Barack Obama Aide Condemned Norway for 'Fawning' over President by Awarding Him Nobel Prize

The decision to give Obama the Nobel prize was met with
considerable derision and criticism

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Rahm Emanuel launched verbal assault on Norway's then ambassador after President was awarded peace prize early in his first term

A senior Norwegian diplomat says his country's former ambassador to the United States was given a verbal lashing by Barack Obama's chief of staff when the president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

Morten Wetland said Thursday the ambassador, Wegger Stroemmen, was approached by Rahm Emanuel, now Chicago's mayor, who accused Norway of "fawning" to the newly elected U.S. leader.

Wetland, the Norwegian ambassador to the United Nations at the time, told The Associated Press he did not witness the dressing down but said there was an air of embarrassment in Washington that Obama had been given the award so early in his presidency. » | AP | Thursday, May 15, 2014

Rahm Emanuel Prevented from Running for Chicago Mayor
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, has been prevented from running for election as mayor of Chicago because he didn’t live in the city in the year before the election.

Rahm Emanuel speaks at a news conference in Chicago on Monday. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
An Illinois Appeals Court has ruled that Mr Emanuel’s name cannot appear on the Feb 22 ballot.

Those challenging Mr Emanuel’s candidacy have argued that the Democrat doesn’t meet the one-year residency requirement because he rented out his Chicago home and moved his family to Washington to work for President Barack Obama for nearly two years.

Mr Emanuel has said he always intended to return to Chicago and was only living in Washington at the request of the president. >>> | Monday, January 24, 2011

Rahm Emanuel's Tenant Mulling Racing Against Him For Mayor
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: 'This was not my idea,' says Rob Halpin

There's a new twist in the effort to stop Rahm Emanuel from becoming mayor of Chicago: Rob Halpin, businessman, cigar smoker, man of destiny and potential mayoral candidate.

"This has nothing to do with Rahm Emanuel," Halpin told me Tuesday.

Really?

"This was not my idea," Halpin said. "I'm outside the mainstream. I'm not a professional politician. … I was approached by some businessmen who asked if I would be interested in running for mayor. And they explained to me why they thought I'd be a good candidate and a good mayor."

I figure that the guys thinking about Halpin as a candidate aren't interested in his taste in cigars.

They're interested because he's Rahm Emanuel's stubborn tenant.

Halpin's the guy who's been renting Rahm's North Side home. When Rahm was about to leave the White House, he asked Halpin to move out. Amazingly, Halpin refused the Rahmfather.

Now Emanuel's campaign is expected to be challenged in the courts, a legal maneuver backed by guys on the South Side who are part of the stop-Rahm movement. And Halpin's talk of candidacy highlights the argument that Rahm is not a resident.

In a city famous for political shenanigans, this one is downright shenaniganlicious (just try pronouncing it). >>> John Kass | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Rahm Emanuel's awkward tenant may run against him in Chicago: Rahm Emanuel's tenant has announced he is considering running for mayor of Chicago. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Friday, November 12, 2010

Rahm Emanuel Expected to Quit White House
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, is expected to leave his job later this year after growing tired of the "idealism" of Barack Obama's inner circle.

Washington insiders say he will quit within six to eight months in frustration at their unwillingness to "bang heads together" to get policy pushed through.

Mr Emanuel, 50, enjoys a good working relationship with Mr Obama but they are understood to have reached an understanding that differences over style mean he will serve only half the full four-year term.

Friends say he is also worried about burnout and losing touch with his young family due to the pressure of one of most high profile jobs in US politics.

"I would bet he will go after the midterms," said a leading Democratic consultant in Washington. "Nobody thinks it's working but they can't get rid of him – that would look awful. He needs the right sort of job to go to but the consensus is he'll go."

An official from the Bill Clinton era said that "no one will be surprised" if Mr Emanuel left after the midterm elections in November, when the Democratic party will battle to save its majorities in the house of representatives and the senate.

