Emanuel rejected the idea of tying a pending economic stimulus plan to a proposed free-trade agreement with Colombia in order to win President George W. Bush's support during a post-election lame duck session of Congress.
"You don't link those essential needs to some other trade deal," he said. "The lame duck is for immediate things - that's what should be the focus right now."
Emanuel's past record on trade policy is, ahem, sketchy to say the least. As a Clinton staffer, he was the chief proponent of NAFTA and as an investment banker, he penned a 2000 Wall Street Journal op-ed demanding congressional Democrats drop their opposition to the China trade deal on the eve of the vote on that pact.
But this statement suggests that Emanuel's own personal politics will, indeed, be subverted to Obama's more progressive record and campaign promises on issues like trade. It's not that Emanuel won't have input, but it is to say what I wrote late last week: Namely, we cannot judge Obama only by his personnel decisions, and we cannot judge those personnel only by their past records. Both certainly are important - but times have changed, and we must be (however cautiously) open to the possibility that people have changed, too.
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