The case of the caustic crossfire
RAHM EMANUEL, the smart, ambitious, and occasionally abrasive Illinois representative, is known as a man with a set of sharp elbows - and one of them just thwacked a well-known Massachusetts nose.
That would be the politically prominent proboscis of US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose status as one of the Democratic Party's elder statesmen usually protects him from intra-party attacks.
Not this time, however.
Our story begins late last week, when Kennedy, whose January endorsement of Barack Obama was said to register like a kick in the stomach to Hillary Clinton, told Al Hunt of Bloomberg that he didn't think that Obama would choose Clinton to run with him.
Kennedy's further comments could be read as slighting Clinton, though Kennedy's office insists they weren't intended that way. Asked what type of vice presidential choice Obama should make, Kennedy said he hoped the Illinois senator would chose someone who "is in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspirations of the American people" and that it would be helpful "if we had real leadership - as we do with Barack Obama - in the number-two spot as well."
Those comments caught the attention of the congressman sometimes known as "Rahmbo." In a
"I don't know how the hell he comes off saying that," Emanuel said, adding that "the gratuitous attack on her is uncalled for and wrong."
Kennedy's camp said the senator, busy Monday with the Profile in Courage Awards, would not discuss the matter with me. (Now, what is it about that which seems a tad incongruous?) The thinking there seems to be that commenting would only draw more attention to Emanuel's broadside.
But if Kennedy was determinedly mum, his friends were ready to man the ramparts on his behalf.
"He's a total pain in the tail," said Phil Johnston, former chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. (Emanuel, that is, not Kennedy.) "It's outrageous. He shouldn't pop off like that against an iconic figure in the Democratic Party like Ted Kennedy."
Emanuel, who as chairman of the Democratic Caucus is number four in the House leadership, also declined a request for an interview.
Still, there's an interesting question here, one that hints at an intriguing back story: Why did Emanuel feel the need to call Kennedy out in the first place? Here's one theory: The ulterior motive for Rahm's eruption over Kennedy's comment might have been, oddly enough, remarks that Emanuel himself had recently made.
Emanuel is publicly neutral in this race, and enjoys ties to both candidates. Nevertheless, he's in a delicate position. As an Illinois congressman, he hails from Obama's home state. But it was his stint in the Clinton White House that made his reputation and helped launched his political career.
In a Friday Times story, Emanuel had called Obama the Democratic Party's "presumptive nominee," and cautioned that Hillary Clinton needed to campaign in a way that would help the Democratic Party.
Word is that those comments displeased the Clinton campaign - and that, as would be expected, the campaign made its displeasure known. So it may have been an attempt to re-ingratiate himself with the Clintons that spurred Emanuel to blast Kennedy.
Asked about that, Kathleen Connery, Emanuel's spokesperson, said Emanuel's motivation was simple: "He read [Kennedy's] comments . . . they were neither helpful nor true, so he commented on them."
Connery adds that "the Clintons never called" Emanuel after he declared Obama the presumptive nominee. Did anyone from the campaign? "That I don't know," she said.
Others say they do. "I know for a fact that at the very highest levels the Clinton campaign expressed their deep displeasure over his comments," says one well-connected former Capitol Hill staffer.
So how will the Case of the Caustic Comments play out between a senator who has long been a pillar of the Democratic Party and a representative widely recognized as one of its rising stars?
Here's my bet: Kennedy will pretend he's forgotten the whole thing - and Emanuel will go out of his way not to remind him.
Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com. 