Mr. Emanuel praised Mr. Obama as ”the toughest leader
any country could ask for in the toughest times any president has
faced.” He fought back tears as he thanked his wife and three
children, seated in the front row of the East Room for the farewell
ceremony.
That’s how the New York Times
described Rahm Emanuel’s leave-taking as
President Obama’s Chief of Staff. We all say nice things on such
occasions. I have no idea whether Rahm Emanuel’s departure was his
own idea or whether he suddenly discovered a life-long desire to
run for Mayor of Chicago to cover for the fact he was being asked
to walk the plank.
Inside-the-Beltway folks care deeply about such things. I
don’t. For me, it’s enough to judge the stew that comes out of the
kitchen; I don’t care too much if the chefs are making nice with
each other behind the kitchen door.
Many commentators have written about narcissism and the
self-referential nature of this administration, but the ideas Mr.
Emanuel expressed in his farewell remarks are really over the top.
Can he really think these are the “toughest times” any president
has faced?
When their fellow Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, was
elected, seven states quickly seceded. Trying to staff his new
administration, President-elect Lincoln said he felt like a man
trying to rent rooms in the front of his house while the back of it
was on fire. Lincoln had to be spirited into Washington, D.C.,
avoiding a near-certain assassination attempt in Baltimore. At his
Inauguration, the Army’s top general, Winfield Scott, had stationed
sharpshooters on every rooftop lining the parade route from the
Capitol to the White House.
“Old Fuss and Feathers,” they called the huge, gouty war
hero, but Gen. Scott made sure Lincoln could take the oath without
violence. If anyone tried to disrupt the new President’s taking
office, Winfield Scott said, he had cannon prepared and would
“manure the Virginia hills with their bodies.” Those were tough
times.
President Obama is often compared to Franklin D.
Roosevelt, when his worshipful friends in the media are not
comparing him to God. President-elect Roosevelt took a drive in an
open car in Miami, just weeks before his scheduled March 4th
Inauguration in 1933.
Seated beside FDR was Anton Cermak, the Mayor of Chicago.
An unemployed carpenter, Giuseppe Zangara, dashed out of the crowd
and fired point-blank at Roosevelt. He missed FDR and hit instead
Mayor Cermak. The Secret Service ordered the President-elect’s
limousine to speed away, leaving the mortally wounded Cermak in the
care of medics on the scene. FDR overruled his security detail and
demanded the car go back for Cermak.
Soon afterward, he walked to the Inaugural podium with
assistance to compensate for his polio-crippled legs. He looked out
at the thousands of hopeful, expectant faces and said: “…the only
thing we have to fear is fear itself!” Now, those were tough times.
Banks all over the country were closed or collapsing. Armed guards
had to be stationed on U.S. Mail trucks.
Or, consider young John F. Kennedy. Soviet dictator Nikita
Khrushchev had bullied him at their Vienna Summit meeting,
threatening nuclear war over divided Berlin. When in the summer of
1961, Khrushchev tore that city apart with his ugly, brutal Berlin
Wall, Kennedy had to tread carefully to avoid World War III. A year
later, Khrushchev again tested the inexperienced President Kennedy
by placing deadly nuclear missiles 90 miles from our shores in
Communist Cuba. Kennedy coolly stared down the Kremlin boss’ deadly
gambit. He forced Khrushchev to remove the missiles in the most
intense U.S.-Soviet confrontation since World War II.
Everyone likes to think their own times are toughest, that
their own trials are greatest. For Rahm Emanuel to praise his boss
is not out of line, but he clearly knows little of this country’s
powerful past if he thinks President Obama’s ordeals are the
toughest.
The fact that we Americans faced the crisis of the Civil
War and came through it, overcame the hardships of the Great
Depression, and prevailed over an Evil Empire in what JFK called
that “long twilight struggle” should give this administration cause
for confidence. Knowing our past and appealing to our people’s
courage and resilience should be a source of strength for us to
face the challenges of today. But, obviously, Rahm Emanuel knows
little of these things.
Does his boss know them better? If so, we have yet to hear
about it.
