Friday, February 6, 2009

Rahm Emanuel’s “other adversary” sidelined by top job


By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

".....WMR has also been told by reliable sources that Mrs. Clinton was largely responsible for the demotion of Emanuel in the Clinton White House in 1993. Mrs. Clinton wanted Emanuel fired but White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty instead, demoted Emanuel from presidential policy adviser to the office of the White House Press Secretary. Emanuel would never forget Mrs. Clinton’s role in his demotion.....

Emanuel appears to have gotten the better of Mrs. Clinton. After having vanquished long-time enemies like Howard Dean, Bill Richardson, and two Democratic leaders he tangled with in the Congress as an Illinois congressman -- Tom Daschle and Nancy Pelosi -- Emanuel has relegated Mrs. Clinton’s role as secretary of state to one similar to that of Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, William Rogers, who was forced to defer to National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger on major foreign policy initiatives.

Emanuel has boxed in Mrs. Clinton with a team of major White House foreign policy “czar-like” envoys who report directly to Obama and Emanuel. These envoys include George Mitchell for the Middle East, Dennis Ross for Iran, and Richard Holbrooke for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Vice President Joe Biden has been given the task of rebuilding U.S. ties to NATO. In fact, representing the United States at the 45th Munich Security Conference this weekend will be Biden, National Security Adviser James Jones, U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus, and Holbrooke. Mrs. Clinton will be noticeably absent.....

Emanuel is building up a potential phalanx of powerful enemies in politics. They not only include Dean, Richardson, the Kennedy family, Mrs. Clinton, Pelosi, and, now, Daschle, but also a number of pro-labor Democrats who are suspect of Emanuel’s ties to big business and Wall Street. If the long knives start to come out in Washington, if Obama continues to stumble on administration nominations and policy issues, Emanuel will be the number one target."

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