Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel emphatically denied he
plans to use his current position as mayor of Chicago to launch a run
for the presidency, according to an interview set to air tonight on
NBC.
"We asked him 30 times in two minutes and he says 'no' a lot of
different ways," said NBC reporter Harry Smith, who interviewed
Emanuel.
Emanuel did weigh in on the current state of presidential
politics over the weekend, however — he had some harsh words for the 2012 GOP
presidential field in a speech to Iowa Democrats on Saturday.
At the event, he touted his former boss, President Obama, and ripped
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, claiming the
former Massachusetts governor bases his positions on political
convenience.
"Mitt Romney says he's a man of steadiness and consistency, and if
that's true, then I'm a linebacker for the Chicago Bears," Emanuel
said, referring to the city's NFL team.
As many Democrats become more confident that Obama will face Romney in
the general election, they have been trying to portray him as a
politician who flip-flops on important issues.
Emanuel also showed his softer side in the
NBC interview when talking about underprivileged children in Chicago.
"There's only one problem that gives me pause. Never, the fiscal ones,
the financial ones do not give me pause … kids are growing up in an environment in parts of the city that you wouldn't let your own
kids grow up in. There's no sense of life and there's an emptiness in
their eyes that you don't know if you can change," Emanuel said.
The full interview with Emanuel airs tonight on NBC's "Rock Center."
