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Will Chicago Elect Rahm – A Jew – As Mayor? Tablet Says No

by Rachel Sklar | 4:44 pm, October 6th, 2010

» 18 comments

Rahm Emanuel has officially left the White House to officially prepare to run for Mayor of Chicago — and Tablet‘s Rachel Shteir officially thinks he doesn’t have a hope in hell. Put differently, she thinks that a Jew has about as much a chance of getting elected in Chicago as 8-day old baby Shlomo has of keeping his foreskin.

Says Shtier:

Emanuel doesn’t stand a chance here because, as one longtime Chicagoan put it to me recently, he is “too Jewish” in a city that has never had a Jewish mayor and a state that has never had a Jewish attorney general, state senator, or U.S. senator, despite having the fifth-largest Jewish population of any U.S. city, according to the World Jewish Congress.

“He has a potty mouth,” another bystander put it, basically repeating the sentiment.

I grew up on the East Coast, but I’ve lived in Chicago for 10 years—as long as I lived in New York as an adult—and by now I am all too acquainted with this sort of thinking. Emanuel’s brash public persona, which in New York and Washington is synonymous with the allegedly Jewish qualities of ambition, striving, and aggression—all desirable qualities, or at least ones that get you talked about on Sunday morning news shows—does not play in the power corridors here.

Chicago might be rough and tumble, but where Jews are concerned the most racially and ethnically segregated city in the nation prefers repressed politesse, a country-club attitude more pre-Civil Rights than post-racial.

In a word: Oy. Are Rahm’s chances really that dim? Could he really have made such a gamble, based on such an error in judgment? Well, so far he’s slipped up on the hand sanitizer thing and the D.C.-shot video wherein he kvelled about how he was “glad to be home” (oy again), so who can tell? Shtier points out that the Jews of Chicago number just 2% of the population, and cites a few examples of anti-Semitism in the city’s political history. But hey, it’s 2010 and Rahm is no dummy. No doubt he pow-wowed with that other Chicago-bred Obama power-Jew, David Axelrod, and decided that it was worth the plunge. Or maybe he just saw a dude named Barack Hussein Obama get elected President of the United States and thought, well damn, I guess that means anything can happen.

In the meantime, best of luck to you, Rahm! Maybe if you need help, you can enlist who Tablet calls “The World’s Most Powerful Jew” to help you out. I speak, of course, of Mark Zuckerberg. Actually, upon reflection, you two seem to have rather a lot in common. At least according to promos I’ve seen for that movie. I can see Rahm delivering that deposition bit rather convincingly.

p.s. I look forward to when I can brag about this picture of me with the future first Jewish mayor of Chicago!

Chicago Mayor, Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, Rahm Jewish

Big Eddie

For that , let’s turn to our new commentator here at MSNBC , Rick Sanchez …
Sean68

Everyone knows Rahm’s a jew. You can tell for sure because the only country he was actually willing to put his own ass on the line for was israel.
Arkansas Steve

Would someone in the Chicago press please ask Rahm:
Do you plan to do as good a job as mayor as you did as White House Chief of Staff?

Then shut up, and watch him make a fool of himself!
Greg

As a Chicagoan… And a certified liberal…not sure I would vote for Rahm…not because he has particular religious predilections…but because I know little of his plan for the city… Need more information before I assume that he might not be simply taking advantage of the historic gap created by a Daley vacancy…
jk76

Mayor of Chicago is like being King of the World in certain circles.
VRWC Destruction Machine

He”d have better chance if his name was Arnold Rothstein. It would give Emanuel name recognition in Chicago.
JimBob

I was always under the impression,
a mistake was made when Rahm was an infant.
They kept the foreskin.
RIChris

The most crucial point that is missed about Obama and those in his administration: It has nothing whatsoever to do with etnicity.
sarainitaly

So, Shteir is saying that Democrats in Chicago are a bunch of racists and bigots, prejudiced against Jews?
(hey, isn’t that funny that Farrakhan, Obama and Ayers all live there?)

Seriously, I can think of a lot of reasons not to vote for Rahm, but being Jewish isn’t one of them.
JamesA1102

sarainitaly said:
So, Shteir is saying that Democrats in Chicago are a bunch of racists and bigots, prejudiced against Jews?(hey, isn’t that funny that Farrakhan, Obama and Ayers all live there?)

Sara (who loves America so much that she lives in a foreign country where she benefits from government run healthcare) dishonestly groups the President with Louis Farrakhan and Bill Ayers. Even more dishonestly tries to infer that the President and Mr. Ayers are anti-semetic.
sarainitaly

Do they, or do they not all live there? How is it dishonest to group them together, as residents of Chicago?
Did Shteir indirectly state that Democrats in Chicago are racist and bigoted against Jews?
JamesA1102

sarainitaly said:
Do they, or do they not all live there? How is it dishonest to group them together, as residents of Chicago?

Sara (who loves America so much that she lives in a foreign country where she benefits from government run healthcare) dishonestly resorts to guilt by association tactics when the facts don’t support her hate filled rants.
sarainitaly

James (who can’t support his argument) ignores facts, and resorts to personal attacks, hysteria and lies.
JamesA1102

sarainitaly said:
James (who can’t support his argument) ignores facts, and resorts to personal attacks, hysteria and lies.

Lame Sara (who loves America so much that she lives in a foreign country where she benefits from government run healthcare). Lame and untrue.
greg454

“Emanuel’s brash public persona, which in New York and Washington is synonymous with the allegedly Jewish qualities of ambition, striving, and aggression—all desirable qualities, or at least ones that get you talked about on Sunday morning news shows—does not play in the power corridors here.”

—-Ambition, striving and aggression? Gee, that sounds like Donald Trump, but I guess the writer would never label those qualities “Christian.”
http://none pyrope

JimBob said:
I was always under the impression,a mistake was made when Rahm was an infant.They kept the foreskin.

Oh, THAT is brutal. Funny, but brutal.

On another note, did you know that Bill Cliton was born without eyelids? True! A Jewish doctor was consulted about it and asked whether infant Bill had yet been circumcized. His mother replied in the negative. The Jewish doctor performed the circumcision and fashioned the foreskin into eyelids for the future president. That’s why Bill Cliton has always been…cockeyed.
Janisford76

just looking at emanuel anyone can tell he’s a lying piece of shit, a total jewish jackass. Wants to turn chicago into a muslim jewish fucking community, son of a bitch bought the mayoral election knowing he wouldnt win. I dont know about you but i dont want him running our city, he will destroy our city, lets not let him.
Janisford76

rahm emanuel holding a american flag with a big smile on his jewish jackass face, the only thing he likes about america is the money he makes destroying our city, shame on that jewish bitch.