Greg Gutfeld: Even If Trump Loses, He's Head Of The Party, So 'We'll Have Two Presidents!'

[DFW]

26. That goes back to when Howard was DNC chairman

Cheneybush was starting to lose some of their popularity, especially with the non-progress of the Iraq invasion. There was a big meeting between Howard and Emmanuel in the Spring about how to allocate financial resources. Emmanuel was DCCC head at the time. He insisted the Democrats continue with the old practice of trying to focus on as many safe districts as possible, where Howard had just devised the 50 State Strategy, and wanted to try it for the 2006 midterms. Emmanuel said Howard was crazy and it would never work. Howard countered that the old way hadn't worked for a few cycles, either. There was a lot of shouting, and Emmanuel emerged beet-faced from the meeting.

I saw him a few hours later, as I was in the States for something else entirely, but attended the annual Emily's List gathering, since my younger daughter was interning there at the time. He was still crimson from the tense meeting with Howard, but I didn't know that at the time. I just thought he had serious blood pressure problems. Howard was crazy busy at the time, so we didn't see each other on that visit, so I only found out about the meeting in the paper later. This was (I think) in April or May of 2006. Emmanuel didn't get his way, and Howard did his thing.

Fast forward to November. Howard has instituted his 50 State Strategy, and lo and behold, the Democrats retake both houses of Congress. Nancy Pelosi will become Speaker for the first time when the new Congress is seated in 2007. Emmanuel, instead of calling Howard to congratulate him and tell him he was right, was even more furious. I don't know if the two have even spoken since. It became clear that the next Democrat nominated for President in 2008 would be the next President. Obama and Hillary Clinton fought it out, but it was all thanks to Howard's efforts that the nomination was such a prize.

Being from Chicago, Obama's political base, Emmanuel was not an unknown in Obama's circle, whereas Howard, concerned with the overall national scene, was. Even my daughter, who was frequently at the Emily's List HQ in DC (she went to GW), said Obama came to hang around a lot when he was a Senator, and Howard only showed up occasionally, since as DNC chair, he seldom had time for anything. Emmanuel carried the grudge like a burning coal, so when he was selected for Obama's White House Chief of Staff, he did everything he could to freeze Howard out of the Administration. There was probably never a more logical pick for Secretary of HHS than Howard in January of 2009, but Emmanuel would never hear of it. He wanted Howard excluded from being anywhere near "his" White House, even though he had Howard to thank for him being there.

I saw Howard in February, 2009, right when Tom Daschle had been forced to remove his nomination for HHS due to some undocumented domestic help, and Sibelius hadn't yet been named to replace him. Although Howard remained the logical pick, Emmanuel made sure he would get it. I asked Howard what he would do if Emmanuel kept him out. He said he would lend his name to some law firm for name recognition (for them) and some steady income (for him), and then spend the rest of his time raising hell for causes he cared about. True to his word (as usual), that is exactly what Howard has been doing. He was at the Davos gathering in Switzerland--not as a political representative, but as an environmental campaigner (he and Bernie Sanders once clashed over an environmental issue, and didn't speak for four years when Howard prevailed). Howard also was one of the organizers of a foot march from Bangkok to the Burmese border to raise awareness over the evils of human trafficking going on in the area. He never got much publicity in the American press about any of his activities, but he wasn't doing it for the headlines. In recent years, he has been involved in a low-key joint effort with Hillary Clinton in trying to recruit young Democratic talent to run for office. He didn't get any headlines for that, either, but the outcome of the 2018 midterms weren't entirely unaffected by their efforts.

I still say Howard would have been brilliant as HHS Secretary, but due to that one screaming match in 2006 (and Howard's being right), we never got the chance to find out. Howard will be 72 on Tuesday, and I don't think he's overly interested any more. Êven so, if he were offered the post, you KNOW he'd jump at the chance. However, I think Judy would probably have him chained to house in Burlington the moment his name came up. She has only seen him on weekends for most of the last 20 years, and I know she would like a bigger slice of the pie.