Rahm Emanuel has been elected Mayor of Chicago. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The election results are in, and Chicago voters have elected Rahm Emanuel as Mayor of Chicago. Emanuel, the former firebrand White House Chief of Staff for the Obama administration, had to overcome serious legal challenges to his candidacy but handily won the election. He will be inaugurated in May.

Runoff avoided as Emanuel yields majority of votes

Speculation had been rampant that the Chicago mayoral election would result in a second runoff election because candidates wouldn’t receive a sufficient majority of votes, meaning more than 50 percent. In some areas, such as Chicago, a two-round voting system is implemented in the case that no candidate receives more than 50 percent of votes. Rahm Emanuel received 55 percent of the votes in the Chicago election, according to the Christian Science Monitors, avoiding a runoff and becoming the mayor-elect. The closest competition that Rahm faced for mayor was Gery Chico, former Chief of Staff for outgoing Mayor Richard Daley. Chico received 24 percent of the vote.

Legal obstacles

Rahm Emanuel had faced legal challenges in his bid to become the 55th mayor of Chicago. Early on, his candidacy was challenged in court on the grounds that he lived primarily in Washington, D.C., as he was the Chief of Staff for the Obama White House and thus wasn’t a true resident of Chicago, according to the Washington Post. However, a series of appeals that went to the Illinois Supreme Court, which found in favor of Emanuel. He entered a field of six final candidates, and emerged the clear winner.

Emanuel replaces Chicago legend

Rahm Emanuel is taking over from Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has served as Mayor of Chicago since 1989, according to CBS. Emanuel faces a budget deficit of $655 million and rising crime rates. One of his first promises in his victory speech was to add another 1,000 police officers to the City of Chicago and to cut at least $75 million in his first month in office.

Sources

Christian Science Monitor

Washington Post

CBS

Rahm Emanuel has been kicked out of the Chicago mayor race for not meeting eligibility requirements. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Rahm Emanuel has been tossed from the Chicago mayor race. The eligibility of the former White House Chief of Staff was challenged in court, and the first Rahm Emanuel ruling upheld his right to run. However, an appeals court ruling overturned that decision.

Rahm Emanuel ruling excludes him from Chicago mayor run

For the moment, it appears that Rahm Emanuel is out of the race to be the next Chicago mayor, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Emanuel was found by the Illinois Court of Appeals to not have satisfied residency requirements to run for office. Rahm Emanuel left his position as White House Chief of Staff for the Obama administration in order to run for the position. The incumbent mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, has been mayor since 1989 and decided to step down. Daley is the son of legendary Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and brother of William M. Daley, who succeeded Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff.

Eligibility requirements see Emanuel out of race

This is the second trip to court for Rahm Emanuel to keep him in the running for Chicago’s mayor. In December of 2010, Emanuel’s eligibility was confirmed by the Chicago Board of Elections, which was challenged in court but upheld by a Cook County judge. The decision was appealed, and the appellate court ruled two to one to exclude Emanuel from the ballot. The law states that a candidate has to have lived in the city in which he intends to run for at least a year prior to election day. As Emanuel had rented his Chicago residence out to Rob Halpin, a former mayoral candidate himself, he clearly had not been residing there.

Possible appeal

Emanuel may appeal the verdict. However, the attorney who lodged the appeal against Emanuel noted that the justice who delivered the opinion addressed the issue of eligibility so well that the Illinois Superior Court may refuse to touch the case. If no appeal is filed, Emanuel will be stricken from the ballot.

Source

Chicago Sun Times

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, pictured here at left in an Oval Office meeting, is leaving his job in the Obama administration. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary for the Obama administration, is leaving his post. Gibbs hasn’t given a reason for leaving the White House. He is expected to depart in February.

Robert Gibbs leaving the White House

Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary for the Obama administration is leaving his position as chief liaison to the press for the president, according to the USA Today. There hasn’t been a reason given yet for Gibbs’ departure, though the Obama administration has seemed to have high rates of turnover. It is anticipated that Gibbs will be leaving sometime in February, likely after the president delivers the State of the Union address. He will be remaining an outside adviser and consultant to the President Obama, who has said that Gibbs would “continue to have my ear as long as I’m in this job.” A successor hasn’t been named, though announcements are expected to be made in time.

High turnover in Obama White House

The Obama White House has had high rates of turnover. Not long ago, it was speculated that Joe Biden would leave and Hillary Clinton would become vice president, though it was fervently denied. Former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel departed last year to run for mayor of Chicago. Gibbs’ leaving was not entirely unexpected, and it has been rumored that he may be groomed to take over as chief adviser to the president, a position David Axelrod currently holds.

Tough year awaits

New Congress members are taking their seats today, and many of those seats are being filled with Republicans. The House of Representatives now has a Republican majority, but not in the Senate. Though both parties have been known to be able to compromise at times, a rocky period is anticipated in the months ahead as a Republican majority is likely to come to loggerheads with the White House at some point in the near future.

