If Bakari Sellers’s reaction to Rahm Emanuel’s present posture is at all typical of black politicians around the country it illustrates precisely the forces that could drive Rahm Emanuel out of office:
(CNN)Whether we admit it or not, loyalty is the coin of the realm in American politics and was even before Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any Republican,” became the standard for Republicans and Democrats alike.
I mention this because I am a loyal Obama Democrat committed not just to those principles that have defined the man and his presidency, but to those who, like myself, have committed themselves to realizing this vision and making it a reality: men and women who helped usher in his presidency, like Obama’s Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, the chief strategist for both his presidential campaigns (and now CNN Senior Political Commentator) David Axelrod, Obama’s 2008 deputy national campaign director Steve Hildebrand.
And Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former White House chief of staff, now the mayor of Chicago.
But this kind of loyalty can only go so far; it can only excuse so much. Democrats Hillary Clinton, who has called for an independent federal inquiry into the Chicago Police Department over the death of African-American teenager Laquan McDonald, and Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, who withdrew his support for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in the upcoming primary, have offered profiles in courage by challenging the status quo.
But nothing short of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s resignation will restore faith and trust in an already-fractured system that he further perverted, apparently for his own gain.
Hillary Clinton can’t win the presidency if black voters don’t turn out for her. Simple as that. Will black voters turn out for Hillary while Clintonista Emanuel endures a death of a thousand cuts over the police execution of a young black man? Tom Bevan speaks out:
Emanuel has casually brushed off the small but growing chorus of calls for his own resignation, and the city’s Democratic Party machine has a track record of protecting its leader.
But Rahm Emanuel is not only Chicago’s mayor. He is a former top aide to the Clintons, a onetime prominent member of the congressional House leadership, and a confidant of Barack Obama, whom he served as White House chief of staff. His actions, in other words, reflect on the Democratic Party—and this is the season of presidential politics.
Even his most staunch political allies are keeping their distance. The White House refused to come to Emanuel’s defense Wednesday, as the president’s spokesman punted on a reporter’s question of whether Obama thought the mayor should step down. “That’s a decision for Mayor Emanuel and the voters of Chicago to make,†said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
and information relevant to those voters’ decision was withheld from them. Few doubt that the video of the execution was held back for any but political reasons.
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday Mayor Emanuel was castigating the idea of a Justice Department investigation (an investigation different than the one begun more than a year ago?) as “misguided”. Today he’s “open” to it:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday reversed his opposition to a possible U.S. Justice Department review of the Chicago Police Department’s practices, the type of investigation that has led to federal court oversight and sweeping reforms in other troubled, big-city police departments throughout the country.
The about-face, coming a day after he called such an idea “misguided,” allowed Emanuel to try to save face politically, as his new position put him in line with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, both of whom already had called for the Justice Department to act. Illinois’ senior U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez quickly followed suit Thursday, and the White House and Justice Department declined to comment on the prospects of a probe.
Clearly, the pressure is mounting.
