View this email in your browser

**AUGUST 23, 2021**

Kuttner on TAP

Rahm Gets His Ambassadorship-If He Can Get Confirmed

****

President Biden chose a Friday afternoon in August to announce that Rahm
Emanuel would be named his ambassador

to Japan, as if this were something to be ashamed of. And of course it
is.

Emanuel epitomizes the kind of opportunistic, revolving-door Democrat
who has gotten the party of the people in such trouble with its base. He
is a used-up hack politician.

He was a source of relentless bad advice to President Obama, and his
sheer vulgarity is the opposite of what one wants in a diplomat. He
knows nothing about Japan, which makes his appointment an insult to the
Japanese people, who tend to be sensitive about such things.

Rahm didn't want this job because he follows Japan-he had also
fished for the China ambassadorship. He wanted it as a career-capper.

So why on earth did Biden name him ambassador? One likely suspect is
Rahm's pal Barack Obama. It's hard to imagine who else could have
called in this chit.

Since Rahm speaks no Japanese, here, as a public service, are several
epic Rahm quotes rendered in the Japanese language, as translated by
Google, in case he wants to use variants during his diplomatic service
in Tokyo.

"You never let a serious crisis go to waste." (Emanuel on the financial
collapse, where he cut the stimulus sums recommended by Obama's
economists)
Anata wa shinkokuna kiki o muda ni suru koto wa kesshite arimasen.

"Take your f*cking tampon out of your mouth and tell me what you have to
say." (Emanuel to a junior White House aide)
Anata no kusotanpon o anata no kuchi kara toridashite, anata ga
iwanakereba naranai koto o watashi ni oshietekudasai.

"Why are you f*cking with me?" (Emanuel in conversation with Chicago
Alderman Raymond Lopez)
Nande watashi to kusona no?

"F*ck the UAW." (Emanuel discussing the auto bailout with auto czar
Steve Rattner)
UAW o fakku.

"Mr. Prime Minister, I am honored to present you my f*cking
credentials." (I made that one up.)
Shushō, watashi wa anata ni watashi no kuso no shikaku o teiji suru
koto o kōei ni omoimasu.

This all may be premature. Senate Democrats refused to confirm Neera
Tanden for a lot less.

On the other hand, this nomination was first leaked in May. One suspects
that the White House took the time to get commitments out of key
senators before going public and possibly embarrassing itself twice.

But it ain't over till it's over. (

**Sore ga owaru made sore wa owatte imasen.**)

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

[link removed]

Digital Defamation, the Press, and the Law

Can we reform the online culture of rampant libel without making it too
easy to harass legitimate media? BY EDWARD WASSERMAN

Hot Union Summer Comes to the Porn Industry

As OnlyFans threatens to upend sex work, the industry's new union
takes center stage. BY AMELIA POLLARD

Why Mass Immigration Is the Key to American Renewal

Our economy, politics, and culture all need the revitalization only
immigrants can provide. BY DEEPAK BHARGAVA & RUTH MILKMAN

⏩ Progressivism Today: Six Months Into Biden's Presidency

Watch our writers consider the past, present, and future of
progressivism. BY PROSPECT STAFF

To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe. 

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

Copyright (c) 2021 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States