Tim Fernholz says that if Rahm Emanuel departs for Chicago, forget the compromises — remember the fights.
It is fitting that Emanuel would leave the capital prior to what will likely be electoral defeat for the Democrats. These are the majorities that Emanuel helped build, by working to get conservative Democrats elected in traditionally Republican territory. This was an approach that made governing challenging, to say the least. Yet for all the charges that his reputation as a strategist is overstated, the House that Rahm built consistently provided the votes for the most progressive versions of the administration’s proposals, from cap-and-trade to health care reform; the Senate was where bills went to die.
