alternatehistory.com
The Heavy Hitter
Rahm Emmanuel
The Heavy Hitter
2007-2009
Rahm Emmanuel
The Heavy Hitter
2007-2009
The assassination of Bill Bradley of course had a monumental impact on history. There was the Breyer Commission, which toured the Philippines and ascertained that it was an Islamic militant, not a Maoist militant, who had killed the President and 68 other people. This in turn would have profound consequences, meshing Islamic terror in with China in the eyes of popular culture, which led in turn to such events as the breakdown of the peace talks in Israel, the Kyrgyzstan War and the Indo-Pakistani Peace Accords. But that was in the future. All America knew right now was that Bill Bradley was dead, and that when his casket was lowered into a ground, the body inside was hardly recognizable. And they knew Dick Celeste was President, he had been discussing healthcare in Concord and shakily took the oath of office on a bible provided by local judge David Souter.
There were many questions. And one of them was who was going to be Vice President. As speculation rose in the weeks following the assassination House Speaker Roy Blunt went on television and said that the Republicans in Congress would “in all likelihood” vote for Celeste’s pick “if he was reasonable about it”, a gaffe that likely destroyed Blunt’s already longshot efforts to be elected President. In the end Dick Celeste made a pick that projected strength. Rahm Emmanuel.
The first ever Jewish Vice President, Emmanuel had fought his way up the greasy slope that was the Illinois political scene. A hard worker from his youth (and also a ballerina) he had volunteered with consumer advocates and Chicago bigwigs before seeking elected office. He entered the state legislature in 1994. He’d earned a reputation as being more moderate then some of his colleagues from the Chicago area, however he also had a take no prisoners style (he had a habit of cursing to fellow members’ faces) that made it difficult for him to be seen as a bipartisan figure. In 1998 he ran, successfully, for Illinois Secretary of State. There he gained the praise from liberal groups for working to expand voting options in the state, though he gained significantly less praise for using state databases to crack down on drug users in a way that many accused of unduly harming minorities. In 2002 he continued his meteoritic rise by winning the Illinois Governor’s race. His term as Governor was marked by Progressive moves like increased infrastructure funding and education reform. However, Emmanuel was also infamously difficult to work with, alienating other Democrats in the state with his loud, oftentimes obnoxious antics. While his education spending was initially popular he would later introduce several controversial proposals relating to tenure and charter schools that earned him the enmity of many public education advocates, in addition Emmanuel continued to have difficult relationships with the African American and Hispanic communities. To top it all off he was also, perhaps not unfairly, criticized, for being too friendly with big business. Despite this he was easily reelected in 2006, even with an overall climate favorable to the Republicans. His take no prisoners style contrasted well with Dick Celeste’s more friendly style.
His confirmation hearings were a bit heated, his confrontational style and deep reserves of donor money made him seem like a vehicle for the 2008 election then anything else. However national unity after the Bradley assassination meant that there was never any real chance of his nomination being rejected, despite Blunt’s occasional blundering.
As Vice President Emmanuel threw himself into the job with a gusto, quickly becoming a core member of the Celeste administration. He shook hands, he lobbied hard and broke a few ties in the Senate in favor of the President’s proposed Prescription Drug Cost reduction program. But Emmanuel had been appointed with a little over a year until the Presidential election, and inevitably he was the one to hit the trail first. He blasted Congressional Republicans for blocking the Democratic agenda, saying it was nothing less then spitting on Bill Bradley’s grave. He attacked the GOP nominee as “a corrupt plutocrat who wants nothing less to enrich his corporate buddies off the back of the American worker” before the GOP even had a nominee. He was an attack dog to Celeste’s calm, collected Presidency.
The Celeste/Emmanuel ticket started out with a substantial lead, facing no opposition in the Democratic Primary. However, in early September the Stock Markets began to dip, and then fall. Then warning signs began to emerge of a housing bubble, and several steel companies made huge layoffs. The Republican ticket took full advantage of this. Celeste had been friendly already his fellow Buckeye in 2000 and Elizabeth Dole was no firebrand, which left him ill prepared for the firestorm he faced in the 2008 debates. Even as Emmanuel dominated the Vice-Presidential debates he only served to highlight how weak the President seemed to be being. The October Surprise of the year was the declaration of drought conditions in the west, which naturally raised questions about the President’s handling of the situation, and the all-western GOP ticket jumped on the issue with a fervor. The comeback was nearly complete.
But the President remained popular, and the outcome was a pure tossup. As the night rolled on two things became apparent. One, the incumbents were going to win the popular vote with ease. Two, the votes weren’t in the right places and the electoral college was going to be tight. The eastern swing states had split, and it was coming down to the west. Despite the drought it seemed like the President had eked out a win, with narrow leads in Nevada and Colorado. However, by morning the results had narrowed, with outstanding rural areas showing higher than expected turnout. Soon the states flipped and it was all over except the shouting. And Rahm Emmanuel had a lot of that.
The Nevada and Colorado state governments had been taken by Republicans in 2006, and, as close elections often do, the results brought into focus every remotely partisan thing ever done by the state governments. Emmanuel was no conspiracy theorist, but he argued passionately behind closed doors that for the sake of democracy recounts were needed and that the Celeste campaign needed to find the best lawyers money could buy. Celeste quietly vetoed the idea, he was 71 years old, the Presidency had drained him and so had the campaign. He conceded calmly and politely, his speech a microcosm of his time in Washington. Emmanuel smiled and nodded his way through the inauguration, shaking hands with the new President, who was preparing to let go of the reigns of the economy just as it was diving. Emmanuel also met with his successor, a man who had recently become a center for Emmanuel’s rage over the election.
