Ten Things Worth Knowing About Rahm Emanuel
Obama's Chief of Staff Is a Colorful Character
As Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel will be a key player in the new administration and will likely leave his mark in matters of policy and politics. If nothing else, the man the New York Times calls “aggressive, frequently profane and instrumental in shaping domestic policy" should keep things pretty interesting on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Emanuel is widely recognized as a guy who plays hardball (his nickname is Rahmbo) and a smart politician. Considered to be an architect of the Democratic takeover of Congress in 2006, he represents a district on the north side of Chicago and is the House Democratic Caucus chair.
He gets a 100% rating from NARAL for his pro-choice voting record; a 94% from the NAACP for his pro-affirmative-action stance; a 39% from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for a mixed record on issues affecting business; and 100% from the National Education Association for pro-public education votes.
But the picture painted by Emanuel’s official biography and record doesn’t begin to capture the colorful individual who inspires such an avid following that online fans actually write fanfic about him – an honor generally reserved for fictional TV characters.
Here, in no particular order, are ten interesting things worth knowing about Rahm Emanuel:
1. The deputy chief of staff on the TV series West Wing, Josh Lyman, is based on Emanuel. Like the fictional character, Emanuel once sent a dead fish to someone with whom he was annoyed. (In the TV version, the recipient is a congressman; in real life, he was a pollster.)
2. Long before he became known for cutting remarks in the House, Emanuel worked at Arby’s, where he cut a finger on a meat slicer. The wound became infected, and he lost half of the middle finger on his right hand.
3. As Democratic Caucus chairman, Emanuel told new Democratic members of Congress not to go on the Colbert Report in order to avoid embarrassing themselves.
4. During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Clinton made a public appearance together. Emanuel told Blair, “This is important. Don’t f*** it up.”
5. Emanuel served as a civilian volunteer on an Israeli military base during the first Persian Gulf War.
6. In 1999, Emanuel left Washington and went back to Chicago to try his hand at investment banking. When the firm he joined was sold, Emanuel made millions.
7. In his youth, Emanuel was a talented ballet dancer and was once offered a scholarship with the Joffrey Ballet.
8. Emanuel once sat on the board of Freddie Mac. He recuses himself from any Congressional votes related to the mortgage company.
9. While working to pass the $700 billion bailout bill, Emanuel received special dispensation from his rabbi to work on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish high holiday.
10. Brother Ari Emanuel is a Hollywood agent and the model for the character Ari Gold in the HBO series Entourage.
Sources: The New York Times, The Huffington Post, ABC News, The Times of London, Time Magazine, The Hill, On the Issues
Rahm Emanuel
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Politics & Society
Latest Articles