Rahm Emanuel

First of all let me state upfront that I am not an Obama fan by no means,nor did I have much admiration for any of the members of his cabinet, but as of yeaterday I do have a newly found respect for one of them, and that is Rahm Emanuel, who is running for Mayor for the City of Chicago.

Why, what changed your mind, you might ask. Well for one thing I had the opportunity to watch live on NBC Channel 5.2 the hearings that were being conducted by the Chicago Board of Elections. This man sat there for twelve hours, and was grilled by some morons who have no business in asking anyone, a question.

One of the things I found very interesting is that the Chicago City Clerk's office, headed by the City Clerk, a Mr. DeValle, who is also running for mayor, received a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) asking to confirm that Rahm had purchased a city sticker for his car, during the years he was in Washington, working on the Obama campaign, and then as the Presidents Chief of Staff. The official responce from the clerks office was that "they have no records of Mr. Emanuel purchasing a vehicle sticker. Chicago politics at its finest.

What is at stake here is that Rahm's opponents are challenging his residence in the City of Chicago for the period required under the law which simply states that a mayoral candidate must live in the city for one year prior to the election. Simply put, the opposition is trying to ensure that he is declaired ineligible to run for the position and have him kicked off the ballot.

However, Rahm is like a lot of other Chicagoans, and does not always peel off the previous years sticker. So in order to prove the clerks office was in error, he supplied them with the sticker number, and then the City Clerks office found records that supported Rahm's claim, and this new found information, verified that Rahm did infact purchase a city sticker for all of the years he was out of town working. I might also add that until he was officially the Presidents Chief of Staff his wife and family remained in their home in Chicago. It was not until later that he summond them to join him in Washington.

On the advice of some real estate friends Rahm was advised NOT to leave his home vacant while he was away in Washingon. So Rahm rented the home out while he was away on duty to the President. Now I might add that I have many friends and relatives who have taken assignments for their companies for long periods of time. In fact one of them is in Egypt right now for a two year stint. But they DO NOT sell their homes, and their legal residence is still the home they own and left TEMPORARILY while on assignment. They may have a relative move into it for the period, or they may put their personal possessions in storage and rent it out, as did Rahm, while they are gone. HOWEVER, IT IS STILL THEIR PERMANENT RESIDENCE AND STILL THEIR HOME!

Now lets get to the "morons". There was one idiot who called herself "Queen Sister" She objected to just about anything that was said by her opposition or Rahms supporters and questioned weather in fact Rahms wife Amy was the person who removed the sticker from the windshield. There were others who challenged any statement that was made in which supporting evidence proving Rahms residency intentions and facts. And there was one guy in the back who liked to challenge and try to use legal terms and quotes which only showed to the audience and participants his lack of expertise in the subject area. I had the pleasure of watching this for a good three hours. It was very entertaining. But through out it all Rahm was calm and collected.

On the table in front of Rahm he had a 4x6 photo of his wife and children. He used this very similar to how some Hindis use prayer beads. When it seemed that Rahm was starting to get pressured, he would simply pick up the photo, hold it front of him looking directly at it, as the question was stated. It seemed to give him an inner peace allowing him to endure more of this rediculous circus that he was forced to participate in. I'm sure that any of the other candidates who might be challenged for their own candidacy will not have to endure the same idiotic questions as Rahm did.

There was a point that you could see that Rahm might have been agitated, but to release this agitation he simply put his hands flat on the table in front of him, and wiggled and tapped his fingers excitedly. But throughout the entire ordeal Rahm answered the questions put to him with honesty, calmness, and accuracy as best he could. It just demonstrates that he can maintain his cool, and the reputation that preceeds him might not be totally accurate. In any event, once elected, and I am sure this will take place, his press conferences will be interesting, humerous, but also calm and collected. And when dealing with the local communities, there will be the good people of Chicago, as well as those idiots who were there yesterday. He'll handle anything that come his way with knowledge, experience, compassion and zeal.

By far, after I observed what I did yesterday, he is the best man for the job. Although I do not live in the City of Chicago, if I did he would have my vote. He is the cream that comes to the surface over all of the other candidates. GOOD LUCK RAHM!

Take Care