It is best to let a great writer simply speak for himself, and that goes double for Charles Pierce:
Mayor Rahm … [m]ade his bones in the 1992 Clinton campaign; got tossed from the Clinton White House for being too much of a dick to too many people; served six relatively nondescript years in the House of Representatives; worked hard to steal credit from Howard Dean for the Democratic victories in the 2006 midterms; was unaccountably hired as White House Chief of Staff in 2009 by the president, in which capacity he did his hippie-punching damnedest to submarine the Affordable Care Act, and then left, one step ahead of the disastrous 2010 midterms, to become mayor of Chicago, in which capacity he has managed to alienate every Democratic interest group while courting various dilettante plutocrats for the purpose of destroying public education in that city. There are calls for his resignation.
Did I miss anything?
It seems that Bernie Sanders has decided to make a meal out of Mayor Rahm. Nom, nom, nom.
So what exactly did Bernie say? The Chicago Tribune provides the details:
"Hillary Clinton proudly lists Mayor Rahm Emanuel as one of her leading mayoral endorsers," Sanders said at a downtown news conference. "Based on his disastrous record as mayor of the city of Chicago, I do not want Mayor Emanuel's endorsement if I win the Democratic nomination. That is not the kind of support I want. We want the endorsement of the people who are fighting for social and racial justice. We do not want the support of people who are indebted to Wall Street and the big money interests."
It seems Rahm did some really stupid shit to benefit his Wall Street benefactors (i.e., toxic interest rate swaps) that resulted in Rahm closing 50 schools in primarily minority districts in order to pay back $500 million owed to said banksters on these shady deals. In addition, the Chicago teachers pension fund is suing a number of the same Wall Street firms over charges of manipulating the market in these interest rate swaps in order to increase the banks’ profits at the expense of investors — such as the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund.
The suit contends the investment banks blocked entry of exchanges for trading in interest-rate swap market “to preserve an extraordinary profit center,” according to the 91-page complaint. [...]
Even though interest-rate swaps “have been standardized and ripe for exchange trading,” the Chicago teachers' fund and other buy-side investors or end users have been “unable to trade (swaps) on exchanges,” the complaint said. “Instead they remain stuck trading (swaps) in an inefficient and antiquated market dominated by the dealer defendants.”
Well, what a shock that Rahm Emanuel would choose his good friends on Wall Street over minority children who attend the City’s schools. I can see why Bernie doesn’t want his endorsement. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, it’s a little more problematic for her to reject Rahm over his cozy relationships with Wall Street firms, since she has been a prime beneficiary of their largesse from the speeches she gave to these financial industry behemoths and from the massive campaign contributions they gave to her and to her Super Pac.
Pierce’s states Clinton’s dilemma over her support from Rahm succinctly:
Hillary Rodham Clinton in something of a bind. She's tied to Emanuel through his work in her husband's administration and through her support for him in his previous runs for public office.
Hard to unmake that bed. Of course, Hillary (and her family and the Clinton Foundation) have been primary recipients of Wall Street Money going back to well before 9/11.
So, good on Bernie to point out Rahm is a Hillary endorser, and to remind us all how deep run the ties between Wall Street and the Democratic Elites, with Hillary right up there with the best of them. And thank you, Mr. Pierce, for bringing this to my attention.