Rahm Emanuel Is the Definition of Unprincipled
By Matthew Rothschild, June 9, 2009
I was reading the cover story of the New York Times Sunday Magazinethe other day—the one about Obama’s team taking Capitol Hill—and I came upon the following quote from Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.
“The only nonnegotiable principle here,” he said, “is success. Everything else is negotiable.”
That’s the problem I have with Emanuel—and with Obama.
There’s no principle they’re willing to go to the mat for.
They didn’t fight for universal single-payer health care.
They didn’t fight for giving judges the authority to reduce the mortgages of people in bankruptcy.
They didn’t fight against the bank bailout.
They didn’t fight to keep GM from shutting down plants and laying off 21,000 people, even when they’re taking ownership of GM.
They didn’t fight for marriage equality or against don’t ask, don’t tell.
They didn’t fight against indefinite detention without trial; hell, they’ve embraced it.
They didn’t fight to dismantle Bush’s entire edifice of repression, including the NSA spying and the Military Commissions Act.
And they haven’t fought to bring the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to speedier close.
Emanuel’s comment is the very definition of being unprincipled. From a DLC-er like him, I’m not surprised.
But many expected better from Obama.
Success is not a principle. It’s an outcome.
And the outcome is going to be much less satisfactory if there’s no principle being fought for.
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Comments
Matt's observation is right on. Obama always starts by giving strong statements that rally support of progressives, then when it comes to policy, instead of putting on his gloves and fighting with conviction and using the arsenal of the "bully pulpit" he immediate moves to the ropes, brings in all "stakeholders" ((meaning those moneyed interests who will fight tooth and nail to stop real reform), and then comes up with a namby pamby middle of the road center solution that becomes even less acceptable when the moneyed "stakeholders" get their punches in on it.
His attempt to try and conciliate all runs in opposition to his call for change. The truth is, I never expected him to be any different. It isn't about him anyway. It is about us, and unless we organize and mobilize a strong opposition fuelled by direct actions, for example such at the Baucus 13, we will end up with "chump change" not real change. It's time to stop pinning our hopes on individuals and manifest our hopes by movement building with the like minded in vocal and sustained opposition.
Another example of Obama's process mentioned above can be found in the letter sent to environmental groups about how he is going to work to change Mountain-top Removal. If you parse the letter, one can see it follows the same scenario as mentioned above. It gives the appearance, but lacks the substance, something even the opportunist Rahm Emmanuel in his history as a politician lacks. He doesn't even bother with the appearance.