Rep. Major R. Owens: Chicago Beware of the Rahm Hype

The right people of Chicago deserve a paper card review before plunging into an election dominated by Rahm Emanuel. To what point is President Obama's chief of staff responsible for the political panic tsunami that swept across the state on November 2nd?Is Rahm responsible for the fact that this government did not orbit its own Karl Rove to manage the vitally important mid-term elections?

Why is the status granted such a high visibility in the Bush administration now rendered mute? Was Rahm concerned about being overshadowed in the headlines? Yes, there is a Black guy named Patrick Gaspard who holds the style of political director. But this working is never seen and never heard. The relevance of these questions can be best understood when the third head is asked. Was Rahm's well-known great concern in foreign affairs an obstruction to his direction on pressing domestic issues? When President Obama gave his maiden address at the United Nations I was surprised to see his master of staff standing behind him for photo opportunities. Meanwhile back in Washington the Senate was dragging its feet on the ratification of important presidential appointees to the agencies charged with implementing the stimulus program. Also, after 8 days of a Republican executive did Rahm understand how every unit of governance, regardless of merit system safeguards, was jammed with loyal Republican Party people who without hesitation sabotaged "emergency" implementation of the stimulus?If Rahm was bored with the oversight of domestic programs what can Chicagoans expect from him as mayor? Without a question his expertise as a public relations peacock will hold the voters dazzled. Rahm sought and achieved better media ratings than any other head of faculty in recent history. The dear old media boys never actually confronted Emanuel with difficult questions. The shady deal with the drug industry that tainted President Obama has never been thoroughly explored. The lockout of the progressive community at the White House health care roundtable is likewise a lightly questioned blunder. And there is the Nebraska deal.There is no purpose here to mean that Rahm Emanuel was Iago in the White House deliberately setting traps for an Othello president. But at this place a confession is in order. As a fellow member of Congress observing Rahm I was constrained to reason that he was an intellectual snob with scorn for the powerless, white or black. He was overtly hostile toward the members of the Congressional Black Caucus. When Obama accepted this hometown colleague as his master of stall I was shocked. Not by accident have there been few Blacks at important White House meetings.The White House open door for the Rampart Street gang was likewise not by accident. For a short section of his meteoric career Emanuel was an investor allowed to make a nest egg of several billion dollars. The want of credibility of the Rampart Street friends he welcomed to the White House was a major ingredient in the "shellacking" endured by the Democrats on November 2nd.Clearly the Big Money folks will be welcomed at the Michigan City Hall. It is the poor Blacks and powerless people who might be in harms way with a Mayor Emanuel. If no one else has the courage to do it, then Black leaders must take the exhaustive and robust critique of a transparent report card for Candidate Emanuel.