Those of us who hope Obama will pull US troops out of Iraq should be fearful of the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff. As chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, according to an article we at Peacework Magazine published in December 2006, Emanuel favored pro-Iraq war candidates with cash and endorsements.
For those inclined to write this off as just a smart election-minded move to the center in moderate districts, in addition to being a sign of moral bankruptcy (more Iraqi civilians and US soldiers should die for better election results?), the reality of public opinion on the war by 2006, and the electoral results, show the opposite was true: anti-war candidates did better.
Emanuel believes the Iraq war was right, according to World Net Daily, even though Congress was lied to in order to convince them to vote for it:
Asked in 2005 by late NBC host Tim Russert whether he would have voted to authorize the war knowing that there were no weapons of mass destruction, Emanuel replied yes. (Emanuel was elected to Congress after the authorization vote.)
(Update: Many commenters have complained about using World Net Daily as a source, but the quote is accurate. See the Meet the Press transcript.)
Emanuel has used his powerful position as chair of the DCCC to try to elect more pro-war Democrats, and to actively oppose more anti-war Democrats in primaries. Two cases in point:
- Emanuel supported pro-Iraq War Tammy Duckworth against mildly anti-war Christine Cegelis in the 2006 Democratic primary.
- Emanuel supported a mildly anti-war candidate in the CA-11 Democratic primary against the more strongly anti-war eventual primary and surprise general election victor, Jerry McNerney:
The second case study is CA's 11th Congressional District Democratic primary. Emanuel poured in money, much of it apparently coming from his own district in Illinois, to bankroll Steve Filson, essentially a political unknown, who opposed withdrawal from Iraq. But in this primary battle the grassroots prevailed and the strongly anti-war candidate, Jerry McNerney, a wind-power consultant who supports the Murtha bill for phased withdrawal from Iraq, defeated Emanuel's pick, Filson. It is noteworthy that McNerney, strongly anti-war, won, whereas Cegelis, weakly anti-war, lost. In the general election campaign, McNerney was outspent $3.5 million to only $1.5 million. McNerney did get $250,000 from the DCCC at the last minute, after his poll numbers looked too good to ignore. McNerney ended up winning the seat against seven-term Republican, Richard Pombo, with 53% of the vote.
Overall,
If you toe the line for Rahm on the war, the money rains on you like manna from heaven and you are elevated to national celebrity status. But if you are anti-war, Rahm cuts you off at the wallet. Note that in each of these two cases Emanuel did not pick candidates based on a proven ability to raise money. Nor did he pick them for their ability to win. In Duckworth's case she almost lost in the primary despite the cash infusion, and McNerney did win despite the money that Emanuel funneled to his primary opponent. Emanuel did not choose proven fundraisers or winning candidates; he chose pro-war candidates.
I don't yet know if this pattern held true in 2008. Any comments and insights on that would be welcome. But I do worry that his behavior in 2006 is an indication of a predilection for militarism. I hope he proves me wrong. More importantly, I hope we mobilize enough opposition to these policies as to make such pro-war stands politically untenable.
With Emanuel as Chief of Staff, we've got a lot of work to do to mobilize the grass roots to end this war (not to mention the war in Afghanistan) and prevent future ones.