Democrats Fault Rahm Emanuel on Health Care

Democrats in Congress think Rahm Emanuel’s lack of Senate experience slowed health care reform legislation to a death crawl. Liberals and centrists have different complaints, but agree that the White House chief of staff’s time in the House did not prepare him for Senate maneuvering. “They're a bunch of barons over there,” a representative tells the Hill.

“The House is like an Australian-rules rugby match,” the Democratic legislator continues. “The Senate is like a march at a men’s club in imperial Britain.” A centrist Dem senator thinks Emanuel did too little to build a coalition in the Senate. It “doesn’t work that way. You need a radius of 10 to 12 from the other side.” A liberal advocate disagrees, and says trying to please centrist Democrats “wasted a huge amount of time.” (More Rahm Emanuel stories.)