Emanuel Reflects On Time With Clinton, Obama White Houses
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel was back in Chicago Sunday night, after a quick trip to Iowa, where he stood in for President Obama at a major Democratic fund-raiser.
The mayor remained in campaign-mode Sunday, appearing on ABC's "This Week," and continuing his attack on potential GOP challengers to Obama, his ex-boss, especially Mitt Romney.
"Mitt Romney has revealed himself, and I believe as the campaign continues, more and more people will see who he's willing to stand for and who he doesn't really -- turns a blind eye towards, and that's the middle class," Emanuel said on "This Week."
But Saturday night in Iowa, he talked at length about the time he spent in the Oval Office with Obama.
"He didn't make decisions based on whether they were quick or politically convenient, because I was the one giving the advice to go with the quick and politically convenient, and I didn't win any of those fights," Emanuel said.
Was Emanuel being self-deprecating or brutally honest? Probably both. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine talked with Emanuel before he left for Iowa about the time he spent as Obama's chief of staff, as well as an adviser to President Bill Clinton.
Emanuel had a lot to say about the differences between the two presidents.
"They're different people. They're different people at different times and different backgrounds. And they're totally different type of presidents. And remember, times make the person, and the person's own make-up makes the presidency," Emanuel said.
Emanuel has played key roles in the last two Democratic White House administrations. He was senior adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1998, and he was chief of staff for President Barack Obama from the start of Obama's term until Emanuel resigned to run for mayor last year.
" One is very calm -- almost, some people think, sometimes to a fault, but very steady. The other one, President Clinton, has a lot of different emotions," Emanuel said. "President Clinton would run late, President Obama would rarely ever be late. But they're both creative minds. They just worked differently."
Asked if there's a difference in the way they make decisions, Emanuel said, "Oh totally, they were different, their operating styles are different."
"President Clinton used to call at 2:30 in the morning to go over an idea," Emanuel said. "We could have major policy discussions in front of him while he was doing a crossword puzzle and participate in that conversation and have March Madness on in the background. President Obama would have come in, read your memo for the meeting, have three comments he wanted to make and then listen to a discussion -- and without noise around. They're different personalities."
Despite that privileged and fascinating perspective, The mayor said he'll never write about his White House experiences. That's for presidents, he said.
"You wanna know something else? I've never read a book on the Clinton White House. I've never read a book on President Obama's," Emanuel said. "I lived them. I got other things I wanna read. I know what happened. I know my take."
Asked if that means he's not going to read "Growing Up Emanuel," a memoir written by his brother, Zeke Emanuel, the mayor answered, "I'll wait for the DVD."
The mayor said he's not worried about Zeke Emanuel's book, despite the childhood he has said was filled with sibling rivalries.
"My view is this is mutually assured destruction," Emanuel said, joking that he knows as many secrets about his brother as his brother knows about him.
Apparently Rahm Emanuel's rough-and-tumble, take no prisoners style – on display as he attacked Mitt Romney this weekend – applies to family, too.
