Will Blagojevich derail Rahm's chances?

So the Chicago-Tribune has an article out today regarding Rahm Emanuel's involvement in the Rod Balgojevich senate seat scandal. It makes some interesting notes about the fact that Rahm has been shown to have made several phone calls on behalf of Obama giving the president's input as to who Blago should pick to replace the presidents vacated senate seat. Big deal.



Frankly, I don't see this causing much of a stir for Emanuel. First off, the major part of the crime was done by Blago. Emanuel, nor the president, had any involvement in giving money or favors to the ex-governor and there is no real record of Emanuel having a large number of conversations about this. Merely he was acting as a messenger to the president. Was it a unethical for the president to give any input...probably. But that's not something Rahm can truly be blamed for. Also the Blago trial is over (pending appeal) and that the actual election is in February of next year and odd time for an election and most likely a fact that will let Rahm's campaign fly under the radar of media scrutiny. Also I think if the famous Chicago political machine can get behind Emanuel he'll have zero problems getting elected. They are good at doing that. So I would say Blago is a no issue at this point. At the moment only Rahm can beat Rahm.

Ding Dong the Rahm is Gone.

So Rahm Emanuel has formally quit his job as chief of staff for Obama. I for one couldn't be happier for the president. It has been noted (here and here and here) that Rahm is sort of a jerk to everyone he comes in contact with and there are a lot of rumors going around saying that a lot of the tension between congress and the president has come from Emanuel's abrasive personality and management style.

It seems that the main reason for Rahm's leaving has more to do with his desire to be the mayor of Chicago than anything else though. Since he was a congressman several years ago, and now as the chief of staff to the president, there really isn't any question about his capabilities of handling the actual job. But will he be good for Chicago? That I'm not so sure about. If he keeps up the trend of pissing off people in power there now he may have a tough time getting elected. But it is Chicago. It's a rough and tumble city so who knows? Maybe he is perfectly suited for the job.

Interesting fact: Rahm's brother, Ari Emanuel, is actually the person Jeremy Piven's character on Entourage is based off of. Looooooyyyd!