It is well known in Washington that arguments have developed between pragmatic Mr Emanuel, a veteran in Congress where he was known for driving through compromises, and the idealistic inner circle who followed Mr Obama to the White House. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Sunday, June 20, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Profile: Rahm Emanuel – Speculation is mounting in Washington that Rahm Emanuel will quit after November's mid-term elections. Here is a profile of President Barack Obama's chief of staff. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Monday, June 21, 2010

'Naked' Rahm Emanuel Adds Twist to President Obama's Health Reforms
TIMES ONLINE: President Obama’s troubled and marathon effort to reform the US health industry took a bizarre twist today after a Democratic congressman said he was lambasted over the issue by a naked White House chief of staff in a men’s locker room.

The image of a naked Rahm Emanuel angrily poking the congressman in the chest because of his failure to support Mr Obama's health care bill was becoming a major distraction for the White House and a boon for conservative talk radio hosts.

The congressman, Eric Massa, announced on Friday he was resigning because, he said at the time, his cancer had returned. By Sunday however, he had changed his story, claiming he was forced out of office – the House Ethics Committee is investigating allegations that he sexually harassed a male staffer – through a conspiracy hatched by top Democrats. >>> Tim Reid, Washington | Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Rahm Emanuel Apologises for 'Retards' Comment
THE TELEGRAPH: Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, has apologised for calling Left-wingers Democrats '----ing retards'.

Mr Emanuel faced calls for his resignation less than a year since President Barack Obama apologised for comparing his ten-pin bowling skills to those of disabled participants in the Special Olympics.

The famously foul-mouthed political operator had used the offending term last summer to berate liberal groups attacking conservative Democrats whose votes the White House needed for health care reform.

But his characteristically colourful language has only just been reported, drawing immediate fire from Left and Right, including Sarah Palin, the conservative heroine and former Alaska governor who is the mother of a Downs' Syndrome baby.

She called on Mr Obama to "show decency" by sacking Mr Emanuel, a former Chicago congressman who is one of the most combative figures in Washington. >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Thursday, February 04, 2010

Barack Obama’s Former Mentor Criticises ‘Complacent Administration’
TIMES ONLINE: President Obama’s self-confidence borders on complacency. He is ill served by senior staff, especially his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. He does not appear to be learning on the job as he did when campaigning for the White House. His Administration is too deferential to Congress, too reliant on the President’s personal charm, and as a result is regarded by its enemies as weak and ineffectual.

As Mr Obama prepared to release his $3.8 trillion (£2.4 trillion) budget today, this assessment of his first year in office came not from one of his established critics on the Right, but from one of his most respected mentors — his former professor at Harvard Law School, Chris Edley.

“What I fear is that having made history, having won a Nobel prize, having been celebrated around the world, a measure of complacency may have set in,” Professor Edley told The Times. “I don’t mean that the effort is not there, but that the discipline of self-criticism has perhaps faded.”

Professor Edley, who worked in the Clinton and Carter Administrations and is now Dean of the Law School at the University of California, Berkeley, added: “I wouldn’t give [Obama] as high a grade as President as I gave him when he was my student. I know he can do better.” >>> Giles Whittell in Washington | Monday, February 01, 2010

Words Aren’t Enough
YNET NEWS: Obama has failed to sweep Israelis, Arabs because his message has remained vague

WASHINGTON – Barak [sic] Obama has been unable to sweep public opinion in Israel, and not because he did not bother to travel to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or directly address the people. He has failed because his message is vague and it does not enable Israelis to understand what his next steps are, and how exactly we will be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Obama was elected US president mostly because he knew how to produce what the American public so direly needed: Hope. Yet among Middle East residents, Obama has been unable to produce hope, because he has not presented an orderly plan accompanied by a timetable. Obama said that the two-state vision is the solution. President Bush also said it before him, yet for eight years nothing happened.

Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, boasts that he spent his summer vacations on the beach in Tel Aviv. Yet even he cannot explain to his boss the essence of Israeliness: When you push Israelis into a corner, their response is reflected by two constitutive statements: "I won't be a sucker" on the one hand, and "I'll show you who's the boss" on the other hand.

When Obama pressured Israel and demanded that it curb settlement construction without indicating what the other side needs to do, he failed to move Israelis to his side; not even the ones who support his policy and automatically applaud any peace plan. The more he presses, the more assertive they'll become, while also showing him they won't be the neighborhood's sucker.

This Israeli disdain can easily turn into willingness to face a challenge, even if the price is heavy: Israelis only want to know there's a reason to do it.