Sources

USA Today

President Obama says that there's no such thing as "shovel ready" jobs in Washington. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

In a recent interview, President Obama said that are is no such things as “shovel ready” jobs. One of the constant criticisms of his administration thus far is the lack of job creation. The president pledged, while he was on the campaign trail, that the government would create jobs . Unemployment has dropped about 1 percent since he took office. Along with opposition to health care reform and Wall Street reform, he has been panned for not creating many jobs.

No such thing as shovel ready

Obama is almost halfway through his first term as president. The stimulus programs he spearheaded were thought to be vehicles toward job creation. Critics on both sides of the political aisle have condemned stimulus programs as wasteful and ineffective. Recently, Obama sat down for an interview with the New York Times. The president addressed the lack of job creation among other issues. He said that it became clear to him once he got to Washington that there were no such thing as shovel ready projects in the public works sector to get people working. Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized many public works projects during the Great Depression to keep people employed.

Obama looks to long term

Obama stresses that his concern has always been to do good over the long term. He, and others quoted in the interview such as David Axelrod, maintain that popular opinion is swayed by the short term. The appearance of a lack of success gets him portrayed as a villain, due to no one being able to focus on benefits that may come from his policies in years to come. Obama says in the interview with Peter Baker that in a democracy like the United States, things always take longer than anticipated, but patience is never regarded as a virtue. The Obama “shovel ready” comments certainly make it seem so.

Wither Washington

In the classic film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” an idealistic man becomes a Congressman, then he is broken by the cynical Washington machine. It is difficult to know whether Barack Obama is falling victim to similar circumstances. Departures of high level staff, such as Rahm Emanuel make it appear he is struggling.

Sources

New York Times

James Jones is the next in the Obama administration to retire. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

It was announced recently that James Jones will be resigning from his position as National Security Advisor. He will be replaced by Tom Donilon, the Deputy National Security Advisor. Officials have been leaving the Obama administration at a seemingly high rate. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently left to run for Mayor of Chicago. There are rumors that Hillary Clinton is going to replace Joe Biden as Vice President.

James Jones retires

It was recently announced that James Jones will be retiring. He will serve out the remainder of October, according to the Los Angeles Times. Jones will be replaced by Tom Donilon, the Deputy National Security Advisor. Donilon has plenty of experience. He served as chief of staff for Warren Christopher, the Secretary of State for President Clinton. Obama is the third president he has worked for.  General James Jones intended to only serve for two years, as he has already had a long career. Jones was formerly the Marine Corps Commandant and commander of NATO. Jones did not seek to become National Security Advisor to begin with. He was also a chief architect of the Afghan surge strategy currently being implemented.

Exodus of officials

The Obama administration has seen officials in top spots leave at a high rate over the past few months, according to CNN. Rahm Emanuel recently stepped down to pursue a bid for Mayor of Chicago to replace the outgoing Mayor Daley. Other senior staff, such as adviser David Axelrod and economic adviser Larry Summers have left as well. There is also a rumor concerning Joe Biden. Rampant speculation has begun that President Obama will replace him with Hillary Clinton before the 2012 election, though the White House denies it so far.

Musical chairs in the White House

The White House is having an exodus of top staff. Whether it is simply a coincidence remains to be seen. However, other administrations have seen top staff come and go in large numbers as well.

Sources

CNN on Biden/Clinton Ticket

CNN

Los Angeles Times

Pete Rouse is replacing Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff, a position described as the toughest job in government. Image: CC by/Wikemedia Commons

Pete Rouse, a top White House aid, has been appointed to replace Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff. Rouse is described as a low-key fixer, in sharp contrast to the volatile Emanuel, who is leaving the White House to run for mayor of Chicago. Rouse, a long-time Washington insider, is taking a job some say most people wouldn’t want as the Obama administration seems destined to navigate troubled waters following the November election.

Pete Rouse is the ‘anti-Rahm’

Pete Rouse was introduced by President Obama as a “skillful problem solver” when his appointment as interim White House chief of staff was announced Friday. Sheryl Gay Stohlberg of the New York Times said Rouse was virtually unknown outside the White House, but he has been very influential within it.  Stohlberg wrote that “Rouse is the anti-Rahm.” While Emanuel was flamboyant, profane and larger than life, Rouse is intensely private and works behind the scenes. Rouse was chief of staff for former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and ran Obama’s senatorial office. He moved with Obama to the White House as a senior adviser described as extraordinarily close to the president.

Toughest job in government

Pete Rouse has a hard act to follow as he fills Emanuel’s shoes. The difficult political climate the White House is facing had Dana Milbank of the Washington Post saying Rouse had “the worst week in Washington” even before his appointment was made official. Milbank wrote that Rouse is “stepping into the toughest job in government at one of the toughest times imaginable.” In the November election, Democrats seem destined to lose a bunch of seats. Getting Obama’s agenda passed over the next two years will be harder than ever.

Beware the wrath of Palin

Pete Rouse is  already drawing the wrath of  Sarah Palin. According to CNN, Palin started tweeting innuendo about Rouse as soon as his name came up as a possible replacement for Emanuel. CNN reports that Palin said Rouse maintained his voter registration  in Alaska so he could collect the state’s yearly dividend. But Rouse’s name does not appear on the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend records. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called Palin’s accusations “fairly silly.”

