STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 6 March 2015

[Demeter]

8. RAHM EMANUEL REVIEW: When the Room Is Small and You Stink By Ramsin Canon

http://gapersblock.com/mechanics/2015/02/26/when-the-room-is-small-and-you-stink/

...Rahm Emanuel may have unwittingly learned a lesson from his days in the Clinton White House, specifically during his central role in the passage of NAFTA: If the big money is behind you, it does not really matter how harmful a policy is. The effects will be diluted enough that you can market whatever narrative you want and drown out the rabble. The NAFTA campaign was a well-financed sales job, meant to convince the country not only that something bad was good, but that plenty of "jus' folks" were all for it. The "selling" of free trade was among Emanuel's greatest accomplishments. This was followed up by taking on the all-mighty welfare lobby with support from the rich and powerful. He helped end welfare as we know it. But beating labor and the poor in the 1990's with big business behind you might give you an over-inflated understanding of your political prowess.

In 2011, his ability to raise unlimited money at the snap of a finger--he famously raised over a quarter of a million dollars on the first day of his candidacy from only a few donors--cleared the field before him and he waltzed to an easy victory. Like Bobby Hansen on the Bulls, Rahm Emanuel has won championship after championship; unlike Hansen, though, Emanuel seems to think that the credit should go to him, instead of the Michael Jordans and Scottie Pippens who sign his checks.

What he reaped for this sin of hubris was a whirlwind of deep and abiding loathing after a series of bad decisions--firing library staff, cutting mental health centers, shutting down schools in black and brown communities, raising regressive fees, installing nickel-and-diming red light and speed cameras, and provoking a teachers' strike. It is notable that his campaign flacks, from David Axelrod on down, characterize these as "tough" decisions. These are not tough decisions; they are decisions that disproportionately harm poor and black and brown people. Ending mental health services for poor and working class people is a sad decision. Making the rich and powerful pay to keep those mental health services going is a tough decision.

Therein is Emanuel's problem, one he is not suited to solving alone: When the room is big and you stink, you can still make a good impression. But in a small room, everybody gets the stench.


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