‘No.’ Ex-Obama Aide’s Flirtation With 2028 Presidential Bid Gets Brutally Roasted
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Observers from the left, right, and center were unmoved by a report from Politico’s Jonathan Martin suggesting that Rahm Emanuel is flirting with running for president in 2028.
“Rahm Wants to Run. Yes, that Rahm. And, yes, for that office — the presidency,” began Martin before diving into the merits of the ex-Obama chief of staff and Chicago mayor’s potential candidacy.
“Since coming home in January from his stint in Tokyo — a job he repurposed to be American envoy to all of Asia — Emanuel has been as visible as any other Democrat. Never mind that he currently holds no office and hasn’t been on a ballot for a decade. Name the political podcast and Emanuel has likely been on it or will be shortly. He immediately snagged a CNN contract and regular Washington Post column, no small accomplishment for a former official at a moment of retrenchment for news organizations,” he wrote. “Just as striking is to talk to anybody in high-level Democratic politics who knows Emanuel — which is to say most everyone — and hear how matter of fact they are about the inevitability of his candidacy.”
According to Martin, some are bullish on the idea.
“Who has more relevant experience?” asked David Axelrod. “He understands how to win and speaks bluntly in an idiom that most folks understand.”
While other, are decidedly not.
“I’m not sure people in South Carolina know or care who Rahm Emanuel is,” South Carolina lawmaker Gilda Cobb-Hunter told him.
Online, almost everyone fell into the latter camp.
Quote-tweeting a post from Martin promoting his piece, The New York Times’ Jane Coaston simply said “No.”
“For what?” asked CNN’s Bakari Sellers facetiously.
“What if the path to Democratic Party renewal was always just to bring back the biggest assholes, like Rahm and Andrew Cuomo?” wondered GOP pollster Patrick Ruffini.
“I’m not sure that a former mayor of Chicago should want to start a conversation about low-performing public schools,” submitted National Review‘s Dominic Pino.
“Rahm Emanuel is running in 2028. If he’s the candidate I’m leaving the party. I’m not interested in a boring club membership,” commented progressive commentator Matt Stoller.
“The governor of California just took Bill Maher’s position on trans people in sports – they don’t need Rahm to do this for them!” observed Semafor’s Dave Weigel.
“Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo, Rahm Emanuel – they are in the corruption wing of the Dem party,” declared Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “The lesson from Trump cannot be that Dems could win if only they were more corrupt. To make the case against Trump, we must get rid of the corruption in our party, not give more power.”
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