Come, O Come, Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel has been described as a street fighter with a killer instinct—as explosive, profane, wired and ruthless—sometimes as a compliment, sometimes not. But no one has ever cast him in the role of elder statesman, at least up until now. Emanuel, a 48-year-old congressman who grew up, somewhat weirdly, to study ballet and practice Chicagopolitics, has generally adapted to his situation in a combative, not diplomatic, manner. As an indifferent high-school student, he badly cut his finger on the beef-slicing machine at Arby's. That night, after his high-school prom, he jumped into Lake Michigan. The tip of his finger became infected and he nearly died. Ever since, Emanuel has relished raising his hacked-off middle figure at his foes. In conversation with almost anyone about anything, Emanuel uses the F word like a sergeant in a World War II motor pool.

Emanuel would never be confused with Averell Harriman, who, in a gentlemanly way, stood up to presidents from FDR to LBJ. Still, someone may have to deliver the bad news. When the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives voted articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon in the summer of 1974, it fell to the GOP's grand old man, Barry Goldwater, to go to the president and say, "Mr. President, this isn't pleasant, but you want to know the situation and it isn't good." Goldwater told Nixon that there were, at most, 18 votes to acquit in the Senate—and then twisted the knife by saying that he himself was undecided.

Who will tell Hillary Clinton that the time has come to fold her tent? (Or, in a less likely scenario, Barack Obama?) It almost surely won't be Howard Dean, the head of the Democratic Party. Unlike his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, a charming glad-hander who played golf with Bill Clinton, Dean has no personal relationship with the Clintons. In late March, when Dean suggested that the race should be wrapped up by July 1, Hillary promptly sought an interview with The Washington Post to assert, "I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started." Just by virtue of her position, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might seem like a logical candidate for the dirty deed, but she lacks stature with the Clintons. Former vice president Al Gore? No love lost there on either side. Sen. Ted Kennedy? Sen. John Kerry? They're partisan, having declared allegiance to Obama. Maybe a wily, old hand like superlawyer and Clinton golf confidant Vernon Jordan will step in, as NEWSWEEK'S Howard Fineman suggests.

But it may be that the most obvious candidate is Emanuel. He is an old friend of Barack Obama's campaign strategist, David Axelrod (so close that Axelrod signed the ketuba, a Jewish marriage contract, at Emanuel's wedding, an honor that usually goes to a best friend). At the same time, Emanuel worked on Bill Clinton's '92 campaign and was an effective operative in the Clinton White House, and he is tight with various Clinton advisers like James Carville and former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle (whom he calls his "little sister" from the Chicago political wars). He has the loyalty of many Democratic congressmen, whom he recruited and for whom he prodigiously fund-raised, helping to secure the Democratic majority in the 2006 election.

"He's in a good position," says Axelrod. "He's very, very close with Barack and is very close with the Clintons. He thinks of Barack as a peer, but he's very mindful and respectful of the Clintons." The only uncommitted superdelegate from Illinois, Emanuel has been joking for months that he is "hiding under his desk." Last week he told NEWSWEEK that he is not ready to play Barry Goldwater, and doesn't think he'll need to. "I may, but there's as good a chance I may not have to," he says. With perhaps more hope than the realism for which he is generally known, Emanuel continued: "I have confidence in both of my friends that they will be good Democrats. Both candidates will do what's necessary to help the party. Neither wants to be seen as a spoiler … They [the Clintons] are dear friends, and they have been selfless in their commitment to Democratic Party ideals."

If Obama upsets Clinton in Pennsylvania on April 22, all sides seem to agree that it's game over. If Clinton wins narrowly—by less than 10 points—the noise will grow louder for her to drop out and crescendo if she loses Indiana. "I have a sneaking suspicion it's over after North Carolina and Indiana [May 6]," says Emanuel. "It will be clear by then who the presumptive nominee is." But it may not be, in which case the Democratic Party will be in for a fight regarding how and whether to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida, whose primaries were nullified because both states defied party injunctions by holding their votes too early in the primary season. The nomination fight could be still unresolved going into the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August. That's the scenario that would call for Emanuel—or some other broker-peacemaker-statesman to step in and end the fight.