Rahm Emanuel: Another Wannabe Gangster

Rahm Emanuel is a man of many names. Some call him Rahmbo. Others prefer Emperor Rahmulus. He was Richard J. Daley’s and Clinton’s financial hitman and Obama’s frontline Pattonesque general.

All these titles, amusing as they might be, still lack the necessary oomph a man like Emanuel needs in order to get things done “his way!”

So how do you bolster your image when you want to be taken seriously? Why, pretend you’re a gangster!

Meet The Rahmfather!

Recently Chicago columnist John Kass received an anonymous gift. It was a poster (pictured above) portraying Rahm Emanuel as an aging Michael Corleone, circa Godfather 3.

Kass is, of course, interested in exactly who made this stunning mock-up, but I am more interested in what one of Rahm’s aides said to Kass when the writer brought the picture up in a conversation.

“Oh, my God,” said an aide of Rahm’s when I sent a photo. “He’s really going to want this.”

This is a representative of the Mayor of Chicago, talking to a columnist at a major Chicago newspaper, about how his boss (or his Rahmness) wants a picture of himself as a fake mafioso. Does anyone else find this mildly disturbing?

Mayor Emanuel’s bizarre worship of organized crime isn’t a total shock to me, as he is a born-and-raised member of the Chicago Machine, the most powerful organized crime family in Illinois. Still though, all that backroom dealing and behind the scenes political wrangling that makes up the core strength of the Machine lacks the glitz and glamor of that bygone era of Chicago Outfit hooliganism. While he wields power that modern Outfit gangsters could only dream of, Rahm Emanuel still buys into the childish intimidation tactics that are the hallmark of every Hollywood mobster flick.

He’s sent dead fish to people (and towns) he doesn’t like, berated moneymen into handing over heavy rolls, assaulted a sitting Congressman in a shower, totally buck naked, at the behest of (or at least in the name of) his Capo di tutti cappi and made a fool of himself ranting and raving (in a fine parody of Al Capone in The Untouchables) about political enemies while stabbing a table with a steak knife.