CHICAGO — There are a few people in American politics who, as with Cher and Madonna, only require one name. Rahm is one of them. Rahm I. Emanuel tiptoed into Illinois politics after a youthful flirtation with ballet and a less-dainty encounter with an Arby's meat-cutter that took off half his right middle finger. That accident, as the subsequent joke went, left the pugnacious Rahm half mute. But the Myth of Rahm — the ballet, the half-finger, cursing nearly as often as he breathes — is as well-established as you'd expect from a first-name-only public figure. Which is why, when we sat down over tavern-style pizza (the Wednesday special: sausage, mushrooms, onions, hold the green pepps) in his native North Side, I wanted to steer him toward other terrain. Think of it this way: The Rahmbo you know (he once sent a dead fish to a rival consultant!) is Chicago's deep-dish pizza. Fine for the tourists, but not something you'd seek out on your 11th visit here. And you, On The Road viewer, I think want something… tastier. So my goal was to go deeper with Rahm, to pull off the interview version of thin-crust pizza. We discussed the number of phone calls he makes in a given day, how both parties have failed the country and, get this, his insistence that he's never cursed on camera. Yes, Rahm claims he's never dropped an F-bomb in an interview. Rahm got feisty when I pressed him on whether the self-declared "raging moderate" was playing catch-up with the left on Israel and other issues. And he was equally short when I asked if I was wasting my time with somebody with universal (first) name ID with the political class but little relevance in early presidential polling. Isn't this a glittering resume and cover letter posing as a presidential candidacy? And isn't he doing all this to land one final major job in government? By the end, in classic Impatient Rahm mode, he was standing up and eager to wrap as I kept asking him questions. But he didn't immediately bolt. He went behind the counter to ask each of the workers at Michael's Original Pizzeria and Tavern which neighborhood they lived in this city of neighborhoods. The former mayor is still a pol, and he wants you to know that he still knows from retail. As he would demand, jabbing that half-finger… [TheTopNews] Read More.
3 weeks ago
