The Reverse Voltaire Strikes Again

As I’ve mentioned before my former business partner once said something I’ve come to refer to as “the reverse Voltaire”: I may agree with what you say but I will deny to the death your right to say it. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel takes to the pages of The Atlantic with an op-ed a column (he’s been made a contributing editor). Here’s its conclusion:

Every time Democrats look at a problem, they think of a program. And while those programs often point the way forward, Democrats need to focus their energy on convincing the middle class that they share their values more than just their economic interests. There is more to voters than their wallets. To do that, Democrats need to prove to them that they know the difference between right and wrong, and that begins with owning the terms accountability and responsibility. Democrats need to be the ones demanding that those who fall short, no matter how privileged, be made to answer for their own decisions. Every one of us should have to live by the same moral and ethical codes. The nation’s elite shouldn’t have any special license to take the easy way out.

Do I really need to go through the catalogue of particulars for why Rahm Emanuel is such a bad spokesman for that particular message? He made millions selling his political contacts to the very bankers he decries in the piece. He became mayor of Chicago with no relevant prior executive experience and certainly missing the personal qualities for the job on the basis of being connected. I’m sure he thought becoming mayor of Chicago was a sinecure, a steppingstone to the presidency. Once he had the job he proceeded to do a pratfall. Just compare Chicago’s credit rating before he took office with what it was after he took office.

His major plan for Chicago was gentrification, supporting a number of progams to encourage well-heeled people to move into the city. It hasn’t been very effective. I am confident that Chicago’s population as measured by the decennial census will be a shock to many but probably not the former mayor. I could go on.

But he’s right here and I hope that Democratic politicians take heed. I presume that he’s angling for a position in the Biden campaign and in a presumptive future Democratic administration.

One word of criticism. The best example of exactly the sort of elite arrogance that we’re suffering from right now is not the war in Iraq. It’s granting China Most Favored Nation trading status and its admission to the WTO. Both occurred under Bill Clinton’s watch but we mustn’t criticize the Bubba. Dare I mention that both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton voted in favor of the Iraq War? Claiming they didn’t realize that we would actually go to war or that they were misled doesn’t pass the smell test.

Is that the sort of taking responsibility that he means? Accountability and responsibility start at home. I’ll believe him when he takes some and those he supports start taking some.