Rahm Emanuel will be leaving the White House to run for Mayor of Chicago. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

There has been a lot of speculation over the future of Rahm Emanuel. Rahm Emanuel, the fiery White House Chief of Staff, is likely going to quit his post. He will be leaving the White House to run for mayor of Chicago. The current mayor is finishing out his term and won’t seek reelection. Since the announcement from Mayor Daley, Emanuel was a suggestion almost right away as a possible replacement.

Rahm to the hills

Speculation about Rahm Emanuel leaving his post for the upcoming Chicago mayoral election has been rampant for weeks. It is not official that he is running yet, but there have been numerous reports coming from Washington D.C. that he is. According to the Washington Post, an official announcement is due soon from the White House. President Obama will address the issue in a later press conference. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that there are personnel changes that will be discussed in a press conference at the White House soon.

Calling it a Daley

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley decided earlier this year not to seek reelection next year. After his current term expires, he will retire. According to the New York Times, Daley decided that the time was right to leave it all behind. His retirement is the end of a Chicago dynasty. His father, also named Richard Daley, was also a long time Democratic mayor of Chicago. The elder Daley served in the post from 1955 to 1976 and died while in office. The younger Mayor Daley was elected in 1989, and has been the mayor ever since. For the last 55 years, a Daley has been at the helm of Chicago for all but 11 of them.

Rahm known to want the job

Rahm Emanuel is known to have wanted the job for some time. Chicago is a Democrat stronghold, and for the firebrand Emanuel, it may be a good fit.

Sources

Washington Post

New York Times

What has transpired appears to be somewhat more than coincidental. According to The Atlantic, shortly after the House Ethics Committee was informed of Congressman Massa’s conduct during his Navy days, Rep. Massa announced his resignation.

Congressman Massa and his conduct

This isn’t to say that politicians don’t all have dirt to be uncovered. Far from it. But Congressman Massa is now under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly groping three young male staffers. Eric Massa has denied this, but his former shipmates are speaking out. That’s serious business – unless they were all paid off by pro-Obamacare as Mr. Massa claims!

Anybody want a “Massa Massage?”

That’s what fellow Navy men Peter Clarke and Stuart Borsch claim Congressman Massa used to call his special kind of military manner. Further revelations from Clarke included other allegations of inappropriate forms of physical contact, including “snorkeling.” I won’t be explaining that one, but I can tell you it doesn’t have anything to do with military personal loans

Dickert’s libel suit nearly brought Massa’s Navy accusers forward

But they did not come forward at the time. It sounds like quite a mess to me. If Rahm Emanuel is the “son of the devil’s spawn,” then who is Congressman Massa? The red-headed stepchild of Captain Bligh?

Related Video:

"Please don't hurt me, Mr. Son of the devil's spawn!"

Politics make for tough sledding, boys and girls. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recognizes this, and reports indicate that he sharpens the runners before going to work. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me at all that people like Rep. Eric Massa refer to him as “the son of the devil’s spawn,” a classic phrase if ever there was one about political bedfellows. In the case of Eric Massa and Rahm Emanuel, however, their sparring matches extended into the shower. You can’t hide from the long arm of the Rahm, people.

Eric Massa won’t run for another term, claims Rahm forced him out

That’s one way of looking at it. Another might be Mr. Massa’s recent sexual harassment scrape, as well as thoughts about health care that run contrary to constituents in his district (see the video below). Some might argue that Eric Massa calling out Rahm Emanuel as “son of the devil’s spawn” has less bite than it could have, if Massa had a better public reputation. But there is little doubt that Rahm Emanuel isn’t tossing softballs when he’s hunting for Obama-centric votes. Emanuel isn’t above calling liberal activists who don’t fall in line “retarded,” and he has no qualms about living rent-free if it serves his political ends. But what stands out is that Rahm Emanuel is simply mean. Whether he gets his quick loans from Mephistopheles is uncertain.

The honorable Mr. Massa of New York shall elucidate

According to the Huffington Post, Eric Mass said that Rahm Emanuel is “an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive.”

But is he mindful of the game, you ask? It appears that way, according to Massa, whose vote on health care reform was a vital piece. “You think that somehow they didn’t come after me to get rid of me because my vote is the deciding vote in the health care bill?” he asked.

It gets steamy in the shower

Massa claims that Rahm Emanuel once stalked him into a shower stall at the Congressional gym. As he puts it,

“I’m sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird and here comes Rahm Emanuel not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn’t going to vote for the president’s budget. Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?”

Eric Massa resigns; Rahm Emanuel continues to grind his gears

Yes, Massa claims he was set up during that whole sexual harassment thing. He also insists that Rahm Emanuel set him up. Are you sure you don’t mean Larry Craig set you up, Mr. Massa? That’s instant money, if you’re talking comedy. Ha.

(Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neeta_lind/ / CC BY 2.0) and http://www.advanceusa.org/

Related Video: