https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2025/09/29/is-this-the-man-to-save-the-democrats-n4944237

Is This the Man to Save the Democrats?

Stephen Green | 11:03 AM on September 29, 2025

AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato

The Democrat who once quipped, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do [big government] things that you think you could not do before," seems like an unlikely choice for tearing the party from the revolutionaries and radicals who increasingly make up its public face.

But that's exactly the case the Wall Street Journal made today about former White House advisor and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who "appears increasingly serious about running for president."

The Journal's John McCormick wrote that while Emanuel's "centrist message clashes with an insurgent progressive base mesmerized by figures such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Zohran Mamdani," and other so-called Democratic Socialists, "the seriousness of Emanuel’s ambitions was obvious throughout his two-day visit" to — you guessed it — Des Moines, Iowa over the weekend.

"It was instructive to see Emanuel surrounded over the weekend by the Democratic base in Iowa where he headlined an annual party fish-fry fundraiser in the state’s largest county," McCormick reported. "While he wasn’t technically campaigning, it was the first time the famously combative Emanuel had made a high-profile retail political appearance on his own behalf for the better part of a decade."

Politico's writeup of the same Iowa appearance included Emanuel's repetition of a centrist message that could have come right out of his time in the Clinton White House:

The former White House chief of staff offered a message centered on economic fairness, education and affordability. “This should not come as a surprise to you,” Emanuel said from the stage set up at the home of Iowa state Rep. Sean Bagniewski, who hosted the fish fry in his front yard for 400 Democrats. “The American Dream is unaffordable. It’s inaccessible, and we, as Democrats, that’s unacceptable to us.”

Yet the Journal noted that "gone were his recent criticisms of his party’s brand as 'toxic' and 'weak and woke.'" The 65-year-old — who will be pushing 70 during the next presidential race and hasn't run for anything since 2018 — has to do something to appeal to younger voters, after all.

I suppose the best thing a conservative could say about Rahm Emanuel is that his corruption is well within Chicago's Daley-era norms, and that, unlike his party's Young Turks, he isn't bat-guano crazy.

But here's the thing about being a member of a party that almost reflexively finds itself on the 20% side of every 80/20 issue: maybe the 20% is exactly what their remaining voters want. While I'm not always a huge fan of the GOP dragging itself toward the center and away from some of its core conservative policies — "Funny to think that Bill Clinton’s policies when he was President were essentially MAGA*," Elon Musk quipped on Sunday — there's a noteworthy silver lining.

A more centrist GOP effectively isolates Democrat radicals inside their shrunken, 80/20 party, where they're less able to inflict serious damage outside the Deep Blue zones. It's a huge win for the country, and we should be happy to take it.

*At least on crime, welfare, and immigration.

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but Emanuel's effort has a bit of a Springsteen "Glory Days" feel to it. "Hey, remember when things were great under Clinton? Remember the Lightbringer? I remember!"

Advertisement

Or maybe Emanuel is just the pol to pull the Dems back toward the center. He's one of the few Obama-era people with name recognition (at least with the money people), and without any major ties to Obama's Red Diaper radicalism. But the problem with being the one-eyed man in the land of the blind is that they'll probably poke your eye out.

Good luck, Rahm — you'll need it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3303751&forum_id=2"#49311350)