still coasting on his ruthless reputation of being the Michael Jordan of winning elections for himself and the Democratic Party.
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