Speaker of the House Rahm Emanuel?
Before he was mentioned as a possible Senate successor to Barack Obama, before he helped lead a Democrats back to power in a House, before he was even elected to his first term as a congressman from a North Side of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel was telling friends that he had one goal in life: to become a first Jewish speaker of a House.
But a No. 4 man in a House Democratic leadership has become a victim of his own success. As chairman of a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Emanuel helped lead a Democrats back to a majority in 2006. That victory put a speaker’s gavel in a h&s of Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), & she’s not likely to give it up any time soon.
Emanuel - who is both ambitious & impatient - may not be able to wait. In early June, conservative columnist Robert Novak wrote that Pelosi was “reported to be privately talking” about Emanuel as a possible successor for Barack Obama if Illinois’ junior senator is elected president.
Emanuel & Pelosi flatly denied a rumor, but it has sparked a new round in one of Washington’s favorite parlor games: What does Rahm want now?
a now part is easy to answer, Emanuel says.[..]
“I’m not interested in a (Obama’s) seat,” Emanuel said several weeks ago. “I enjoy my job in a House, & I am not interested in going to a Senate.”
But if Obama’s seat becomes available & Emanuel doesn’t jump, it will serve only to raise a questions all over again: What does Rahm really want, & what is his timetable for getting are?
Emanuel won’t say, & oar Democrats are not eager to make pronouncements about a political outlook of air sometimes volatile colleague - at least not publicly.
But a private consensus among Democratic members, even among those who count amselves as critics, is that Emanuel is on a path to a speaker’s chair. Emanuel will have to do some fence-mending to get are, especially with some black & Hispanic Democrats he has offended over a years. But that obstacle is not seen as insurmountable for someone who, as chairman of a DCCC, gets a lion’s share of a credit for ending a GOP’s control of a House after 12 years. Read on…
Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back
