White House: Emanuel to Blame for Tuesday Electoral Disaster

On Tuesday, Democrats lost more than 60 House seats and over half-a-dozen Senate seats in a historical election.  Most analysts and people blame the President and/or the policies that were pursued in the last few years by Democrats.  The White House has another idea: it's all Rahm Emanuel's fault.

Emanuel was President Obama's Chief of Staff before he resigned slightly over a month ago to run for mayor in Chicago.  Sources inside the White House blame Emanuel for devising a strategy for the Democrats this election cycle that failed.  It was exacerbated, they say, when he left for Chicago:

“It was Rahm’s strategy and then he leaves a month before the election for his own personal political career. It’s extraordinary.”

On top of it all, some of the President's aides also say that Emanuel's departure has lasting effects, blaming him already if things go south for the Administration in coming months.  They say that Obama cannot "orchestrate a dramatic staff shakeup" without Emanuel:

"They argue his exit deprived the president of the chance to orchestrate a dramatic staff shakeup in the wake of the poor election results. Instead, a new chief of staff—the low-key Pete Rouse—is already in place, while other aides have long held plans to leave at the two-year mark."

Since President Obama is indeed the President, one would have to wonder why he doesn't just do the "shakeup" himself.

Emanuel

Obviously, the White House is almost definitely not going to blame itself for Democrats' defeat on Tuesday.  Likewise, Emanuel's staff dismisses that he was at fault for the Democrats' collapse and responded to allegations that he left early to avoid being blamed:

“The timing of Rahm's departure from the White House was based on two factors: Mayor Daley’s announcement that he would not seek reelection and Rahm’s desire to go to every corner of Chicago to have a conversation with voters about the challenges the city faces and the plan for its future.”

Emanuel has not responded directly to the White House.

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