He’s More Than a “Pragmatic Progressive”

The editors of the Washington Post weigh in on the Chicago mayoral run-off:

A RUNOFF election next month to determine if Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets a second term appears to be close. His opponent, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, is not as well known and has far less campaign money, but recent polls show him within single digits of Mr. Emanuel. Democratic Party purists and special interest groups have reached the startling conclusion that the able and decidedly liberal incumbent is not liberal enough, and they are intent on punishing him for not toeing their line. If there is no room in the party for a pragmatic progressive like Mr. Emanuel, who was President Obama’s first chief of staff in the White House, then the party, and by extension the country, are in trouble.

Mr. Emanuel last month became the first sitting mayor in Chicago history forced into a runoff when he failed to get 50 percent of the vote in a five-way nonpartisan election. On April 7, he will face Mr. Garcia, a Democratic Cook County commissioner who got 34 percent of the vote to Mr. Emanuel’s 45 percent and is being backed by labor interests and the left-wing groups allied with them.

Fill in my usual complain about non-Chicagoans sticking their noses into Chicago’s business here. The WP editors’ description of the mayor is incomplete and inaccurate. It’s inaccurate in that he, in fact, did knuckle under to powerful interest groups. It’s just powerless interest groups that he’s gone after after alienating and aggravating powerful ones.

The mayor is a lot more than a “pragmatic progressive”. He’s a volatile, verbally abusive guy with poor impulse control who wants power. His highest and best use is as a Democratic Party rainmaker where those qualities have served him in good stead.