There have been quite a few articles published lately speculating that former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is running to be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2028. Rather than linking to any of them I’ll just offer my own opinion.
First, I would have preferred Mr. Emmanuel as the presidential candidate over anybody who actually ran in 2016, 2020, and 2024. And, as I believe I said back when he first ran as mayor, I believe he (mistakenly) saw being mayor of Chicago as a stepping stone to the presidency. Mayor do get elected to the presidency but it’s rare. More generals have been elected than mayors.
And I think he’s a smart, competent guy. My personal connection to him is limited to having shared an elevator and chatted with him once in the Thompson Center.
On the other hand he set the stage for Chicago’s present problems in that he first aggravated and alienated the Chicago Teachers Union, fomenting the first teachers strike in decades, and then knuckled under to the CTU. Who was it who said when you strike a king, you must kill him? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Now we have a city government that is, basically, a wholly owned subsidiary of the CTU.
Also, he’s a Baby Boomer which may be a weakness in a Democratic Party engaging in a generational change. IMO I think the ire against the Baby Boomers is misplace: neither Nancy Pelosi nor Joe Biden are Baby Boomers—they’re both Silent Generation and it’s the Silent Generation that has thrown sand into the party’s gears.
But Rahm Emmanuel has another weakness other than his mixed track record in Chicago and his age. Not only is he Jewish but he’s pro-Israel. For the Democratic Party that appears to be emerging those are fatal flaws.
IMO he’d be better off running for Dick Durbin’s seat as Illinois Senator. That would be a good test of his strength in running for president. I don’t think he’d be elected which would tell you all you need to know: the Clinton technocratic Democratic Party has lost influence.
