Rahm Emanuel making nice? He must be running for something.
| Washington
Wow, maybe Rahm Emanuel really is going to run for mayor of Chicago. Otherwise, why would he have agreed to appear on a high-profile and talk about ways of returning civility and cooperation to US political discourse?
After all, 鈥渃ivility and cooperation鈥� is a not a phrase normally associated with President Obama鈥檚 chief of staff. We mean no disrespect here, but it is a fairly well-established public fact that when it comes to political discourse Mr. Emanuel has in the past relied heavily on short words of Anglo-Saxon derivation and hand gestures that symbolize unpleasant acts.
Here鈥檚 an Emanuel story we can repeat, courtesy of a New York Times profile in 1997: Following the 1992 election, in which Emanuel served as chief fundraiser for the victorious Bill Clinton, Emanuel and some colleagues retired to a Little Rock, Ark., restaurant to celebrate their victory. Talk turned toward people the Clinton campaign considered enemies.
Revenge was in the air. Suddenly, upon the mention of a particular name, Emanuel grabbed his steak knife and plunged it into the table. 鈥淒ead!鈥� he screamed.
He and those around the table then chanted out their enemies list, each name followed by a loud 鈥淒ead!鈥� and another stabbing of the unfortunate furniture.
People do grow and change, however, and on Oct. 5, as we noted above, Emanuel will be one of the featured speakers at 鈥淕overning Across the Divide,鈥� this year鈥檚 installment of the Nancy and Paul Ignatius Program, a high-class annual lecture series. Josh Bolten, President George W. Bush鈥檚 former chief of staff, will share the stage with him.
They鈥檒l discuss ways to turn the national debate 鈥渇rom accusation to reflection and purposeful debate,鈥� according to the press release announcing the event.
Emanuel was probably booked for this long ago, so maybe it has nothing to do with the possibility of him returning to Illinois to run for mayor of Chicago, now that incumbent Richard M. Daley has said he won鈥檛 run for a sixth full term.
And Chicago being the tough town that it is, a reputation for civility might be a hindrance in that race, don鈥檛 you think? As opposed to a reputation for table-stabbing and for sending dead fish to pollsters who displease you. (Another famous Emanuel tale.)
Will he run? He鈥檚 said before that Chicago mayor is his dream job. The time is about right 鈥� White House chiefs of staff burn out fast nowadays.
So far Emanuel has given little public indication of which way he鈥檚 leaning. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that the opportunity to become mayor of Chicago does not roll around often, but that he鈥檚 sure Emanuel will take some time to weigh his options.
