WASHINGTON — At the end of Monday’s two-hour meeting of the Democratic caucus in the stuffy but regal meeting room of the Canon office building, freshman Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) approached the microphone. The 175 restless members quieted down and listened.
On the eve of President Bush’s release of his economic stimulus package, the House Democrats needed to make the public case that their package was better. And with the clarity of a Washington pro, Emanuel said: “The Republican program is all about the stock market, and the Democratic program is all about the job market.”
The newest Jew to enter Congress made his mark before even being sworn in to office with the declaration.
“A few minutes later, at the press conference, that phrase came up several times,” fellow Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky said.
The next day, several news stories on the Democrat’s plan featured Emanuel’s line.
“There’s an acknowledgment since the last election that the Democrats need to draw a distinction between themselves and the Republicans, and Rahm is really experienced at doing just that,” Schakowsky said.
With 20 years of experience in national politics and as a longtime Clinton aide, Emanuel, 43, who took the oath of office Tuesday along with his 434 colleagues in the 108th Congress, is far from your ordinary freshman.
For many Democrats, with their party in the minority in both houses of Congress, the arrival of this Jewish rising star on Capitol Hill comes not a moment too soon.
After winning the congressional seat left open when Rod Blagojevich stepped down to run a successful campaign for governor, Emanuel steps into the Washington spotlight as the only new Jewish member of the House of Representatives.
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, whose first name means “high” or “lofty” in Hebrew, and his wife, Amy, are active members of a modern Orthodox congregation, Anshe Shalom, in Chicago.
Members of Chicago’s Jewish community say Emanuel’s wife, Amy, who converted to Judaism around the same time as her wedding, is heavily involved with the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School in Lakeview, Ill.
The couple sends their 6-year-old son, Zacharias, and 3-year-old Ilana to the Conservative Jewish day school, which Emanuel himself attended as a child.
The family also includes 2-year-old Leah.
Emanuel says of his Judaism: “I am proud of my heritage and treasure the values it has taught me.”
Like a true politician, he adds: “Throughout my life, I have also had the privilege of knowing, working with and now representing people of all backgrounds and have learned a great deal from them and their various heritages as well. Hopefully, I will bring all of these experiences to this job.”
Emanuel traces his political start from his days at Sarah Lawrence College, when he joined the congressional campaign of David Robinson of Chicago.
Swiftly moving up the ranks of the Democratic Party in the Midwest, he went on to fund-raise and direct a number of successful Illinois campaigns before assuming a larger national role with the Democratic Party’s fund-raising apparatus.
In 1991 he was drafted to join the nascent Clinton campaign in Little Rock, Ark.
Toughness and good political instincts earned him Clinton’s respect at the beginning of his relationship with the president.
Emanuel’s knowledge of the top donors in the country, his rapport with the heavily Jewish donor community and his sheer chutzpah made a difference, as Clinton amassed a then-unheard-of $72 million, say those involved with the campaign.
Later, as a top White House aide, Emanuel’s take-no-prisoners attitude — he earned the nickname “Rahm-bo” — won him respect, and enemies, among co-workers as well as political foes.
In a story that has become part of Washington lore, Emanuel mailed a rotting fish to a former co-worker after the two parted ways.
But longtime friends of Emanuel insist the once hard-charging staffer has mellowed out.
Running for the House last year, Emanuel got his first glimpse of politics as a candidate, and faced an immediate test.
A nasty primary battle included a rare public case of anti-Semitism when the president of the Polish American Congress, Ed Moskal, who was supporting candidate Nancy Kaszak, claimed that Emanuel was an Israeli citizen and served in the Israeli army.
Moskal also called Emanuel a “millionaire carpetbagger who knows nothing” about “our heritage.”
Emanuel had served a non-combat stint as a volunteer in the Israeli army during the Gulf War, but he never held Israeli citizenship.
Emanuel responded coolly, supporters say, bringing a coalition of Chicago clergy together to denounce the incident.
“One of the proudest moments of my life was seeing people of my district from all backgrounds demonstrate our common values by coming together in response to this obvious attempt to divide them,” Emanuel said.