Dear Friend and Reader,
Rahm Emanuel hasВ a steak knife, and he’s not afraid to use it.
Emanuel, member of the House of Representatives, officially accepted the Chief of Staff position from Barack Obama.В
He’s a Sagittarius (November 29, 1959) withВ a nice cluster of planets in Scorpio includingВ his Moon, Mars and Mercury, which are all conjoined. This makes for an intense conversationalist, a strongly competitive worker, and a man with a deep set of valuesВ and beliefs about how the world should be.В He brings with him a 100 percent pro-choice record and strong ties to Israel (though he has publicly declared his empathy for Palestinians). Oh, and if you thought Joe Biden spoke his mind, wait till you hear from this guy.
Mars in ScorpioВ revealsВ a competitive nature:В heВ trains and participatesВ in triathalons.В He has a strong need and enjoyment of competition, a personality trait that he shares with Barack Obama, who works out regularly and plays competitive basketball games while he waits for election results to roll in. This is someone with a warrior’s instincts, who can be wrathful when crossed, sometimes taking his ire to whole new levels of showing his discontent.В
His Sun is conjoined with Jupiter in Sagittarius. He is a great fundraiser. Translated, this means he has an incredible ability to communicate his aim to fit anyone else’s value system. Could he sell a fridge to an Eskimo? Yes, but not if he felt like they didn’t need it; and with Saturn in its native sign of Capricorn, he’s pretty sure he knows what the Eskimo needs.В
Rahm is known for his very direct, red-meat style discourse, reminiscent of BlutoВ in John Landis’ classic “Animal House.” Andrew Sullivan elaborates in his article, Change You Can Motherfucking Believe In:В
Michael Weiss commented onВ the acquired taste for Rahm Emanuel’s conversational erudition. It’s 1992 and Clinton’s enemies are discussed in a post-campaign release:
“Suddenly Emanuel grabbed his steak knife and, as those who were there remember it, shouted out the name of another enemy, lifted the knife, then brought it down with full force into the table. В ‘Dead!’ he screamed. The group immediately joined in the cathartic release:
‘Nat Landow! Dead! Cliff Jackson! Dead! Bill Schaefer! Dead!’
Toss in a deeply uncomfortable but funny line about cementing his assistant’s asshole shut, and you’ve got Gold, baby.”
Furthermore, he has Saturn in Capricorn. When it comes to overseeing activities or for work ethic, this guy does not fuck around. There is an insurmountable character of pride in him for his background and his heritage. I would say there may be the capacity to be overbearing or domineering with a Scorpio Moon and a Capricorn Saturn. He can be intense and fright-inspiring in order to have his way.
Have you gotten the gist of this guy yet? He’s intense. He reportedly told former-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, prior to Blair appearing in public with Clinton for the first time after the Lewinsky scandal, “This is important. Don’t fuck it up.” Wikipedia also reports that Emanuel “mailed a rotting fish to a former coworker after the two parted ways.”
This is his Mars conjoining Moon, and Saturn in Cap. in action.
The other thing I noticed about his Saturn in Capricorn is based on the fact that his father was involved in a militant Zionist group that fought against British invasion of Jerusalem. With Saturn here, he is very heavily influenced by his father’s past, and his values. Interestingly enough, “terrorist” Bill Ayers was a Capricorn himself, and was involved in violent protests, a few resulting in the deaths of colleagues.
This moveВ could shift the House in some powerful ways. Taking Emanuel out of the House and giving him the power he craves by having the ear of the most powerful politician in the country isВ the kind of deal Emanuel lives for. But lest we worry we have a loose cannon at the White House, remember heВ has toВ answer to his boss, President Barack Obama.
With ObamaВ keeping Axelrod nearby, and overseeing Emanuel’s moves, he willВ have built aВ net which will stretch out from the White House to the House of Representatives.В What we may haveВ here isВ a re-tooling of how Democrats are going to manage. Up until the 1990s they used to do so by caucuses. Once Republicans took over Congress under Gingrich, they decimated the caucus system and disabled the Democrats. The RepublicansВ did business duringВ morning prayer breakfasts.
I wonder, what form of party organizing willВ Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank, utilize? FrankВ will be holding the ball in the House with Rahm gone, and willВ be the point man for theВ party discipline that Obama and Rahm will probably need.В He was instrumental in getting a first draft deal to the economic crisis in September quickly, and had a penchant for explaining it in a coherent way to the publicВ during the crisis.
From the looks of things,В Obama seems to be leaning the ship of State head-first through the troubled seas aroundВ the country’s economy. Being America’s President-elect as we approach the age of Pluto in Capricorn, this is exactly what he needs to be doing.
Yours & truly,
Fe Bongolan, Genevieve Salerno and Rachel Asher
gardener:
That little blurb is indeed distressing. I think there’s alot of communication work to be done in the next few months before Inauguration day. Reality is heading at us like a meteor from space.
There are some people who need a reality check. We watched a young woman on the news say “Thank God Obama was elected (tears flowing) now I don’t have to worry about whether I make my house payment or have enough to buy groceries because he will take care of me. sniff sniff sniff” and she was serious!
AND WE ultimately are the driver.
I think this summarizes the undertow (fear) on the times we have now voted to enter.
We cannot forget who is really in charge (I typed “change”, how appropo)…..And it’R’Us.
There is no fear of Obama if we remember that WE are in charge.
I anticipate that the excitement of the times – or the worry – will keep us awake and alive and being Emily Andersons; not afraid to speak our minds and take action on same.
Everyone – to arms! Fe B. oatmeal cookies in every front yard lemonade stand!
Victory Gardens in every public park!
Chin-ups before every speech and friendly competitive basketball in every schoolyard.
And remember to Laugh Out Loud! It keeps us centered and sane.
That we’ve interesting times ahead is more obvious than ever.
Barack as we know, means ‘blessing’ in Hebrew and Arabic; I was also amused to find — as you move away from the Semitic and toward Indo-European usage — it means ‘Lightning.’
Rahm, on the other hand, is related to ‘Rahula’ or charioteer in Sanskrit.
The Blessing-Bolt and his Vehicle. That’ll do…
(and thanks, Willard for the Rahu/Rahm connect…)