Rahm Emanuel to be appointed US ambassador to Japan: reports
CHICAGO - He is best known as a crude talking, big city political boss.
But former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel may soon have to leave the "F bombs" behind. President Joe Biden is reportedly ready to nominate him as U.S. ambassador to Tokyo, one of the State Department’s most important postings.
After a career as a political alley fighter here and in Washington, the mere mention of Emanuel’s name can stir controversy. Some on the Democratic Party’s left wing resent his handling of the Laquan McDonald case. But Sen. Bernie Sanders and other leftists on Capitol Hill denounce Emanuel’s role in pushing passage of international trade agreements, such as NAFTA.
Carson Starkey is former director of the Illinois Fair Trade Coalition, a group that argues the trade agreements hurt American workers.
"Rahm Emanuel is wrong," Starkey said. "Rahm Emanuel is flatly wrong and dishonest if he thinks that, or if he says that NAFTA benefitted the overwhelming majority of American workers. It didn't!"
The former mayor has often quoted studies concluding NAFTA and other trade deals were a net plus for workers in Chicago and Illinois. Emanuel concedes there certainly were losers who lost their jobs to cheaper competition from overseas.
A recent Nation Magazine headline spoke for those workers: "Ambassador Rahm Emanuel? No, no, a thousand times no!"
Local allies of the former mayor predict he will do well running the giant American embassy in Tokyo. It is an important posting that could enable him to influence U.S. policy across East Asia and the Pacific Rim.
"We know that the U.S. does not export a lot to Japan. And I think we can, you know, kinda help that. We import quite a bit, but we don't export as much as I think we should. I think he will be someone who can help leverage that," said Alderman Anthony Beale of the 9th Ward.
The former mayor initially had his eye on becoming U.S. Secretary of Transportation. That job could have allowed him to help steer billions of dollars to the Chicago area for trains, roads, bridges and waterways like the Chicago River. However, President Biden appointed former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg to the post.