Just watched Rahm Emmanuel on Meet the Press. Russert was everything I expected - when Dan Bartlett was on, Russert asked "tough" questions but then took the spin at face value. When Emmanuel was on, Russert played "quote gotcha". No surprises from Russert, anyone would've known what was coming.
What disappointed me was Emmanuel's response to the anticipated questions about Social Security. All he had to do was say three words: "There's no crisis."
It's simple, it has the added benefit of being true and supported by the facts. But he never said it or anything like it. Emmanuel ducked and dodged, despite having the facts on his side. He simply would not make an unequivocal statement, and it looked weak as hell. By the third or fourth Russert follow up, I was screaming at the TV.
If this is the guy who's going to unify our message, we're in big trouble. Are there no plain-speaking Democrats any more?