Loathing Rahm — and what you can do about it
by digby
I wrote a piece for Salon today about the history of the progressive Netroots and its particular loathing for Rahm Emmanuel. It’s not just that he never fails to show maximum contempt for the left. It’s that he has done everything he can over many years to drive the party into the arms of the national security hawks and the Wall Street billionaires.
Way back in the day (a decade ago) when the Progressive Netroots were just starting to organize, the first “scalp” any of the left leaning movement activists took was that of a Democratic hack from Maryland named Al Wynn when they backed a progressive challenger by the name of Donna Edwards. Edwards defeated Wynn in 2008 and is now running to replace Senator Barbara Mikulski who recently announced her retirement. In each congressional cycle Netroots progressives have fought a number of hard-fought primaries, losing more often than they won (just like the Tea Party) but slowly managing to make the House of Representatives a bit more progressive than it was before. Congressional representatives like Matt Cartwright, Beto O’Rourke and Senators like Jon Tester were backed strongly by the grassroots of the party and managed to unseat incumbents. Nobody in the beltway noticed or cared, of course. (Progressives always forget to order their tri-corner hats and Betsy Ross wigs…)
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Back in 2006 when all this really started to come together there was one Democrat who quickly determined that this nascent progressive movement was a major threat to the status quo. His name was Rahm Emanuel who was, at the time, an Illinois congressman in charge of candidate recruitment for the congressional Democrats. If there’s anyone who can take credit for being the catalyst for this long term Netroots commitment to elect progressives to congress it is him. His crude dismissal of grassroots concerns was blatant. His contempt for anyone who disagreed with his centrist Blue Dog/New Democrat philosophy was palpable. While his wholehearted support for big money interests was seen as the ultimate in strategic brilliance by the beltway elites, it repelled Democratic activists everywhere.Despite the fact that lame-duck George W. Bush and the war in Iraq were so unpopular that virtually anyone who could draw a breath who had a D after his or her name could have won, the conventional wisdom said that Emanuel’s DCCC win in the off year election of 2006 was a validation of his political savvy. (In case you were wondering, Emanuel wasn’t elected to congress until after the Iraq war resolution but was on record supporting it, saying that the U.S. needed a “muscular projection of force” there. You can let the shrinks sort out just what that language says about him …)
When the newly elected President Obama tapped him as chief-of-staff, you could hear progressives screaming “nooooooo” across the land. And when he departed to run for mayor of Chicago, the collective sigh of progressive relief (everywhere but Chicago) was just as audible. He is, in other words, the symbol of everything progressives are trying to change about the Democratic Party.
Today all those Netroots groups along with the SEIU are running a “money Bomb” for Chuy Garcia, the progressive Chicagoan who is giving Rahm the run of his life. This is what we sent to Blue America members this morning:
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Money contributed today isn’t going to be wasted on expensive network TV ads– which Rahm is spending $10 million on– but will be spent on real community outreach efforts.
If you’re thinking about donating, remember that it costs the campaign $6 to provide a box lunch for a volunteer out in the field. This campaign is going to be won because of a get-out-the-vote effort. That’s what Chuy’s operation is all about right now. Providing 50 buttons for distribution at an event is $25. It costs $100 to print 1000 copies of an 8½x11 piece to pass out on street corners, outside grocery stores, on subway platforms, in front of churches and synagogues and community centers, outside high school basketball games, at parades and rallies. Money contributed today–even small amounts– combine with others’ to make a real difference.
If Rahm loses, it will shake up Democratic politics to its core; a shake-up that is long overdue. Pleaseconsider contributing what you can– today, 2 weeks out– via ActBlue. There is no such thing as a contribution being too small to make a difference.
Last week, looking back at his presidential run in 2004, Howard Dean explained that he had
“represented the ‘Democratic wing of the Democratic Party’– a line inspired by Paul Wellstone that captured the spirit of my grassroots campaign. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García is running a similar people-powered campaign in Chicago and that’s why I am proud to announce that I am endorsing him as the progressive choice to be Chicago’s next mayor. Chuy García brings years of experience standing up for the people of Chicago. He worked with Harold Washington, Chicago’s reform mayor, to clean up Chicago in the 1980s. He also served alongside a then-unknown Illinois State Senator, Barack Obama, in the 1990s. In that time Chuy García fought for better schools and neighborhood services while developing the leadership skills required to lead Chicago in the 21st century. As mayor, Chuy García will focus on the needs of Chicago’s working and middle class. He’ll work to improve public schools and take a community-oriented approach to ending the violence in Chicago’s neighborhoods. Chuy García will put the people first, not the 1%.”
Like Chuy says in the video (that I highly recommend you see) at the donate link, “Chicago doesn’t belong to ‘$omebody.’ Chicago belongs to Everybody!” Let’s see how far a progressive Money Bomb for Chuy Garcia can go to start the ball rolling towards a progressive tidal wave sweeping the Country.
–Howie, for the entire Blue America team