Welcome to Radio Free America, Aaron Kleinman’s take on stories that matter in state politics but aren't getting enough attention.
Photo via AP Photo/Hiro Komae
Rahm Emanuel is convinced that he has the answers to the Democratic Party’s problems. Sure, he decided to neuter Organizing for America instead of putting Obama’s grassroots army to use after the 2008 election. And he told Obama to ignore the judiciary. And he was using the r-word back when that was still a source of shame. And when he was mayor of Chicago, he thought Elon Musk could build a hyperloop from O’Hare to downtown, even though the Blue Line already exists. And by the end of his tenure there, he was roughly as popular in the city as the Green Bay Packers. But ignore all of that! He knows just how to get out of this jam.
You see, Rahm Emanuel wants the Democratic Party to make a break with its most unpopular positions loudly and repeatedly. In his case, he seems to think this means denying that trans people have the right to health care, even though public opinion is more nuanced than he makes it out to be and they largely favor trans adults getting the medical treatment that they need. He calls the current party weak and woke, and he wants it to refocus on its strengths.
I agree with him on that last point. I want the Democratic Party to shed its most unpopular elements and focus on its strengths. It’s time to nominate a politician who isn’t part of Rahm Emanuel’s Beltway clique.
Just look at the approval ratings for Emanuel’s last boss, consummate D.C. insider Joe Biden. Better than Rahm’s but not by much, hovering around in the 30s for years now. And his decision to run again in 2024 was incredibly unpopular; after his June debate with Trump, just 23% of his own voters wanted him to stay in the race. Moreover, a New York Times story on Biden-to-Trump voters showed that his decision to run again created a big trust issue that Democrats weren’t able to recover from. Nominating anyone associated with Biden or who knew he wasn’t up for running again but didn’t say anything publicly is just a huge unforced error. Even if voters seem like they’ve moved on, why risk it?
And you know who’s got some really nice favorability ratings and minimal ties to Biden? Governors! Andy Beshear routinely polls as one of the nation’s most popular politicians. Gretchen Whitmer’s got double-digit net favorable ratings even as she winds down her second term, as does J.B. Pritzker. And Josh Shapiro’s got a double-digit lead on his gubernatorial opponent in a purple state. Moreover, none of them can be so easily tied to the unpopular Biden or the party’s actions in Washington, D.C. Rather, they’ve run on solving everyday problems, like fixing bridges and roads, getting more people health care and more kids in preschool. It’s a stark contrast to Rahm’s record when he tried to run the city of Chicago, which was perhaps most notable for closing schools and his mismanagement of the police department.
Other governors who might run for president have approvals that are either mixed or downright awful (though still better than Rahm’s), but the four above seem like the types of standard bearers that Democrats should nominate if they want to show the public that they’re not weak and woke (in Rahm’s parlance); they get shit done.
The problem for them right now is that the Beltway media aren’t interested in the minutiae of governing; they want hot takes. So I’d advise them to do what Rahm does and give the media a Sister Souljah moment. It’s time for them to tell the public what they want to hear and the Democratic Party some hard truths: that it’s time to move on from the failed politics of Rahm Emanuel and his last boss.
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AROUND AMERICA
When I covered the primary for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, I inexplicably left fundraising leader Denise Powell off the list of contenders for the seat. Apologies to her campaign. And notably Republicans seem to be trying to ham-handedly sink John Cavanaugh, just months after saying he was the weakest candidate in the field. One of the country’s most bizarre congressional primaries is now just a month away.
Michigan Rep. John James sent a text to his supporters saying that his campaign for governor might be over unless they gave him more money and his primary opponent decided to take it literally instead of dismissing it as fundraising puffery. Now, the story has become a headache for his campaign. Let this be a lesson to candidates — using Mothership tactics can backfire big time.
Photo via AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps
I’ll have more on the Wisconsin Supreme Court election next week, but based on ad spending, it looks like liberals are heavy favorites to win. Right-wingers just need to find someone who’s willing to fund Wisconsin Supreme Court elections who won’t actively cost them votes.
It looks increasingly like Charlie Kirk’s legacy will be a well-funded right-wing youth organization and not a personal cult of veneration, as a bill that would rename a highway after him was vetoed and others that would build statues and memorials for him have stalled in committee.
Photo via Whoisjohngalt on Wikimedia Commons
A few months ago, we noted that Florida’s censorship of college campuses meant that there were no longer any approved sociology textbooks in the state. The state recently took this crusade against the discipline a step further by banning it as a core curricular area. Which is too bad, because the sociology of Florida is a fascinating study.
There’s a burgeoning scandal in Brooklyn, as a number of associates of the chair of the county’s Democratic Party (including her husband) are under investigation. It’s hard to summarize in one place just how inept and corrupt the party’s leadership has been this century, but you can start here and hope that maybe this is finally the moment that leads Brooklyn Democrats to be slightly less of an embarrassment to the borough than Rudy Giuliani.
INTERNET STUFF THAT I LIKED
I grew up in Connecticut; other than a high human development index, the most the state has to recommend is college basketball. So unless you live in Durham or New Jersey, you’re elated that the Huskies knocked off Duke basketball in the NCAA Men’s Tournament with an improbable last-minute three. And in the video above, you can watch the play from every angle that CBS had. I’m especially fond of Danny Hurley’s congenital inability to keep cool, because I suffer from the same affliction. (h/t Rodger Sherman of Sports!)
BOOK CLUB
Photo via Penguin Press/The Regulator Bookshop
Instead of running for president, Rahm Emanuel should read The Score by C. Thi Nguyen. Nguyen’s book does a great job of making explicit what seems intuitive — that we frequently lose sight of our goals and control of our lives when our values are captured by metrics that don’t entirely match up to what we want. It’s part of bureaucratizing that at some level is necessary to make sense of the world (polls are good because they give you an idea of what the public wants) but miss out on critical nuances (if you base all your stances off polls, you’ll seem like an off-putting weirdo). The solution to this problem is, counterintuitively, to have more hobbies. You’ll have to read the book to find out why.
HELP ME OUT
I run a pretty new newsletter here (tell your friends to like and subscribe). So when a legend in the game like Tom Ziller tells you that you should switch to Apple Maps from Google Maps you should listen to him.
As for this week, it’s almost time for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As a hockey widow, I usually just go with the team that has the best vibes heading into the postseason. It’s a strategy that led me to running around the backyard of a bar, hoisting an empty keg, humming Chelsea Dagger in 2013, so it’s worked in the past. My question to you is there any team with a better case than the Buffalo Sabres this year? Can anyone top going 15 years without making the playoffs then winning their division? Hit reply and tell me what you think.
