More Rahm Rumors - Is the Clock Ticking?

By Karl Klockars in Food on Jun 21, 2010 8:20PM

While the chattering class is talking about Rahm Emanuel's appearance on This Week where he poked fun at BP spokesperson Tony Hayward "getting his life back" by showing up at a yacht race, and Sarah Palin expressing her displeasure at Rahmbo's characterization of the GOP, the Telegraph is reporting that we might not have Rahm to kick around for much longer.

The London paper is giving it about 6-8 months until Rahm calls it macaroni, citing a "leading Democratic consultant" and "an official from the Bill Clinton era." Their take:

Friends say he is also worried about burnout and losing touch with his young family due to the pressure of one of most high profile jobs in US politics...It is well known in Washington that arguments have developed between pragmatic Mr Emanuel, a veteran in Congress where he was known for driving through compromises, and the idealistic inner circle who followed Mr Obama to the White House.

Will he leave due to "frustration" with the idealism of the administration? Or is it just time to move on? Chiefs of Staff generally don't last an entire term - the last one to make it through a full 4 years was John Steelman under Truman, and the average length of a CoS's stay is just 2.5 years. Could today's reports of favor-trading with Governor Blagojevich affect the timeline? Who knows, but just for fun, let's throw a touch more fire on the rumor blaze - the filing date to run for Mayor is December 13th, which would leave Emanuel a month to throw together a spoiler campaign if he leaves right after the November elections. Could he get the required 12,500 signatures in a month? If anyone could, Rahm can. Still, we're pretty skeptical of the report.

Update: Looks like Rahm is already denying the report.