Procrustes Stretched
"intuition and imagination and intelligence"
What is there not to like?
He is hated by the right wingnuts and the left wing moonbats loathe him. Like me he is attacked by goofy wingnuts who call him a leftist even as the left attacks him.
What is there not to like?
dD
He is hated by the right wingnuts and the left wing moonbats loathe him. Like me he is attacked by goofy wingnuts who call him a leftist even as the left attacks him.
What is there not to like?
dD
-The Chief | The New RepublicBy virtue of his political successes and his outsized personality--the nickname Rahmbo sums it up--he is the object of near-constant mythologizing. On the right, there is a tendency to view him as a kind of Democratic Karl Rove--a brilliant if diabolical operative who excels in the dark art of psychological warfare. When Emanuel ran the House Democrats campaign operation in 2006, the Republican leadership had a habit of blaming him for the partys freakish procession of scandals, such as the timing of the Mark Foley imbroglio and the indictment of Tom DeLay.
Meanwhile, to activists on the left, who have viewed Emanuel as a crypto-conservative since his Clinton-administration efforts to pass NAFTA, there is a persistent belief that he has maneuvered into the role of shadow president. In each passing disappointment--a too-small stimulus, a too-generous bank bailout, a variety of health care compromises--the left finds more evidence of his ascendant worldview. One prominent liberal radio personality refers to Emanuel as Barack Obamas Dick Cheney, while Jane Hamsher, proprietor of the highly trafficked blog Firedoglake, has agitated for his ouster.
If anything, though, Emanuel is the anti-Cheney. The former Bush vice president was famous for leaving few fingerprints; often, senior White House aides werent even aware of his involvement on an issue. But his influence touched every major administration initiative. Emanuel, by contrast, leaves more fingerprints than a twelve-fingered larcenist--thick, greasy, deeply grooved fingerprints. And yet, going down the list of Obama initiatives, one is struck by the number that resist his designs.