No tears as Rahm Emanuel leaves

Miles Kampf-Lassin, In These Times -  For progressives who have long been critical of Emanuel’s brand of business-friendly, pro-privatization policies, his fall was a sign that Third Way-style Democratic politics might finally be on their way out.

Emanuel first appeared in our pages in the Feb. 8, 1998, issue, as a close advisor to Clinton. The president had set up a diverse advisory board on racial issues—then put five centrist white guys, including Emanuel, in charge of overseeing it. “I don’t know who they are or what they are doing,” one advisory board member told In These Times’ Salim Muwakkil. “I’ve never even met them.”

Emanuel popped up again three months later, in Doug Ireland’s review of Howard Kurtz’s classic book, Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine. Ireland refers to Emanuel as a “spin-meister” who spent his nights socializing with D.C. journalists and plotting how to crush negative stories about Bill Clinton.

David Sirota looked back on Emanuel’s role in the Clinton administration, and his subsequent private-sector career, in a 2007 story:

[Emanuel] provides a good example of dishonest graft. In 1993, Emanuel was the Clinton administration aide charged with ramming NAFTA through Congress ‘over the dead bodies’ of labor and environmental groups, as American Express’s CEO cheered at the time. Emanuel orchestrated weekly meetings with K Street lobbyists to strategize about how to pressure Democratic lawmakers. Emanuel went on to cash in as an investment banker, raking in roughly $16 million over a two-year period.

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