And then Emmanuel took a plane out of Washington. Not to Chicago. But to Iowa.
There were many questions. And one of them was who was going to be Vice President. As speculation rose in the weeks following the assassination House Speaker Roy Blunt went on television and said that the Republicans in Congress would “in all likelihood” vote for Celeste’s pick “if he was reasonable about it”, a gaffe that likely destroyed Blunt’s already longshot efforts to be elected President. In the end Dick Celeste made a pick that projected strength. Rahm Emmanuel.
The first ever Jewish Vice President, Emmanuel had fought his way up the greasy slope that was the Illinois political scene. A hard worker from his youth (and also a ballerina) he had volunteered with consumer advocates and Chicago bigwigs before seeking elected office. He entered the state legislature in 1994. He’d earned a reputation as being more moderate then some of his colleagues from the Chicago area, however he also had a take no prisoners style (he had a habit of cursing to fellow members’ faces) that made it difficult for him to be seen as a bipartisan figure. In 1998 he ran, successfully, for Illinois Secretary of State. There he gained the praise from liberal groups for working to expand voting options in the state, though he gained significantly less praise for using state databases to crack down on drug users in a way that many accused of unduly harming minorities. In 2002 he continued his meteoritic rise by winning the Illinois Governor’s race. His term as Governor was marked by Progressive moves like increased infrastructure funding and education reform. However, Emmanuel was also infamously difficult to work with, alienating other Democrats in the state with his loud, oftentimes obnoxious antics. While his education spending was initially popular he would later introduce several controversial proposals relating to tenure and charter schools that earned him the enmity of many public education advocates, in addition Emmanuel continued to have difficult relationships with the African American and Hispanic communities. To top it all off he was also, perhaps not unfairly, criticized, for being too friendly with big business. Despite this he was easily reelected in 2006, even with an overall climate favorable to the Republicans. His take no prisoners style contrasted well with Dick Celeste’s more friendly style.
His confirmation hearings were a bit heated, his confrontational style and deep reserves of donor money made him seem like a vehicle for the 2008 election then anything else. However national unity after the Bradley assassination meant that there was never any real chance of his nomination being rejected, despite Blunt’s occasional blundering.
As Vice President Emmanuel threw himself into the job with a gusto, quickly becoming a core member of the Celeste administration. He shook hands, he lobbied hard and broke a few ties in the Senate in favor of the President’s proposed Prescription Drug Cost reduction program. But Emmanuel had been appointed with a little over a year until the Presidential election, and inevitably he was the one to hit the trail first. He blasted Congressional Republicans for blocking the Democratic agenda, saying it was nothing less then spitting on Bill Bradley’s grave. He attacked the GOP nominee as “a corrupt plutocrat who wants nothing less to enrich his corporate buddies off the back of the American worker” before the GOP even had a nominee. He was an attack dog to Celeste’s calm, collected Presidency.
The Celeste/Emmanuel ticket started out with a substantial lead, facing no opposition in the Democratic Primary. However, in early September the Stock Markets began to dip, and then fall. Then warning signs began to emerge of a housing bubble, and several steel companies made huge layoffs. The Republican ticket took full advantage of this. Celeste had been friendly already his fellow Buckeye in 2000 and Elizabeth Dole was no firebrand, which left him ill prepared for the firestorm he faced in the 2008 debates. Even as Emmanuel dominated the Vice-Presidential debates he only served to highlight how weak the President seemed to be being. The October Surprise of the year was the declaration of drought conditions in the west, which naturally raised questions about the President’s handling of the situation, and the all-western GOP ticket jumped on the issue with a fervor. The comeback was nearly complete.
But the President remained popular, and the outcome was a pure tossup. As the night rolled on two things became apparent. One, the incumbents were going to win the popular vote with ease. Two, the votes weren’t in the right places and the electoral college was going to be tight. The eastern swing states had split, and it was coming down to the west. Despite the drought it seemed like the President had eked out a win, with narrow leads in Nevada and Colorado. However, by morning the results had narrowed, with outstanding rural areas showing higher than expected turnout. Soon the states flipped and it was all over except the shouting. And Rahm Emmanuel had a lot of that.
The Nevada and Colorado state governments had been taken by Republicans in 2006, and, as close elections often do, the results brought into focus every remotely partisan thing ever done by the state governments. Emmanuel was no conspiracy theorist, but he argued passionately behind closed doors that for the sake of democracy recounts were needed and that the Celeste campaign needed to find the best lawyers money could buy. Celeste quietly vetoed the idea, he was 71 years old, the Presidency had drained him and so had the campaign. He conceded calmly and politely, his speech a microcosm of his time in Washington. Emmanuel smiled and nodded his way through the inauguration, shaking hands with the new President, who was preparing to let go of the reigns of the economy just as it was diving. Emmanuel also met with his successor, a man who had recently become a center for Emmanuel’s rage over the election.
And then Emmanuel took a plane out of Washington. Not to Chicago. But to Iowa.
- King of the Uzbeks
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