Rahm Emanuel: Good thing Obama 'didn't listen' on healthcare reform

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) joked that it's a good thing President Obama ignored his past advice not to pursue healthcare reform.

The Supreme Court upheld a vast majority of the law on Thursday, prompting the former White House chief of staff to say: "Thank God for the rest of the country [Obama] didn't listen to me."

Emanuel served under Obama from 2008 to 2010 and implored the president not to attempt something so monumental. 

He feared the "political cost" would be too much, he said.

“I told [Obama] up front ... If you’re doing this, you can’t do this, this and this," Emanuel told the Chicago Sun-Times.

"And you’ve got to weigh that, and can you still achieve something on healthcare vs. also still trying to get other things done?" he said.

Emanuel added that Thursday's decision — in which the Republican-appointed chief justice sided with the court's liberals to uphold most of the law — was "rich with irony."

"I would like to take one minute to step back and acknowledge the type of courage it took," he said.

"For 60 to 70 years, president after president of both parties tried to achieve what President Obama has achieved."

He said he had already emailed Obama to congratulate him on the victory.

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