He also ran his 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate. The following is edited from Wikipedia:
“His father was a psychologist and his mother was a journalist at a left-wing newspaper. Axelrod, himself, was the City Hall Bureau Chief for the Chicago Tribune. He worked at the Tribune for eight years, covering national, state and local politics.
Having formed a political consultancy, Axelrod & Associates, he worked on the successful re-election campaign of Harold Washington, Chicago’s first black mayor. He later became a key player in the campaigns of other black politicians, including those of Dennis Archer in Detroit, Michael R. White in Cleveland, Anthony A. Williams in Washington, D.C., Lee P. Brown in Houston and John F. Street in Philadelphia.
In 2006, Axelrod was consulted for the successful campaigns of Eliot Spitzer in New York’s gubernatorial election and served as the chief political adviser for Rahm Emanuel when he stood for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman for the House of Representatives.
Axelrod and Barack Obama’s ties reach back more than a decade. Axelrod met Obama in 1992 when Obama impressed Betty Lu Saltzmann of Chicago’s ‘lakefront liberal crowd’…
Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright criticized Axelrod’s influence on Obama. The New York Times reported that Wright said of Axelrod: ‘While he was expert at promoting black candidates with white voters, he did not know much about relating to the black community…They’re spiriting him away from people in the African-American community. David doesn’t know the African-American church scene’.”
“Barack Obama has asked Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a tough-minded tactician with West Wing experience, to serve his White House chief of staff… Emanuel knows the Hill and power politics as well as anyone in town. ‘Obama wants a bad cop, so he can be good cop 90 percent of the time,’ an adviser said.Emmanuel is, of course, Jewish. The BBC says he 'had strong ties to Israel.' No change there then. From the President who was going to 'change' things. Looks like more of the same old, same old from here.
Emanuel… is the Democratic Caucus Chair, the fourth-highest ranking member of the House Democratic leadership. Emanuel was known for his hardnosed tactics as a SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON. After leaving the White House, he returned to Chicago as AN INVESTMENT-BANK MANAGING DIRECTOR. Friends of both men say that OBAMA LIKES EMANUEL, AND THAT EMANUEL WOULD BE TOTALLY LOYAL…
Emanuel’s first big assignment in Clinton’s White House was helping pass the NAFTA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT”.
I could be wrong. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say:
“HIS FATHER… WAS A MEMBER OF THE IRGUN, A MILITANT ZIONIST GROUP active during the British Mandate of Palestine. His mother, Martha Smulevitz… was the daughter of a local union organizer. She became a civil rights activist; she was also once the owner of a Chicago-area rock and roll club… His brother, Ari, is a talent agent in Los Angeles and inspired Jeremy Piven’s character Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage. Emanuel himself is also the inspiration for the character Josh Lyman on The West Wing…Like I said, more of the same old, same old.
Emanuel was encouraged by his mother TO TAKE BALLET LESSONS AS A BOY and is a graduate of the Evanston School of Ballet.
During the 1991 Gulf War, EMANUEL WAS A CIVILIAN VOLUNTEER IN ISRAEL…
He joined then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton’s presidential primary campaign in 1991, SERVING AS THE CAMPAIGN’S DIRECTOR OF FINANCE… EMANUEL’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE TOP DONORS IN THE COUNTRY, AND HIS RAPPORT WITH POTENTIAL DONORS WITHIN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY HELPED CLINTON AMASS A THEN-UNHEARD-OF $72 MILLION.
Following the campaign, EMANUEL BECAME A SENIOR ADVISOR TO CLINTON AT THE WHITE HOUSE FROM 1993 TO 1998. In the White House, Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT FOR POLICY AND STRATEGY…
He reportedly told British Prime Minister Tony Blair, prior to Blair appearing in public with Clinton for the first time after the Lewinsky scandal: ‘This is important. Don’t f*** it up’!
Emanuel is said to have ‘MAILED A ROTTING FISH TO A FORMER COWORKER AFTER THE TWO PARTED WAYS.’
On the night after the 1996 election: ‘Emanuel was so angry at the president’s enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, GRABBED A STEAK KNIFE AND BEGAN RATTLING OFF A LIST OF BETRAYERS, SHOUTING ‘DEAD! … DEAD! … DEAD!’ AND PLUNGING THE KNIFE INTO THE TABLE AFTER EVERY NAME’…
He left the White House to accept A WELL-PAID POSITION IN INVESTMENT BANKING AT DRESDNER KLEINWORT WASSERSTEIN in Chicago, where he worked from 1999 to 2002 and reportedly EARNED $18 MILLION…
Emanuel SUPPORTED THE OCTOBER 2002 JOINT CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE IRAQ WAR, differentiating himself from all nine other Democratic members of the Illinois Congressional delegation…
Emanuel still is CLOSE TO BILL CLINTON AND AS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE DCCC TALKED STRATEGY WITH HIM AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH…
His father, a pediatrician still practicing near Chicago, immigrated to the United States from Israel and spoke Hebrew with his son, when Emanuel was a boy. Emanuel has said of his Judaism: I AM PROUD OF MY HERITAGE AND TREASURE THE VALUES IT HAS TAUGHT ME’.”
On 6 November 2008, the BBC offered up a 'shortlist of names' which they suggested were being considered 'for the post of Treasury secretary' in Barack Obama’s government.
These were: Timothy Geithner, head of the Federal Reserve Bank; Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury Secretary and Paul Volcker, a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The BBC added:
“The 47-year old HEAD OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK, Timothy Geithner… played a pivotal role in the intense negotiations which took place before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, and also helped forge the deals involving AIG and JP Morgan… Before joining the Federal Reserve of New York, GEITHNER WORKED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. He was also the Treasury’s under-secretary for international affairs, from 1999 to 2001…
Lawrence Summers held various positions in President Clinton’s administration, INCLUDING THAT OF TREASURY SECRETARY, between 1999 and 2001. After leaving the government, he became PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY… AN ARDENT SUPPORTER OF GLOBALISATION, he is widely credited by financial markets with the policies that led to the strong performance of the US economy in the 1990s.
Paul Volcker became chairman of the Federal Reserve in 1979, and SERVED UNDER BOTH PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER AND ALSO RONALD REAGAN. He is currently ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S ECONOMIC ADVISERS. HE WAS SUCCEEDED AS FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN BY ALAN GREENSPAN IN 1987.”
It would seem that the new, black broom will not be sweeping the old White House clean any time soon.
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