Meanwhile, Obama also failed to give hope to the Palestinians and to Arab residents of east Jerusalem: He did not present a message that would prompt people to rally around it, such as what the Palestinian state will look like, what will its relationship with Israel be like, what will security guarantees be like, and what will Mideastern residents gain by backing Obama. >>> Orly Azoulay | August 04, 2009

Obama Aide Apologises to US-Arabs
Photo of Rahm Emanuel courtesy of the BBC
BBC: President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel has apologised to the US-Arab community for remarks made by his father.

Benjamin Emanuel told an Israeli newspaper that his son, who is Jewish, would "obviously influence the president to be pro-Israel".

He also referred to Arabs in a way which a leading Arab-American group called an "unacceptable smear".

A spokesman for Rahm Emanuel said he had called the group to apologise.

Mr Emanuel also offered to meet members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

In the interview last week with the Israeli daily newspaper Ma'ariv, Israeli-born Benjamin Emanuel talked about his son's new job.

Anger at remarks

He said: "Obviously he'll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House."

His remarks angered the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which called on Rahm Emanuel to condemn them.

On Thursday, his office issued a statement saying that the veteran Democratic congressman had called the group's president, Mary Rose Oakar.

It said that he had "apologised on behalf of his family and offered to meet with representatives of the Arab-American community at an appropriate time in the future".

On its website, the committee quoted Mr Rahm as saying: "From the fullness of my heart, I personally apologise on behalf of my family and me. These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family."

Ms Oakar welcomed the apology, saying: "We cannot allow Arabs and Muslims to be portrayed in these unacceptable terms." >>> | November 14, 2008

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Rahm Emanuel: A Profile of Barack Obama's Enforcer
Rahm Emanual, known as “Rahmbo”, to be Obama’s Chief of Staff. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Rahm Emanuel, who has been chosen by Barack Obama to be the White House chief of staff, is known by colleagues as "Rahmbo" - a nickname reflecting his reputation as one of the most ferociously combative figures in Washington.

Mr Emanuel, who received training in ballet as a boy, has shown no lightness of step in his political career: would-be enemies are advised to heed the story of a pollster who wronged him and promptly received a large, decomposing fish in the post.

Reflecting on his own foul-mouthed, attack-dog style, Mr Emanuel has said: "I wake up some mornings hating me too." Commentators have suggested that Mr Obama, who ran a lofty campaign based on national unity and bipartisanship, has recognised the need to employ a tough enforcer to push through his policy programme.

Born in Chicago, Illinois on November 29, 1959, to a doctor and a hospital technician, Mr Emanuel was brought up in a household that combined black civil rights activism with devout Judaism. His religious devotion has endured: he recently secured a special waiver from his rabbi to work through Rosh Hashanah during negotiations over the $800 billion banking bail-out.

Mr Emanuel grew up with a sister and two brothers - one of whom, Ari, grew up to be a talent agent in Los Angeles and provided the inspiration for the character Ari Gold in the television series Entourage. He himself was the real-life spark for the character of Josh Lyman, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the West Wing.

As a teenager, while working part-time in a fast-food restaurant, Mr Emanuel severed the middle finger on his right hand in a meat-slicing machine. After he chose to go swimming in Lake Michigan rather than go to hospital for stitches, Mr Emanuel's wound became severely infected and, after he came close to death, the top of his finger was amputated.

While studying at a Jewish day school, Mr Emanuel trained in ballet, and was talented enough to be offered a scholarship to the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet company. However, he turned it down in favour of studying the dance style at Sarah Lawrence College, a liberal arts institution, from where he graduated in 1981.

While at Sarah Lawrence, Mr Emanuel joined the team for the congressional campaign of fellow Chicagoan David Robertson. Via a master's degree in speech and communication at Northwestern University in 1985, he went on to work for several other Democratic campaigns, culminating in a role as chief fundraiser in Richard Daley's successful campaign for Mayor of Chicago in 1989.

He took a break from politics during the 1991 Gulf War, volunteering as a mechanic on an army base in Israel. It was on his return that he joined the presidential primary campaign of Bill Clinton, then the Governor of Arkansas. It was to prove the move that launched his national political career. >>> By Jon Swaine | November 6, 2008

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